[Hudlug] Semi-OT - Laptop advice, please

[Anne Wilson]

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On Thursday 23 Jun 2005 16:35, Paul Brook wrote:
> On Thursday 23 June 2005 13:45, Anne Wilson wrote:
> > I've never had a laptop before, so I need some quick advice.  I've been
> > told that I should remove the battery if I use it on mains.  Is this
> > true of modern laptops?
>
> There are many myths about battery life, most of which are either
> inaccurate, or only apply to very old batties. For example old machines
> (> 7 years or so) use NiCad batteries which need a full discharge/charge
> cycles to avoid memory effects. With modern NiMH or lithium ion batteries
> this will actually damage the battery.
>
> Generally speaking if you keep the battery well changed you won't go far
> wrong. Modern batteries have integrated charging circuitry. They prefer
> being recharged immediately after use, and an continual topup trickle
> change between uses.
>
Thanks, Paul and Andy.  I suspect that both the people who had batteries go 
almost immediately had old-style batteries, although one of them was bought 
new about 4-5 years ago.  Nevertheless, I'm glad to hear that it doesn't 
apply to new ones.  The docs that come with the laptop say practically 
nothing about battery care.

Unfortunately I do need to run windows on it, but in a few weeks I shall be 
asking for help/advice about getting a dual-boot set up.  At the moment I'm 
thinking that I could re-partition and install linux, then use partimage on 
it.  Since, as I understand it, it does a bit-for-bit copy I presume the 
windows side would restore as well.  I haven't even activated it yet, but I 
assume that restoring from partimage would get around any need for 
reactivation.  Sorry if this sounds ramblilng, but I haven't used windows 
for years now, apart from when I'm helping sort out my daughters' boxes, 
and XP is completely new to me.  I'm not interested in running windows more 
than I have to, but obviously it needs to be done as carefully and securely 
as I can.

Anne
- -- 
Registered Linux User No.293302 (http://counter.li.org/)
Have you visited http://twiki.mdklinuxfaq.org yet?  Mandrake at all levels
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