How to Compare Laptop Battery Life

Battery life is one of the most ignored specifications on laptops, but every laptop owner will inevitably have a moment where they could have used a little more juice. Comparing battery life between laptop types can help you avoid that problem.

Types of Batteries

Most modern laptops, as well as cell phones and anything else portable, use lithium-ion batteries. Older laptops used nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Lithium-ion batteries come with different numbers of cells--typically six or nine. Just keep in mind more cells means more chemicals--and therefore, more weight.

Considerations

The battery life ratings offered by manufacturers, usually rated in hours, assume almost all laptop features--such as wireless connectivity, screen brightness, volume level and other features--are disabled or lowered significantly. In fact, a laptop will probably only live up to its battery rating if a blank screen saver is on and is left unused.

Laptop Effects on Battery Life

In addition to screen brightness, wireless transfers and volume levels, laptop battery life is affected by each hardware component. Low-power components--such as the processor, hard drive and wireless interface--allow batteries to last longer.

Battery Longevity

The performance of all batteries will reduce over time with each charge. This will usually become noticeable after 18 to 24 months of use.

References

• Dell: Laptop Battery FAQ
• Geek.com: Laptop Battery