How long does your laptop battery last *Poll*

[jm0ris0n]

I was in bestbuy and the sales guy was really bothering me. He kept telling me I should buy their warranty (3 years for $300) because a laptop battery lifespan on avg. is 9 months. Even though the laptop I bought was my first I have friends who AFAIK have had their batteries last much longer.

Is there much truth to what this guy said? And as the poll says, how long did your battery last before you wanted/needed to replace it?

Thanks, Brian

(PS: I think the guy if full of crap, but I am interested to know what AT'ers experience has been)

 

[Rainsford]

Haven't had mine long enough for it to start dying, but I've had the computer for 6 months and the battery is just as good as the day I bought it. And from what I've heard, the Best Buy guy is full of crap (what a redundant sentence )

Also, mandatory Simpsons quote...
Homer: "Defence! Defence!"
Moe: "Eh, that's pretty dumb...maybe a little more..."
*Moe pushes crayon further into Homer's brain*
Homer: "Extendend warrenty, how can I lose!"
Moe: "Perfect."

 

[Bateluer]

I haven't been able to keep a notebook for 9 months yet. . . .

 

[thuned]

Probably depends on the quality of the battery, but I heard batteries only go up to around 80% of its full charge after 9-18 months. Personally, I had my laptop for 11months now, and it can still hold over 4 hours. That makes it hold at least 90% of it's original charge still. (I haven't tried fully draining my laptop since I originally got it so I don't know how much over 90% it is). I don't use my batteries often though, maybe 30-40 recharge cycles?

 

[Frightcrawler]

Very interesting, a best buy sales guy also said 9 months to me...
I had a feeling he was lying though, 9 months seems so little.

Oh yeah, and plus one to Rainsford for quoting The Simpsons.

 

[voodle]

9 months is a rather pessimistic claim unless you take no care of the battery or run games while running on battery all the time.
Although he may have a point if you discharge and charge the battery every single day since that's around 500 cycles. I've seen ruined batteries after just 150 cycles, but with proper battery care, they can last more than that probably.

As long as you make sure you never discharge the battery to 0%, and cycle the battery to 3-5% every couple of weeks or so, and try not to charge the battery as soon as it goes down to 95-90% - you should get some good life out of it.

 

[Topher]

I've had this laptop for almost 2 years now, and the batteries are fine. I bought it secondhand, so I have no idea how long the batteries have been used before me.

 

[tommigsr]

i've had my 600m for about a year, the battery still holds around 4+ hours still

 

[FusionTech9]

had my laptop about 4 days...and the battery still works

I did buy the warranty though, just because with a laptop, I don't want the ridiculous expenses of replacing a broken component in 2 years.

 

[tommigsr]

how much was the warranty fusion? a lot of people on at shun the fact that people buy extended warranties

 

[Conroy9]

My Dell Inspiron 8000's 3 year warranty just expired in february and its battery (I alternate it with a spare battery I bought at the same time) still works okay. The capacity may have dropped some, but it wasn't that great even when I got it; i'm not sure how much it went down. It can still last an hour on one battery...

I usually leave the laptop plugged in with one battery inside, except when I take it on a trip or to a customer's site, when I'll put both batteries in and use more battery power.

 

[vegetation]

My battery died in less than one year and I hardly ever used it. Good thing still was under warranty. You sure don't ever want to have to buy a new battery from your own pocket though, that's some awful financial rape there.

 

[tyipengr]

I have a 2 yr old notebook with a totally DEAD battery, died a little past 1 year. It is a Dell Latitude something or other, I got it for free so I don't really care.

It actually depends how much they wanna charge you for that warranty and if you are a person prone to break things. I personally rarely drop or break stuff. Even though I am a person who shuns most extended warranties I do draw the line with laptops. You can't fix those things yourself most of the time and if they cover "dropping" it might just be worth it but I wouldn't pay more than say, 10% of the cost of the laptop. The most I would pay for an extended warranty on a laptop is like maybe $125 bucks, thats how much IBM charges to upgrade their warranty from 1 year to 3 years. IBM warranty service rocks btw.

In most other cases with extended warranties I opt out or the guys look at me and don't even bother asking. I usually look at a hardware failure as an opportunity for an upgrade. I'm still waiting for my 19 inch Sony CRT to burn out or something so I can buy an LCD.

What laptop is this anyways? Certain brands are prone to break down more often than others.

 

[pekcle]

i've had my laptop for 2 years 3 months (march 2002)

Sony Vaio R505DL (p3-m 1ghz)

Design capacity: 38.48 Wh
Charge capcity: 31.84 Wh

this lasts about 1:50 (it never made beyond 2:30 anyway, even with power management)