As far as I understand, there are two major factors that will shorten the battery life considerably.
One is heat. This may not be avoidable depending on the computer usage. My mom "plays" Second Life (for english lessons) and her battery barely lasted two years - expanding to the point that the trackpad on her Macbook Pro was sticking out.
Another is leaving the computer plugged in all the time, which will top the battery - and apparently lithium batteries hate that.
Some electric cars have the option to only recharge the battery up to 80%, to increase the lifespan. Would it be possible to do the same with laptop batteries? Perhaps by patching the SMC?
>Some electric cars have the option to only recharge the battery up to 80%, to increase the lifespan. Would it be possible to do the same with laptop batteries? Perhaps by patching the SMC?
My laptop (X1 carbon) does this, I assumed most did. The Lenovo power manager let's you choose when to start charging and when to stop. I start below 40% and stop at 85%.
I'd think that they will actually recharge to somewhat less than 100%. But Apple still recommends unplugging the computer from time to time, so I'm assuming they get to very near full capacity.
My laptop is plugged in to a Thunderbolt Display almost all the time, so the battery gets topped off. It says that it is "charged", but I have no idea how much absolute capacity is that.
If I'm not going to unplug the notebook anytime soon (not travelling, not weekend), then I should be able to tell to leave it half charged (half, since discharging completely is even worse).
I don't know what brand of computer outerworld uses, but my MacBook doesn't start charging until below 95%. When plugged in for long durations, the battery is not running not.
One is heat. This may not be avoidable depending on the computer usage. My mom "plays" Second Life (for english lessons) and her battery barely lasted two years - expanding to the point that the trackpad on her Macbook Pro was sticking out.
Another is leaving the computer plugged in all the time, which will top the battery - and apparently lithium batteries hate that.
Some electric cars have the option to only recharge the battery up to 80%, to increase the lifespan. Would it be possible to do the same with laptop batteries? Perhaps by patching the SMC?