Dell laptop battery going kaput

[Doctordestiny]

I have a Dell laptop that's about 3-4 yrs old. Sometimes now when I boot it up I get a message that my battery is nearing the end of its life and I should look at replacing it. Do I have to replace this battery soon or is it a problem if I continue using it for as long as I can? I rarely use it anymore without it being plugged in?

[Incinerator]

If you plug it in all the time just take out the battery, as for replacement, I found an aftermarket replacement on eBay, mine died after 2 years.

[photon]

I don't know about cheap replacement batteries from China, not sure how you'd be sure you won't get one that won't burst into flame and burn your house down.

[Incinerator]

mine was made in Korea, it's worked well so far...I forgot which guy I got it from but he had pretty much perfect feedbacks out of 8000ish

[Rathji]

My battery lasts about 15 mins with a full charge. I would take it out totally but I am paranoid the connectors will get snagged when I am taking it in and out of my backpack.

The cheap ones run about 120 from Dell, but from the reviews they last a year at best.

[kermitology]

My first battery from Dell lasted about a year and a quarter before it was down to 35% capacity.

I went on eBay and bought a new one, just typed in the model number of my existing battery and for $50 I got a replacement.

Key thing to remember is these are Lithium Ion batteries and you shouldn't follow the old tradition of draining them fully all the time. Every time you do a deep discharge (sub 30% capacity) you decrease the lifespan of your battery. After more than a year using my current battery and making sure I don't deep discharge, I'm still at 98% capacity.

[Crispy's Critter]

I just got my new laptop from dell, one of the new XPS's. I get a whopping 1 hr 40 min life out of my battery at 100% on the best battery saving mode. Is there any way to get this up? Was it maybe not charged properly or something at the factory, causing it to suck so harsh?

Of course this thing lights up like the bridge of the Enterprise, both inside and out, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

As for the OP, generally you can find decently priced replacement batteries on ebay, and occasionally even find brand new name brand batteries there as well at decent prices.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by Crispy's Critter

I just got my new laptop from dell, one of the new XPS's. I get a whopping 1 hr 40 min life out of my battery at 100% on the best battery saving mode. Is there any way to get this up? Was it maybe not charged properly or something at the factory, causing it to suck so harsh?

Of course this thing lights up like the bridge of the Enterprise, both inside and out, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

As for the OP, generally you can find decently priced replacement batteries on ebay, and occasionally even find brand new name brand batteries there as well at decent prices.

have you tried turning down your screen brightness? turn off WiFi and Bluetooth too if you're not using them. Also uninstall all the crapware that Dell pre-installs on your laptop when it shipped if you don't use them so they don't start everytime you turn your laptop on.

[Crispy's Critter]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

have you tried turning down your screen brightness? turn off WiFi and Bluetooth too if you're not using them. Also uninstall all the crapware that Dell pre-installs on your laptop when it shipped if you don't use them so they don't start everytime you turn your laptop on.

Thanks. I did all that, and also found where to turn off all the lcd lights on this thing, and it jumped my battery life up to about 2-1/2 hours. Still not great, but quite a bit better.

[Hack&Lube]

I need a new battery for my EeePC too, it lasts like 30 minutes now after a year. Compare that to the Acer Aspire One that will last from 4-6 hours.