A battery is a wear item, like tyres. After three or four years, losing running time is not a fault - it is the normal course of things.
What matters is knowing where yours actually stands. Windows can measure the gap between the original capacity and the current one : that is an objective figure, far more useful than the feeling that "it lasts less than it used to".
Windows generates a detailed battery report from a command prompt. It gives the design capacity, the current capacity, and the history of charge cycles. A battery down to 60% of its original capacity is at the end of its life ; at 80%, it is simply ageing.
That report also clears up a frequent ambiguity : if the measured capacity is good but the running time is poor, the problem is not the battery but what the machine is doing - background programs, maximum brightness, or overheating.
On a battery that is still reasonable, a few settings genuinely change the running time : lower the brightness, turn on power saving mode, close syncing apps running in the background, and deal with overheating if there is any. A machine whose fan blows constantly consumes far more - see overheating and noise.
If the underside of the laptop no longer sits flat, if the trackpad is lifting or the case is opening slightly, the battery is swelling. This is not a cosmetic defect : it is a real fire risk. Stop using the machine, do not leave it charging unattended, do not try to pierce or force anything, and have it dealt with quickly. The battery will have to be replaced and disposed of through the proper channel.
On most models the job is straightforward and the cost reasonable against the value of the machine. Two things to watch : choose a quality battery, since cheap ones often last less than a year ; and check the exact part number, as the same computer model can exist with several different batteries.
On very thin laptops the battery is glued to the chassis and the work becomes more delicate - but it remains possible.
On older machines with a removable battery, that made sense. On current models, no : the charging electronics stop by themselves, and many laptops throttle their performance without a battery. Better to turn on the charge limit the manufacturer offers.
We identify the exact part, supply the battery and fit it, taking the old one back for recycling.
Three to five years in ordinary use, or roughly 500 to 1000 charge cycles. Heat shortens that noticeably.
No, that is a habit inherited from an older technology. Lithium batteries prefer frequent partial charges to full discharges.
No. A swollen battery is a fire risk and distorts the case. Stop using it and have it replaced without delay.
Would you rather we took care of it ? See our laptop repair service, in Lyon and across the Rhone.
We measure the real wear before proposing anything.
Automatic assistant: it can make mistakes. Never share a password or a card number.
