Acer Aspire 5517 battery and repair contract

Can I purchase a battery with a longer than 2.5 hr life for the above at a reasonable cost? :confused

Office Depot manager wants to sell me a 2yr repair contract for the laptop, claiming that any small accident, liquid spill, dropping etc will make the computer worthless. I countered that $120 is way out of proportion to the $400 cost of the laptop. :yum

Tech guy told me that laptop batteries are not like cellphone batteries in that laptop batteries should be charged only when they have been exhausted.
Also I was told that when you use the laptop from an electrical outlet that the battery should be removed so it doesn't drain. To me this makes a laptop a gigantic pain in the a--! Are they right? Thanks in advance. :cry

 

I suppose you could buy another battery, and charge both of them up, but you would need to shutdown to change the batteries.

Like this http://www.buy-laptop-battery.co.uk/acer-laptop-battery/acer-as09a73-battery.html

They are right, doing what they said increases how much charge the battery holds, so over the years, it should hold the charge for longer.

Also, have a read of this.

http://www.friedbeef.com/top-15-ways-to-extend-your-laptop-battery-life/

 

This might have been true in the days of NI-MH batteries, but now that 99% of laptops are on LI-ION These things no longer apply. LI-ION batteries can be recharged from any state to any state as the "memory effect" no longer applies. And as for removing the battery whilst using it, that is utter rubbish. How do you expect to charge the battery if it is not plugged in to the computer that happens to charge it? If your laptop is on AC power it will not drain the battery.

I suggest you refer the technician you spoke to the store manager for some "refresher training".

 

Since I do like coffee and drink more than is good for me, I used to tether my laptop to one of those rubbery, waterproof external keyboards and a mouse while placing the laptop out of harm's way.

If you do like to drink near a laptop, I suggest doing something to keep it away from liquids.

Rarely followed that advice. I have an old HP laptop and the battery in it held a charge from August 2001 thru the start of 2009 so over 7 years of usage seems like I can disregard the advice given to you.

You should be able to search and get a better battery fro your Aspire. I have an eeepc and I know there are batteries that are higher capacity than the one that came with my netbook and give a longer period of usage. I might get one of these when my original battery doesn't hold a charge. So far using it from Jan. 2008 it is still working fine. I never remove it either. I want a fully charged battery when I go wireless at a moment's notice.