An Introduction to Laptop Batteries

One of the oldest batteries used in laptops is the NiCad, nothing but the Nickel Cadmium, which is very rarely used today. These Nickel Cadmium or the NiCad batteries is very heavier when compared to laptop batteries which are used to day. These NiCad batteries are prone to memory effect and they aren’t environment friendly as it contains heavy metals. Now battery manufactures have stopped manufacturing batteries of this type. The Nickel Metal Hydride or NiMH batteries are less likely to be prone to memory effects, but produces better power when compared to NiCad batteries. However most companies have stopped manufacturing NiMH batteries also.

The Lithium Ion or Li-Ion batteries is the most commonly used batteries used today in Laptops and also in other digital gadgets as Lithium Ion or Li-Ion batteries are compatible, provides excellent power and lesser in weight. Li-Ion batteries are very much useful in smaller and lighter devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones and of course in laptops. Another biggest advantage of Lithium Ion batteries is that they do not suffer memory effect at all! However these batteries tend to lose its charge quickly towards the end of their life span. If this happens, then this is an indication, that the battery needs to be replaced.

Here is useful information on laptop batteries; Laptop batteries are rated by "V" which means voltage and "mAh" which stands for Milliamp-hours. Voltage is the rate of energy or power drawn from the battery into the laptop. The Milliamp-hours shows the run time of the battery. Therefore if the battery has higher mAh / Milliamp-hours, then it means the battery will run for a longer time. Batteries having different mAh / Milliamp-hours can be used for laptops but you need to make sue that the voltage rating is the same. You need to cross check with your laptop manual or you older laptop battery to make sure that voltage rating is the same. In case if you’re using batteries of different voltage, then it can cause very serious damage to your laptop.

Here are some useful tips to ensure optimal battery life: Use the AC adapter whenever possible, try lowering the brightness settings on the screen backlight. Set the Windows Power Management settings to maximum savings. Try turning off Autosave features and disable auto Insert Notification on the CD-ROM. Also disconnect any unused devices such as modems when not in use. Put you’re laptop to Hibernate or Suspend feature when you are taking a break.