How to find your laptop battery specifications?

There are several different types and sizes of laptop batteries. To determine what laptop battery you have, remove the battery from the laptop and look at the bottom or top of the battery.

As can be seen in the picture to the right this Dell battery shows that it's a Li-ion battery, has a model number of Li-ion II, rating of 10.8V, 4050mAH, Part number, and a charging current of 2.5A.

Common laptop batteries are Li-ion, NiMH, and Ni-Cad

Third-party utility

If your battery is not labeled or you're unable to read the information on the battery consider using a third-party utility that's capable of giving you detailed battery information. For example, BatteryCare is a free software utility capable of doing this.

How to Buy a Dell Laptop Battery

Finding a Dell laptop battery may seem like an overwhelming task, especially if you have an older laptop model. You can easily find the Dell laptop battery you need, and get indispensable safety information as well. 

1. Search the Dell website.

Fill out the search box on the website. If you know the battery name and type that you need, enter that information in the search box. Navigate the search results and add your selection to the shopping cart. If you do not know the exact battery you need for your laptop model, then locate your laptop on the website and add this to your shopping cart, even though you do not want to buy the entire laptop. This will start the customized building of your laptop system, so you can navigate the battery options available for your model. Decide which battery you want to buy. Perform another search in the search box for the battery you want. Select this item from the results page and add this to your shopping cart. Proceed to checkout.  

2. Check with a trustable third party laptop battery seller before purchasing your battery.

Computer stores sell various new and refurbished computer parts at deep discounts. Check online and retail stores that sell Dell products. Do not buy a Dell laptop compatible battery. Although battery manufacturers may suggest the laptop battery is Dell compatible, it may harm your laptop. Be sure that the third party seller offers only Dell laptop batteries. 

3. Confirm the appropriate battery you need with a Dell customer service representative.

Many third party sellers offer Dell laptop compatible batteries, but the sellers may unknowingly sell recalled laptop batteries. A recent recall on a Dell laptop battery was necessary when several laptops burst into flames. If you buy through a third party, confirm with Dell that this laptop battery has not been issued a recall.


Tips & Warnings

• Dell uses vigorous testing and offers a warranty on all their laptop batteries. Consider buying directly through Dell to ensure you are buying a safe, quality battery.

• If you are unsure of what battery replacement you need, do not order online. Get assistance from a representative by live chat or phone. Register to join the Dell support forums to ask questions and get support. Click on live chat for a sales representative or tech support if you cannot find what you are looking for on the website.

• Dell offers products through retail shops and office supply stores. Although those stores may not have all products available, they may be able to order it. Use store coupons and get supplies at a discount.

• Check for coupons and special offers before buying your laptop battery.

• Consider buying an extra laptop battery. A laptop uses 90% less energy than a desktop, and it uses less energy when running on batteries.

• If you order from a third party seller, be sure the battery for the laptop has not been recalled.

• Be sure there is an agreeable return policy and check for warranties before buying.

Buyer Protection Link
http://www.laptopbatteryshopping.com is a Paypal verified seller for replacement & spare laptop batteries. Customers can select their needed laptop battery & use paypal to check out.

How to treat your battery right

For on-the-go computing, your battery is your best friend. Knowing how it likes to be treated is the first step to keeping both of you happy.

• Keep battery contacts clean. Battery contacts can get dirty or corroded over time, reducing the effective delivery of power. With your mobile PC turned off and unplugged from its external power source, remove the battery. Use a cotton swab dampened with rubbing alcohol to wipe the metal contacts on the battery and inside the device. Allow them to dry completely before reinstalling the battery and reconnecting to a power source. Repeat this procedure every two to three months.

• Charge your battery correctly. When you're on the road, be sure to carry a power cord and plug your computer in whenever you have the chance. Unlike the older-generation rechargeable batteries like nickel-based (NiMH) batteries (see next paragraph), modern lithium ion batteries can be partially discharged and recharged repeatedly with no harmful effects, but you should avoid fully discharging lithium ion batteries. Consult your owner’s manual for more specific tips on charging, and never use an AC adapter (power cord) or battery charger not approved by your device’s manufacturer.

