Many road warriors carry a spare laptop battery with them

Many road warriors carry a spare laptop battery with them so they can extend their work time away from a power source



Many road warriors carry a spare laptop battery with them so they can extend their work time ,IBM Laptop Battery,away from a power source (assuming their laptop uses a removable battery, of course; two of Apple's recent models do not). But while multiple batteries are useful when working, they present a challenge when charging:02K6928, 02K7054, ThinkPad A20, ThinkPad A20M, ThinkPad A21M,
You can charge only one at a time inside your laptop, and if you're actually using your laptop, charging takes longer because the laptop itself grabs a good amount of the power.

In some respects, life as a laptop-carrying frequent flyer has gotten a little easier. Exhibit A: Though far from commonplace, it's not freakishly bizarre anymore to find a power port at your airplane seat--even in coach. Virgin America and American Airlines are among the most generous airlines in terms of supplying power ports to passengers.

Like chocolate and episodes of Mad Men, there's no such thing as too much battery life.02K6928, Alas, it's the rare notebook battery that'll give you more than a few hours--unless you know some tricks for squeezing extra juice.

See, it's a sad (and expensive) fact of life: You're lucky to get 18-24 months from a battery before it loses a good chunk of its charge capacity (meaning it no longer powers your laptop for as long as it used to).

It’s happened to many a traveler: You’re onboard a flight from, say, New York to Los Angeles, with plans to finish a stack of work along the way. After all, an airplane is often a great place to be productive, thanks to the absence of nagging colleagues, email and ringing phones. Except you’re barely over Minnesota and your computer warns you it’s about to “hibernate” as your battery power is hovering somewhere around just five percent. Now how exactly do you plan to finish that sales report before you land?

02K6928, 02K7054, ThinkPad A20, ThinkPad A20M, ThinkPad A21M,

Like chocolate and episodes of Mad Men, there's no such thing as too much V3000 battery life. Alas, it's the rare notebook battery that'll give you more than a few hours-unless you know some tricks for squeezing extra juice. Remember these three tips the next time you travel.02K7054,

The South Korean manufacturer has stopped selling one of its laptop models after a battery malfunction on Thursday.

Ultraportable laptops have a history of requiring compromises when it comes to performance. Lately, the PC World Test Center has seen some improvements in this regard--especially with respect to V6000 battery life. Unfortunately, you'll still be making major compromises with the Apple MacBook Air. In our tests, the Air produced respectable system performance, but mediocre battery life.

Battery making start-up Boston Power is more than tripling production of its Sonata laptop battery, a device that offers faster charging and longer life than conventional lithium-ion batteries, it is due to announce Thursday.

The batteries in laptop computers are expensive (a quick review of prices at Lenovo.com shows they range from $119 to $179), ThinkPad A20, and like any DV2000 battery, they have a limited lifespan. When it comes time to replace the battery inside your laptop computer, you may be tempted to save a few bucks and buy a replacement from a company other than the one that made the computer.

Each U-Charge includes two cables: one to connect the charger to any standard AC wall outlet, the other to connect to your laptop battery. The 22-inch battery cable has a connector that slides right into the battery's terminals.02K6928, 02K7054, ThinkPad A20, ThinkPad A20M, ThinkPad A21M,
Once connected, a light on the U-Charge indicates charging status--red for charging, green for fully charged. (There are also four "charge indicator" LEDs, but these don't indicate the current charge level...at least not when charging. More on that below.)

When you're on the road, you can significantly conserve battery power by dimming your laptop screen's brightness. Make sure there are no CDs or DVDs sitting in your optical drive, and don't connect any USB peripherals--all power hogs. Turn off Bluetooth,ThinkPad A20M, Wi-Fi, and 3G networking (you have to do that in flight anyhow).

See, it's a sad (and expensive) fact of life: You're lucky to get 18-24 months from a HP laptop battery before it loses a good chunk of its charge capacity (meaning it no longer powers your laptop for as long as it used to).

The simple solution: Pull the DV6000 battery out of the laptop and leave it out when you're deskbound. Most laptops can run on straight AC power, so there's no need for the battery. And it's easy enough to pop back in when you hit the road (though obviously you'll want to make sure it's charged, so plan ahead a bit).

Sadly, as far as we’ve come in terms of cramming better microprocessors,ThinkPad A21M,

sharper graphics and beefier storage into netbooks and laptop computers (including both Macs and PCs), energy management has plagued portable computing since its inception. On the bright side though, 02K6928, 02K7054, ThinkPad A20, ThinkPad A20M, ThinkPad A21M,
thanks to more powerful HP laptop batteries, processors ...

You can afford to keep screen brightness cranked up when your notebook is plugged into an outlet, but not when you're flying coach. Drop the brightness setting a few notches, then get back to work. Chances are you'll hardly notice the difference. Then drop it a few more notches. The lower, the better.