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Laptop
Batteries
Buying Tips
An important factor to consider is how much battery life
you'll need on your laptop. No matter how much battery you
have, using your built in DVD drive a lot and having a 15"
TFT screen will drain it faster. Battery technology--just
like any technology--is improving all the time. Yesterday's
laptops featured Ni-Cad (Nickel-Cadmium) batteries that hurt
the environment, didn't offer much up-time (comparatively),
and had the annoying habit of remembering how long you have
used them and refusing to work any longer the next time.
Then there were NiMH (Nickel-Metal-Hydride) batteries. They
offered longer life, better efficiency, and no memory
problems. The current generation of laptops uses Lithium Ion
batteries. These batteries are a gain in efficiency over
NiMH batteries. Future batteries may be Lithium Metal
batteries. They offer an extremely low discharge rate (long
shelf life when charged) and efficiency improvements over
Lithium Ion batteries, but movement towards new battery
technology has slowed recently. |