• Completely drain nickel-based batteries periodically. If you're using an older laptop (at least three years old) with a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery, be sure to completely drain it and recharge it (every one to three months—consult your owner’s manual) to ensure that it will hold a full charge. (Most newer mobile PCs use lithium ion batteries, which don't need to be drained to maximize their capacity.) To drain a NiMH battery, simply turn on your computer, unplug it from its external power source, and let the computer run. To speed things up, you could start several applications, turn the screen brightness to its highest level, and ignore all of the great power-saving strategies below. After the power is completely drained, recharge the battery fully. This may take up to 12 hours.

• Cool it. Your mobile computer generates heat, and higher operating temperatures reduce your device’s efficiency, which in turn demands more battery power and can shorten battery life. Make sure that your computer can “breathe”: Don’t let clothing, lint, or other obstructions block the cooling vents. See How to clean your computer for more tips on keeping your computer spotless and running smoothly.

• Carry a spare. Buying an extra battery is a good investment for your peace of mind. Battery prices vary widely. You can significantly increase the power available to you if you're willing to splurge a little. Contact the manufacturer of your mobile PC to find a replacement battery, or find here.

• Store it properly. If you don’t expect to use your mobile computer for a week or more, it’s a good idea to store the battery, discharged to about 40 percent of full capacity, in a cool place. Click the battery status icon in the notification area of the Windows taskbar to check the current charge. Avoid storing a fully discharged—or fully charged—lithium ion battery for extended periods, as this can diminish battery life.

questions & answers： about laptop battery

Question:
How long a laptop battery should last after each charge?

Answer:
After the laptop has gone through a full single charge and the power plug is unplugged the average life of a laptop battery can be anywhere between one and six hours. This time is dependent on the battery, its capacity (mAH), what's being done on the laptop, and how old the battery is. Over time the laptop battery total capacity decreases, which means the battery will not last as long as it did when you first got the laptop and will continue to decrease over time.

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Defragmenting your laptop：Why & How?

Over time and with regular use, files and folders on a computer's hard drive break down or become fragmented. When computer files are fragmented, they are typically disorganized and in the wrong place. This can cause the system to run slowly and to experience processing problems. Defragmenting the computer gathers and organizes the files, which usually improves retrieval time and the computer's overall performance.

For example, a computer program must access various files on the hard drive every time it is run. If those files are spread out on opposite sides of the hard drive instead of gathered and organized neatly, as they are supposed to be, the computer will have to work extra hard and take extra time to access the information it needs. In some cases, severe defragmenting may even cause a program to stop running entirely.

Defragmenting, also referred to as "defragging," reorganizes the hard drive by putting pieces of related data back together so that files are organized in a contiguous fashion. As a result, the computer system can access files more efficiently. By efficiently organizing files and folders, defragmenting will leave the computer's free space in one big chunk. This will allow new files to be saved in an orderly fashion, thereby reducing the need for future defragmentation.


What's the Benefits of Defragging

As the overall size of disk drives keeps increasing, defragmenting a computer regularly may even help to increase its life-span. A system needs to work quite hard in order to collect fragmented information across larger and larger disks. Considering the amount of work this takes, it seems likely that defragmenting can help a hard drive last significantly longer.

Though some computer experts argue that today's operating systems are efficient enough to eliminate the need for defragmenting altogether, it is generally recommended that computer users defrag their systems on a regular basis. Average users will probably find that bimonthly defragmenting produces sufficient results. Users who notice a frequent loss of efficiency and speed may choose to defrag more often.

It's sure that defragging your laptop daily with extend laptop battery life


How to Defragment

All computer systems come with some type of defragmenter tool, commonly found under the "System Tools" option in Windows-based PC environments. Such tools typically come with an analysis feature that will actually tell users if their computers need defragging or not. You can also defragment disks from a "C prompt" command line using the "defrag" command. Additional information on how to defragment a computer should also be available on the Internet.


Links

If you really need a new laptop battery replacement , we suggest you buy cheap laptop batteries from online laptop batteries discount store.

