Off Topic Quick question - laptop help

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gelders pie

gelders pie

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
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annfield plain
Any clever tech people able to answer please ? My laptop's battery pretty much died ages ago and have been using it plugged in ok ever since. Now though the battery symbol is showing a gradual decrease in percentage-- so when it reaches zero , will laptop be useless or will it still be ok plugged into mains. ?
Thanks in advance
 
gelders pie said:
Any clever tech people able to answer please ? My laptop's battery pretty much died ages ago and have been using it plugged in ok ever since. Now though the battery symbol is showing a gradual decrease in percentage-- so when it reaches zero , will laptop be useless or will it still be ok plugged into mains. ?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I have a big old Dell laptop that won't charge but still works fine, it has a big screen so I watch games on it.

If possible I'd leave it plugged in but that's not totally necessary.

Mine sometimes goes mad and allows charging so it goes to 100% ...

... I get all excited but then it starts to come down again.

It's sometimes a case that the laptop falls out with the charger and 'fails to recognise it'. There's a fix but nothing I could explain without being there. It's worth 'asking for a quote' which will at least give you some clarity.
 
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gelders pie said:
Any clever tech people able to answer please ? My laptop's battery pretty much died ages ago and have been using it plugged in ok ever since. Now though the battery symbol is showing a gradual decrease in percentage-- so when it reaches zero , will laptop be useless or will it still be ok plugged into mains. ?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
As long as the charger works you will be fine. The battery becomes irrelevant at this stage.
 
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gelders pie said:
Any clever tech people able to answer please ? My laptop's battery pretty much died ages ago and have been using it plugged in ok ever since. Now though the battery symbol is showing a gradual decrease in percentage-- so when it reaches zero , will laptop be useless or will it still be ok plugged into mains. ?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Depending on the age and make of laptop you could always buy a replacement battery. Some laptops have complicated battery management and in some cases it’s better to remove the battery completely if you plan to have it plugged in all of the time.
I recently bought a brand new replacement battery for my Toshiba on eBay for about £20. It works fine for about 3-4 hours between recharges.
 
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If you do get a new battery (or for anyone with a newish laptop where the battery is still good), it's generally a good idea not to use the laptop plugged in all the time. Use it on battery, and plug it in when it's used up most of the charge, charge it to 100%, then unplug it and use off battery again.

This applies less if you've got a decent brand of laptop, but with the cheaper ones, the charger or the laptop will possibly not shut off charging once the battery is full, and it's this overcharging which eventually kills it.
 
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Thankyou everyone . I’ve used plugged in for ages since battery got to the stage of only 20/30 minutes use. Don’t really need to be “ portable” so happy to use mains all the time , so this is good news.
 
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