I know that I should completely drain the battery and charge it
completely for optimum battery life

I was wondering what is best practise.
1)drain the battery completely and use laptop with ac adapter while
charging the battery.
2)after draining the battery, turn off the computer and charge the
battery to maximum and then use it off the battery again?

Which one do you suggest
Laptop is Gateway GP4542

Thanks

Actually, you should not completely drain the battery.

You are clearly taking information written for NiCad batteries (last
used in laptops in the early 1990's) and trying to apply them to laptops
using Lithium Ion (probably) or NiMH (possibly) batteries.

However, the rules for the 3 different chemical systems are totally
different.

For Lithium batteries, which you probably have, there is no need to go
all the way down, and in fact doing so may damage the battery. Best to
not go below 15% to 30%. Some also say it's best to not charge quite
fully, stopping in the high 90's, although I'm not sure that I buy that
advice.

In my experience, the most important single thing with lithium batteries
in most notebooks is to take them out of the computer entirely when the
computer will be used on AC line power for an extended period of time
(more than a day or so).


m.ramana@gmail.com wrote:

On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 03:05:33 GMT, Barry Watzman
<WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote :


get a power failure and lose all your work in progress!

I suggest that if you want to do that, and if your area is prone to
power failures, you should invest in a UPS.

I just leave the battery in, and it's saved my bacon more than once!
But I do notice when traveling that the battery life is decreasing
noticeably, and the current battery is only 18 months old!
--
Regards,
Peter Wilkins
Profanity is the crutch of inarticulate @ssholes

You be surprised but 18 months is probably par for the course for most
batteries.

Even though the laptop might be covered under a 3yr warranty, the
battery is only covered for one year.

T.

"Peter Wilkins" <wilkinsp_nospam@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:ec6nh1lid9h6atjrbdupqjisrre1g95201@4ax.com...
On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 03:05:33 GMT, Barry Watzman
<WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote :


get a power failure and lose all your work in progress!

I suggest that if you want to do that, and if your area is prone to
power failures, you should invest in a UPS.

I just leave the battery in, and it's saved my bacon more than once!
But I do notice when traveling that the battery life is decreasing
noticeably, and the current battery is only 18 months old!
------------------------

So you prefer to use a $200 battery to do the job of of a $50 UPS. Like
many others, you have boiled the battery to destruction.

If you need a UPS, get a UPS. While some think it's crazy to remove the
battery and then get a UPS for a laptop, if the laptop is, in fact,
being used as a desktop (e.g. on AC power all the time), leaving the
battery in will probably destroy it over a period of 6 to 18 months. A
laptop battery can cost over $200, while a 350VA APC UPS can be had for
$0 to $30 (on sale, possibly after rebates). You do the math.

[Certainly, while traveling, use the battery .... but leaving in the
laptop when it's continously on AC will, as a practical matter, destroy
it in most cases on most laptop models.]

[Also, UPS' are just generally useful things to have around in
emergencies, as they can provide short duration power for small lights,
radios, even small TV sets for a short period of time. They are also
useful for non-computer stuff, like alarm clocks and VCRs (no more
flashing 12:00).]


Peter Wilkins wrote:

Treated properly, a Lithium battery can last a decade. I service
laptops, and I have over a dozen Toshiba 2487 batteries dating back to
1996 that are still good for more than 2 hours of service (this battery
has been prolific, used in hundreds of Toshiba models from 1996 to 2003).


tlai909@visto.com wrote:

If you are paying $50 for a UPS to use with a notebook, you are paying
way too much. The APC 350VA UPS' are often on sale for $30, and are
sometimes on sale for less, and even sometimes for "free after rebate".


Ye Electric Fanne Clubbe wrote:

"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:431C5315.6070401@neo.rr.com...
the UK I don't need them as my power very rarely, if ever, goes out. Only
people who live in areas fed by overhead line have problems, but most built
up areas, the cables are underground. The US power companies don't know what
underground cables are.

The last statement isn't true; in newer developments (built in the last
20 years or so), utilities are usually underground, but in older
developments, they are above ground on poles.


Ye Electric Fanne Clubbe wrote: