Replacing Your Laptop Battery Charger
As with anything, sooner or later you will have to replace your laptop battery charger. More often than not it is lost or damaged. There are many choices for you as you can go to the manufacturer, or purchase an off brand charger. There are pros and cons to both as with most things in life.
Those of us that have used laptops for some period of time realize that the laptop manufactures for the most part change the requirements of the chargers like the wind. Sometimes it’s logical; new battery technologies, faster charger, new chemistry.
Sometimes it seems like it is done just in spite, like when the amperage and everything stays the same and all they do is change the accursed plug shape or size.
If you get a charger from the manufacturer you know it will work on your laptop…. But what happens when you upgrade and the new laptop changes plugs or you decide to get a different brand of laptop? The alternative is with some of the newer chargers have interchangeable tips and adjustable voltage so it will charge your laptop in the correct manner.
One thing to watch out for is to make sure that the charger you get will fit your laptop and second that it will adjust the voltage for what you need so you don’t damage your battery and/or laptop.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Thank you for this outstanding article.I thought Centrino was the best technology for laptop battery performance.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Well the processor has a lot to do with it; however there are so many variables to the battery life of a laptop that you really can’t point to one “cure-all”. You have to ask yourself several questions. What do I use my notebook for? The brightness of the screen is a HUGE factor in battery life. So are DVD’s and the Blu-ray drives that are showing up on laptops. The laser that the Blu-ray uses is a power hungry pig. That is being addressed by having the software do some of the work versus the processor doing everything; however it’s best to watch movies with the laptop plugged in. With laptops it is somewhat of a balancing act to get the best performance out of your laptop. Sometimes you need to trade one feature for another. Watch a movie but turn down the brightness and use ear-buds. One key thing with laptops and I’ve noticed many people don’t do this; prop it up a little to make sure you are getting good airflow to the fans(s). Letting your laptop overheat can not only damage some of the components but it also makes the fans work overtime in trying to cool it down sucking ore juice from your battery.
May 19th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
good article，How about not keeping your laptop battery plugged in all the time. Take it out when you are using the power cord.
May 28th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Actually over all the years I’ve worked with computers and laptops I have never found any real compelling reason why you should need to pull the battery out while the unit is plugged in. The computer itself simply recognizes when it is plugged in and will either charge the battery if it’s a little low or simply keep a float charge on it to maintain high performance. Another good reason to leave it in is for the odd but rather un-enjoyable moments when the power goes out or flickers. Laptops will recognize this and immediately switch to battery power so you lose nothing that you have been working on. I’ve never read where taking the battery out would increase the life cycles of the battery unless there is something wrong with the charging unit in the notebook itself, in which you would need to get that fixed anyway.