Laptop battery life is the one of the major concerns laptop users will focus. As a result, the laptop batteries maintenance should be taken into consideration. Let us talk about the maintenance tips. If you get a new battery, your new laptop battery comes in a discharged condition and must be charged before use (refer to your computer manual for charging instructions). Upon initial use (or after a prolonged storage period) the battery may require two to three charge/discharge cycles before achieving maximum capacity. When charging the laptop battery for the first time your computer may indicate that charging is complete after just 10 or 15 minutes. This is a normal phenomenon with rechargeable batteries. Simply remove the battery from the computer and repeat the charging procedure.
Any peripheral device will take some power to run, and we recommend you minimize the use of these devices. USB mice, hard drives, and even thumb drives all will take some energy to run, and as such, will lower the runtime of the computer. In addition, avoid using the CD/DVD drive. Any open application will take up additional CPU cycles. Any antivirus programs, media players, menu widgets, and utilities that you have installed will use CPU cycles, and we recommend you quit these applications while on the battery. Minimize Web browsing, and when you're done viewing a Web page, close the browser window.
Beyond optimizing how you run the computer when on the battery, there are some ways you can help keep your batteries as healthy as possible. The following tips should ensure longevity of your batteries. While batteries do lose their capacity with usage, they will also die over time without usage. This doesn't mean you should use the battery all the time, but it is good to periodically run it down to ensure it's being fully used on a regular basis. Regardless of use, we recommend you regularly calibrate the battery (once every 1 to 2 months), which will not only ensure the battery is being used, but will also set the computer to properly determine the remaining time left in the battery. To calibrate the battery, you will have to charge it up fully and then allow it to fully drain. More on calibration can be found in this Apple knowledgebase article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
The system management controller helps power management in the computer, and if there is corruption in the SMC's settings, it can potentially drain the battery faster than normal. Reference this article for instructions on resetting the SMC for a particular MacBook model: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411
It is important to condition (fully discharge and then fully charge) the laptop battery every two to three weeks. Failure to do so may significantly shorten the battery's life (this does not apply to Li-ion batteries, which do not require conditioning). To discharge, simply run your device under the battery's power until it shuts down or until you get a low battery warning. Then recharge the battery as instructed in your user's manual. And after these tips, users may know some methods to maintain laptop batteries and make them last longer.
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