Okay all my techie smarties, a question on battery life

Mine is down to 79% capacity. Better calibrate it tonight.

I stoped by the Sony Style store today because I'm also having an issue with my battery. It lasts around 2.5 hours when it should last between 5-6 hours. The guy there said that when I first get a battery I should charge it to 100% and then let it discharge completely and to do this 2 times. After that he said every time I charge it I need to remove it from the laptop to condition it.

So I'm going to buy a new battery online and do what he said.

Also I have software on my laptop for battery management, which when enabled charges the battery only up to 80% to protect it. This I don't quite understand maybe a bit to overcomplicated because when I'm on the go I'll need a full battery. The best care according to the software is when it only maintains the charge of the battery at 50%.

In general, people spend way too much time worrying about their batteries and not actually using them.

Modern Lithium Ion batteries don't have the same "memory effect" that Nickel-Cadmium batteries did, and much of what people believe is good battery maintenance is a holdover from those days.

Recharging a laptop from a partial discharge won't hurt it. Neither will leaving it plugged in all day. It is wise to let it run down all the way every once in a while for calibration purposes, but it's unnecessary to take it out when you're operating off wall power. In fact, oftentimes, computers will overcompensate for the possibility of a quick spike in power use by downclocking the CPU, so you're not running at full speed without the battery. Furthermore, letting your battery discharge all the way every time you use it is probably the worst thing you can do for it. Like I mentioned, this was suggested practice for older batteries, but Li-Ion batteries are fine with partial charges — in fact, they prefer them — whereas "deep" discharges can wear them out quickly. (Nonetheless, as said before, it is a good idea to do it every once in a while — but not all the time.)

Lithium Ion batteries have onboard controllers, and some of them are smarter than others. The smart ones will generally handle a constant connection to power better than the dumb ones, so if in doubt, check with the battery/laptop manufacturer to see if you should try using it on battery power more. If you do, don't worry about discharging it completely more than once a month or so — you're fine charging it after only using half of the charge. Really. If you want to take it out... that's fine, but know that you're probably going to be running a slower computer because of it, and I don't really think it's worth it. For long term storage, Li-Ion batteries are best kept at 40-60% charge, in a cold place, like a refrigerator. But if you're actually using your computer, there's not much point in this, IMO.

In summary, let it run down every once in a while, but other than that, don't worry too much about it, and just use it. The battery will eventually lose capacity as it ages. There's nothing you can do to change that. But with so many myths from the NiCd days, if you worry too much about it, you're probably as likely to hurt your battery your life as to help it.

Part of the purpose I have for writing on a laptop is having battery backup.

Weather can be perfect, and I am typing along at warp speed, then the power goes out. Without a battery in the laptop, all is lost. Often the last few saves disappear as well.

In ten seconds, the power will come back on. Just long enough to shut down every electrical appliance in the house, except a laptop battery.

Seriously, you never know when you will need that battery as back up.

They never give us a warning, or a reason for power or water outages in this town. They just occur.