Optimise Your Power Settings to Increase Laptop Battery Life

Modern laptops are much better at conserving their power than older computers. Many are equipped with green hard drives or even solid state drives designed to minimize power consumption and most laptops have special green settings that cut down on power usage while extending laptop battery life.

Even so, laptop computer users can often extend the battery life of laptops by changing a few key settings. Here's a quick guide to ecologically friendly laptop batteries power settings that can extend battery life significantly.


Laptop Settings In Windows

Laptops that use Windows 7*, XP* or Vista* have a few predetermined power plans for users to choose from as well as a Custom option. To view these plans, open Control Panel from your computer's Start menu. Choose Power Options from either the System and Maintenance (Windows 7 and Vista) or Performance and Maintenance (XP) menus.

The Power Options menu offers both simple and advanced settings. Some laptops have a special eco-friendly plan which limits screen brightness while lowering the time it takes for a computer to go to sleep or hibernate. Choosing custom options will allow you to choose each setting separately, so sleep and hibernate times can be manually set.

To get really great laptop battery life, laptop users should lower their screen brightness through the Display menu in the Control Panel. Some laptops also have special graphics card programs which can be used to minimize power consumption while a computer's unplugged.


Mac OS* Laptops

Apple laptops have similar power settings, although changing them is a bit different. Go to your computer's Apple menu and select System Preferences. The Hardware tab has several power-related settings that can be changed by computer users. Sleep settings can be changed under the Energy Saver tab. Processor performance can also be changed. Lower processor speeds mean a slower computer, but can also mean better battery life.

With all modern laptops, it's a good idea to set power settings as soon as possible after buying a computer. When a computer is unplugged, running down its battery completely before recharging may extend battery life. Check your computer's manual to find out if this is the case.

Making these simple adjustments to a laptop's power settings is a great way to keep a battery running for longer and to reduce your power bill. With a slightly dimmer screen and manually adjusted sleep settings, a computer can often get 20 percent or more battery life. It's well worth the time to make a few key adjustments, especially if you frequently use your laptop on battery power.

Ultimate Guide：How to Improve, Increase & Extend Laptop Battery Life

Modern laptops are much better at conserving their laptop battery power than older computers. Many are equipped with green hard drives or even solid state drives designed to minimize power consumption and most laptops have special green settings that cut down on power usage while extending battery life.

Even so, laptop computer users can often extend the battery life of laptops by some easy tips & ways. If you don't want to look ongoing for the nearest power outlet to charge up your laptop everyday, you should read the ultimate guide - learn 16 ways to keep your battery going for as long as possible：


1. Laptop Power Settings

Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).
Click to learn details about the best laptop power settings both in Windows & Mac OS

2. Defrag regularly

The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery. Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.

3. Dim your screen

Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen. Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.

4. Cut down on programs running in the background.

Itunes, Desktop Search, etc. All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life. Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.

5. Cut down external devices

USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery. Remove or shut them down when not in use. It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.

6. Add more RAM

This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

7. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD

As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse. Even having one in the drive can be power consuming. They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used. Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.

8. Keep the battery contacts clean

Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.

9. Take care of your battery
Exercise the Battery. Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)

10. Hibernate not standby

Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does. Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

11. Keep operating temperature down

Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler. Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips by LapTopMag.com.

12. Don’t multitask

Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery. Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3′s, set your mind to one thing only. If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!

13. Go easy on the PC demands

The more you demand from your PC. Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD. If you’ve got a single battery charge – pick your priorities wisely.

14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop

Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries. Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.

15. Prevent the Memory Effect
If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ – Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect.


Bonus Tips

16. Turn off the autosave function.

MS-Word’s and Excel’s autosave functions are great but because they keep saving regular intervals, they work your hard driver harder than it may have to. If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low. While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies.

17. Lower the graphics use

You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers. Graphics cards (video cards) use as much or more power today as hard disks


Shopping Tips

18. Save 50% off at online laptop battery store
Buy new battery from online laptop battery store is more cheap, but with the same model and quality to your laptop battery, so don't go to the official after-sale store such as DELL, HP or others. Just go to LaptopBatteryShopping.com to select your model and buy a same battery. It can save you as least 50% off cost