10 Reasons Why You Need to Change Your Laptop Battery

Laptops are full-fledged computers that can last plenty of hours if the battery is running properly and here are 10 reasons why you need to change your laptop battery

Laptops have made being productive so easy for us. They are fully fledged computers that we can carry around with us. Having your workstation with you at all times lets you have greater control over how you want to work. The portability of a laptop is a blessing and a curse. You get a workstation to carry around with you, but you have to keep an eye on its battery. Laptops have limited battery times that can get pretty frustrating. And even after so much advancement, laptop battery time hasn’t improved that much. An average laptop can run for about 5 to 7 hours on battery, depending on how you use it.

As laptops grow older, their battery time gradually decreases. Their lithium ion batteries have limited lifespans. And they lose their efficiency as they grow older. There’s a very good chance that your laptop’s battery will reach the end of its life before your laptop. This is why it can be a good idea to replace your laptop’s battery.

Let’s take a look at 10 reasons why you should change your laptop’s battery after a certain period of time.
10 Reasons For Changing Your Laptop Battery
Better Battery Time
Laptop batteries have a number of charge cycles that they can go through. As it goes through charge cycles, it gradually loses its efficiency. And when a battery loses efficiency, its overall timing is reduced. The more you use your laptop, the more you will charge its battery, and in doing so, it will inch nearer to its charge cycle limit.
Swapping an old battery with a new one will feel like a sizeable upgrade. You will be able to enjoy longer usage times while your laptop is on its battery.
Stable Battery Consumption
Apart from being inefficient, older batteries are also unstable. Have you ever noticed on an old device how your battery can go from 50% to 25% in less than 5 minutes? This is a classic sign of an old and worn out battery. Laptop batteries consist of many “cells” that are responsible for storing power. In older batteries, some of these cells become too worn out to be able to store energy. This causes the entire battery to become unstable. An unstable battery can make working on your laptop feel like a gamble. You’ll never know when are you going to run out of battery.
Safety Hazard
Lithium ion batteries are made using Lithium, an extremely volatile metal. If the inside of your battery ever gets exposed to oxygen, your battery will blow up. Old batteries can become safety hazards because they begin swelling up. And as they swell up, their chances of getting punctured increase.

When your laptop’s battery begins swelling up, it turns into a major safety hazard. It could get punctured and end up destroying your entire laptop. This is why you should have a swollen battery replaced as soon as possible.
Accurate Battery Life Estimation
When we’re on the go, we rely a lot on our laptop’s battery percentage indicator. It gives us a rough idea about how long can we use our laptop before having to charge it again. With older batteries, the estimate given by the indicator isn’t as accurate. Your laptop could say that you still have 1 hour of battery time left, but then after 15 minutes it will shut down. This kind of uncertainty can be frustrating. If your laptop starts doing this too frequently, you should look into getting your battery replaced.
Poor Charging
If you’re thinking that you can make do with an old battery by charging it more frequently, your idea won’t work. Old batteries aren’t just bad at discharging power, they are also bad at getting charged. They take longer to charge and even when they do reach full charge, their stored energy capacity remains low. Meaning that their 100% charge will get depleted really fast. In some cases, older batteries aren’t even able to charge at all. If your battery has reached this point, your laptop’s operating system will probably give you a heads up about your battery’s condition.
Overheating
Another slightly dangerous side-effect of ad old battery is overheating. Lithium ion batteries tend to produce a little bit of heat when they are running. However, old and dying batteries can randomly get really hot. This is bad for two reasons; its dangerous for the battery and your laptop. Like we mentioned earlier, lithium ion batteries can explode violently. An overheated battery can end up melting and exploding. Even if that doesn’t happen, it will mess with your laptop’s temperature management. This can lead to other components heating up and your laptop’s performance declining. This could also be due to a faulty fan which is unable to cool your laptop.
Operating System Warnings
Your laptop’s OS is equipped with the ability to measure the health of your battery. Once the OS realizes that your battery is failing, it will begin sending warning messages to you. At first, these warnings are not too annoying. But after a while, they can reach a point where you will have a hard time using your laptop. If your battery is really old, your laptop may even refuse to startup. Certain laptops will take you to a warning screen when you boot-up. They won’t startup until you plug them in.

Powering on your laptop while you are on the go and having to see this message can be rather frustrating.

Sudden Shutdowns Due to Motherboard Failure

Usually, when your laptop’s battery level gets low, you receive a warning message first. However, with old and faulty batteries, your laptop may shutdown without giving you any warning at all. Old batteries can stop supplying power to your device at any given moment. These can even happen when your battery indicator is showing plenty of battery time. This leads to premature shutdowns that can make you lose progress. Sudden shutdowns can also corrupt already stored data.
Decline in Performance
An old battery can slow down your laptop by heating it up and by messing up its power management system. Your OS manages the laptop’s battery consumption in order to maximize battery time. If your battery is old, your OS may end up compromising your laptop’s performance significantly in order to increase battery time. The battery management system saves battery power by keeping the fans off, throttling the CPU and switching the HDD off. All of this can significantly slow down your device. A newer battery will have more energy and efficient discharging. This will allow the system to conserve power without having to take drastic steps.
Battery Does Not Charge
An old battery can sometimes refuse to charge itself. This can be troublesome since your laptop will not run without its battery. When this happens, you are forced to use your laptop only when it is plugged in. This can compromise the portable element of owning a laptop. Keep in mind that this is not always a battery problem. Sometimes, the problem could be with your power brick. And in some cases, this problem can be solved by simply restarting your computer.