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very very flat battery (inspiron 6400)
Hi folks.
I'm running my Inspiron 6400 on a very flat battery, I just don't have the funds right now to replace the battery.
How dodgy is it to do this? What can I expect if I continue to do this for any length of time?
At the minute I am getting B.S.O.D. about once every two or three days.
I'm quite surprised about all this, I mean I expected the battery to deteriorate over time but I didnt think it would be an issue if the thing was plugged in.
I've heard whispers that laptops dont live very long anyway .. is that true?
Ali
ali1ear
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October 27th, 2009 12:00
Hi ejn63, can you eloborate a bit on the failure rate bit? Apart from battery and hard drive failure what else goes wrong?
I can understand why it would be more economical for a business to replace their computers every three years or so but can a home user replace parts and keep their laptop running for 8-10 years, or is it more likely that they will suffer some motherboard problem or something?
Ali
ejn63
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October 27th, 2009 12:00
Battery lifespans run about 1.5-2 years. In general, most companies/businesses replace notebooks on a 3-year cycle - by three years, the 20% failure rate rises markedly. There is no harm in running a battery UNLESS it's clearly causing overheating - then it should be removed or replaced.
Batteries deteriorate whether used or not - so the clock starts ticking the day they're built. Apple claims a 5-year life on its new batteries - with two BIG caveats. They won't guarantee them more than 12 months (same as anyone else) and when they do fail, they'll cost more to replace because they're not user replaceable.
ejn63
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October 27th, 2009 13:00
Most people consider the design life of a notebook to be 3-5 years. Some will last 8-10 years - but that's not the majority of them.
If you look at the statistics Consumer Reports publishes, about 20-25% of all notebooks experience a major failure in the the first three years. Failure rates keep rising thereafter.
Even a desktop that's running with no failures after five years is rare- - remember, the design life of a hard drive is five years. Many desktop drives will exceed this -- most notebook drives are doing well to even make five years.
ali1ear
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November 12th, 2009 10:00
Thanks for the info. Its tricky deciding what to do. My 6400 is three years old, I like it, its my first laptop and its never given me any problems.
Cash is the limiting factor, I couldn't replace it even if I wanted to, I'd have to save my pennies for a long time. I'd like to do a Dell System Restore
back to its original state, replace the battery and clean all the dust from under the hood (its been in a very dusty environment).
But I've had look at what that entails, it looks complicated, detaching the monitor, lifting the keyboard etc.
It could result in the opposite of the desired effect - actually reducing the lifespan of the laptop!
Incidently .. why does a flat battery cause overheating? (even when the laptop is permanently plugged in).
Ali