Choosing Right Battery for Your Laptop : Notebook Laptop

Choosing Right Battery for Your Laptop
by Lesley Lyon
Laptops usually consume more power and the batteries should be lightweight and small to fit easily into the laptop. With a typical battery, your laptop can run for about ninety minutes. This will not be sufficient, as you may have to use your laptop frequently while on the move. You can use large and heavier batteries to solve this problem.
Laptop batteries are designed specific to the make and model of the laptop. Thus you require the appropriate battery for your laptop. Depending on the type of battery, the life of the battery will vary. However there are some common features that differ from the normal batteries used for household purposes: Laptop batteries can be recharged. They have many internal cells and there is a small PCB within each laptop battery. The location and shape of terminals vary across different models; Similar to all batteries, electrochemical reaction is created which forces a stream of electrons that traverse from one position to another in the laptop batteries and there are negative and positive terminals which send and receive electrons. However, rechargeable batteries are more complex than normal batteries as the power that is produced by the electrochemical reaction must be reversible. Therefore you should take care when recharging, for ensuring that they perform better.
Today there are many battery manufacturers who supply compatible batteries to Laptop makes such as IBM, HP-Compaq, Dell, Acer, Sony, Toshiba and Apple. There are three types of laptop batteries available in the market today. Before you plan to purchase, you should know the difference among them to decide on the right type of battery for your laptop.
NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) batteries were the first rechargeable batteries available for laptops. As they delivered a high output and the cost was also low, most manufactures earlier preferred them. Now they are not available widely as replacements have come that are much lighter with better performance.
NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries can still be used in the older laptop models. They are more reliable than the NiCd batteries due to their higher output. The NiMH batteries are also safe to use and also cheaper to manufacture. The only disadvantage is the memory effect in the NiMH batteries, as it can remember the battery discharge levels and gives varying performance if the battery is not fully discharged.
LiON (Lithium Ion) batteries are currently used in laptops of latest models. LiON batteries have no memory effect compared to the NiMH batteries and are also lighter than both the above types of laptop batteries. Thus, Lithium Ion Batteries have become more popular and also expensive because of these advantages. If you can afford for the Lithium Ion battery, this is the best solution; you can go for a compatible NiMH battery if you have budget limitations.
A number of specialist battery manufacturers supply batteries to laptop companies based on the specifications, design and configurations for a particular model and quality terms agreed. Even the power requirements and available space for installing the battery vary from a laptop model to another and hence the laptop manufacturers order suitable battery packs for their various models. When you plan to replace the battery, you can contact the authorized dealer of your laptop manufacturer to ensure that you get the correct type of replacement.