----- Original Message ----- From: "Alexandre Guimaraes" Subject: [EE] What is the best way to make a Li battery last longer ? > - What is best for the batteries ? Should I leave them inside the > Notebook or should I take them out when using external power ? What is best > for the Li batteries ?? IBM actually recommends cycling Li-Ion batteries, althought not as frequently as they recommend cycling NiCd's. Unlike NiCd's, they recommend taking them down to almost dry. IBM's batteries have some smarts in the battery, though, so totally drained for them might not be totally drained. > - Has anyone tried to use a Notebook as a Desktop ? Will it last ? Will > the 24/7 usage I make on my desktop kill it sooner ? I bought a used Thinkpad about a year and a half ago, including a used battery that was probably a year or two old at the time. After about a year, it was down to a little over a hour, so I bought a new one and keep the old one for longer stints away. I used it "mostly" like a desktop, although in good weather I'll take it down to the coffeeshop where I can sit in the sun and surf with their WiFi. I have a desktop, too, which is almost three times as fast, but gets maybe 10% as much use because it's so convenient to be able to drag the laptop somewhere else. > - Does anyone can say if it is a bad idea and why ? I am quite > apprensive because I never thought about doing it before.. It is weird how > something that makes sense but with wich we have no previous experience can > be annoying.. There are a few big downsides to a laptop, and how big they are depends on you. The main problem in my book is that it is very expensive to upgrade, and what you can do it pretty limited. I bought my Thinkpad with the thought in mind that it would be retired after a year. Now I think I'll get another year out of it, maybe more if I break down and buy an outrageously expensive drive for it. My desktop has been through a series of upgrades tracing back many, many years. It's pretty easy to pop in a new motherboard, bigger drive, more memory, etc. If the truth be told, it's probably more expensive than buying new but you can do it in little steps so it doesn't feel so bad! Also, newer laptops tend to be kind of anemic on serial and parallel ports, which can be a big deal for some applications. For some things, USB to serial converters simply do not work - the basic PIC programmer being one of them. (Fancy PIC programmers like Wouter's can be made to work, however). So for me, I'll have both. And for the forseeable future, the laptop will remain the bread and butter machine, while the desktop serves for things that need lots of performance, or the DVD burner, or the big, pretty screen, or ... or ... 72/73 de WB8RCR http://www.qsl.net/wb8rcr didileydadidah QRP-L #1446 Code Warriors #35 _______________________________________________ http://www.piclist.com View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist