Battery & Power Management

How to Charge a Laptop Battery

You must charge your laptop battery to keep it operational. You charge your laptop battery by plugging the laptop into a wall socket. You can recharge your battery whether the battery is fully drained [more…]

How to Test Your Laptop’s Battery

Laptop batteries can fail, or over time can lose their ability to hold a charge. If your laptop suddenly stops cooperating, you can usually determine if a bad battery is causing the problem by removing [more…]

How to Heed Your Laptop’s Low Battery Warning in Windows Vista

Thanks to smart-battery technology, your laptop computer gives you a good deal of warning before the battery poops out. You get enough time to finish what you're working on, save, close programs, and shut [more…]

Buying a Replacement Battery for Your Laptop

When you buy a replacement battery for your laptop, you need to consider several factors, including price, warranty, compatibility, and capacity. [more…]

Laptop Battery Status

Monitor the status of your laptop’s battery to make sure the battery doesn’t run out in the middle of something important. You can monitor the battery by viewing the tiny battery icon on the system tray [more…]

What to Do When Your Laptop Battery Isn't Providing Power

If your laptop's battery doesn't seem to be pumping out enough power, do some troubleshooting before you spend the money on a new battery. First, check to see that the battery hasn't been accidentally [more…]

How to Replace Your Laptop Battery

If your laptop battery fails or no longer holds a sufficient charge, you can easily replace it. Follow these steps: [more…]

How to Charge the Battery on Your Laptop

Charging your laptop battery is easy to do: Plug the laptop into a wall socket, and the battery begins to charge. Internally, the laptop switches from battery [more…]

What to Do When Your Laptop’s AC Adapter Fails

If your laptop doesn’t power up, you may need to check your AC adapter. The adapter plugs into wall current at one end and the computer at the other; in between is a sealed box that converts 100 to 240 [more…]

What to Do When Your Laptop Battery Dies

Eventually, your laptop's battery will die. It's inevitable. Just as humans are subject to death and taxes, batteries are subject to death. (Fortunately, the government hasn't figured out how to plunder [more…]

How to Monitor Your Laptop’s Battery in Windows Vista

You can keep an eye on how much battery life your laptop’s battery has by viewing the tiny battery icon on the system tray. The icon graphically shows how much power is left; the icon's color [more…]

Laptop Battery Basics

When you’re setting up your laptop computer, the holiest piece of hardware is the battery. Either it came preinstalled (and may be nonremovable) inside the laptop or it must be installed separately. [more…]

How to Extend the Life of Your Laptop Battery

You can extend the life of your laptop’s battery by using its hardware and software features strategically. [more…]

The Different Types of Laptop Batteries

Laptops are powered by several different types of batteries. These batteries provide direct-current power to your laptop.

Lithium-ion: This is the type of battery you want to have in your laptop. This type [more…]

How to Use the Real-Time Clock and Backup Batteries in Your Laptop

Most laptops have, in addition to the main battery, two other much smaller batteries buried deep within the box: the real-time clock battery and the backup battery. [more…]

How to Conserve Your Laptop’s Battery Power During Travel

Thanks to smart battery technology, your laptop can be programmed to warn you when its battery is low. The idea is to act fast on those warnings when they appear — and to take them seriously! Dally at [more…]

How to Use a Spare Battery to Make Your Laptop Run Longer

A second, or spare, battery can extend the battery life of your laptop. When your primary battery becomes discharged, insert your spare battery to keep using your laptop. [more…]

Find Your Laptop’s Battery

Finding your laptop’s battery can be tricky. To find your battery, look for a small compartment in the bottom of the laptop. Other laptop batteries are located in a hole or door in the side of the computer [more…]

How to Use a Spare Battery with Your Laptop

One option you probably ignored when you bought your laptop was getting a second or spare battery. This item is a must for a serious traveler, or someone who is frequently on the road or in a remote location [more…]

Types of Laptop Batteries

All laptops use batteries, but not all batteries are the same. It pays to know about the differences between lithium-ion, NiCad, and NiMH batteries, even before you buy a laptop. [more…]