laptop Battery question

[kimagurealex]

I have a Sony VIAO F430 laptop and the battery is dying. I am going to get a new one but i want to know how to use it right this time? any good productive suggestion or guide?
Alex

 

[sohcrates]

well, even though most newer batteries don't have a "memory" (supposedly)...i still find it's good practic to drain the battery almost completely (i.e. as much as possible) whenever you're not hooked up to AC

So, if you unhook it, use the full cycle of the battery...then let it charge back up fully.

If you don't get to fully drain it every time, make sure you do the full discharge/ recharge cycle about once every 3 times it's disconnected from AC

 

[ojai00]

Well, batteries are bound to die after extended use. Just turn the laptop off when you're not using it, or if you have one of the new laptops, set it to step down to save power. Hope this helps.

 

[kimagurealex]

One more question, the computer is set to power off when the battery is lower than 5%, and I don't think it is a good idea always let ur computer suddenly shut off the windows. It seems it is bad for the harddrive and eventually, it will kill it. Any good way to discharge the battery without turn on the laptop? and when the battery fully recharge and I am still on the AC power, should I take out the battery or just let it sit in? my computer always tells me the battery is 100% charged and after this, will it keep charging the battery if I don't take it out?
Alex

 

[hans007]

it saves everything and shuts it off safely before doing that with windows APM

 

[jschuk]

The machine turning off on its own is no different then when you tell it to turn off through software. If you really want to discharge the battery, boot to a DOS disk and let the unit sit (set the LCD to turn off after a short while). That will drain the battery about as far as you can go. Don't worry about overcharging the battery. The batteries have sensors in them that tell the laptop when they are fully charged and the laptop will stop charging.

 

[kimagurealex]

oh yeah! Thanks for the good old DOS tip! I like ur thinking!
Alex