The parameters that define a laptop usually well defined and quantified within specific values: processor speed, disk capacity, screen inches, weight, and so on. However, if there is a component that usually remains in a state of uncertainty controlled that is the battery?
We speak of their capacity in mAh or Whr, autonomy getting the laptop with her and cycles of loading and unloading can support, but in our heart of hearts, we assume are approximate parameters that cannot be taken at face value.
In practice, it is literally true: batteries, unlike what happens with other components of a laptop, not a digital component. It is analog, and much: within the housing or protective case, we find a conglomerate of chemical elements responsible for generating electricity as a side effect of movement of lithium ions from the negative electrode to the positive.
These chemicals will degrade with use, which results in a progressive reduction of the battery capacity to generate electricity. However, it is degradation, which is not easy to quantify an accurate way.
Myth Busters
With so much uncertainty, it is normal that have arisen myths and urban legends around batteries, today, are still unknown for buyers and laptop users.
Some come from the time when the batteries are manufactured from NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) or NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) instead of LiIon (Lithium Ion) as now. Others come from observation, although ultimately degradation capacity, should be) is motivated by different causes to which we might expect.
For example, still spoken memory effect of batteries, which made, if not fully discharged, will eventually be taken as zero level, which had to start recharging. It is a myth that today, with lithium ion batteries have no reason to be. Start charging the battery at any time, without fear that lose capacity for it.
Another myth has to do with the degradation of the battery by the mere fact of having the battery installed while we have connected the laptop to the mains. Besides, if harmful, computers would not replaceable batteries so badly, teams have protection systems that cause the battery to stop charging automatically when full.
The problem may have to leave the battery on a laptop plugged lie is warming, as explained below.
The portable art equipment, such as Pro VivoBook of the N series of Asus, play with the integration of the battery within the housing to remove the metal protection of removable batteries.
In fact, the internal batteries in devices like this are coated with a kind of very thin pouch that isolates the chemical components from the air, saving weight and space of said metal protection.
The famous cycles
Of all the parameters of a battery, which determines the number of cycles of charge and discharge it is one of the most confusing. As a reference, they are often shuffling figures around 1,000 cycles to determine the lifespan of a battery.
No, not that after 1000 cycles the battery stops working. That number refers to the battery, after the number of cycles of loading / unloading its original capacity will be reduced to such a remarkable way that can be considered to no longer fulfill its original function.
A charge / discharge account at the time in which, after being working with the unplugged laptop, connect it to the mains and the battery starts to recharge. It does not matter if we downloaded the maximum or only up to 80%. All they counted as a cycle.
However, the number of cycles that can hold a battery depends on how the battery is discharged when we start charging. That is, if the downloaded completely, the number of cycles the battery will be between 300 and 500, but only 25% downloaded, cycles can reach between 2,000 and 2,500 . This reference is taken from an academic article, but is extrapolated to the present case.
Do not download the battery “butt”
If the memory effect is a myth, which itself is a reality in lithium batteries, it is the harmful effect of discharging the minimum capacity. In addition to reducing the number of cycles that can support, in some cases can lead to battery to a discharge state, which is not easy to come back to life.
For practical purposes: do not be hesitate to charge your laptop even if you have used only 15% of its capacity overall.
How I can know what the battery cycles are?
Windows often not clear how many cycles of use is the battery. Anyway, there is a simple way to find out.
Throw the CMD (command line) application in administrator mode. In addition, typing powercfg -energy. After a while (a minute or so), we in C: \ WINDOWS \ system32 \ energy-report.html a report that in the battery section, find information on our battery cycles.
You may also like to read another article on YellowTube: How the All in One has become the home computer
Temperature, battery worst enemy
Of all the enemies of the batteries, which itself is a real risk of degradation of capacity is the heat. If battery LiIon or LiPoly (Lithium Polymer) is heated above its “normal” operating temperature, the capacity will degrade quickly.
It can even be a before and after: before heater battery was fine, but after autonomy is substantially lower. The chemistry of the batteries is especially sensitive to heat.
For example, take the laptop to the sun, or is not properly cooled while running applications requiring high CPU usage. The biggest benefit of removing the battery on a laptop while plugged in is to prevent heat generated by the laptop poses a risk of degradation to the battery chemistry.
Accordingly, what about laptops with built-in batteries? It is a legitimate question. Although in these cases; manufacturers can opt for the use of materials such as aluminum to dissipate heat from the system.
This is the case of Asus Pro N552VX VivoBook with a casing made of aluminum where the heat is dissipated through the surface reducing the impact of temperature on the battery.
What the mAh and WHR mean in real life?
The battery capacity is usually given in mAh or WHR. These figures alone may not tell us anything really, but are connected with tangible and recognizable aspects of the equipment if we stop to think. The more “visual” parameter is the one that gives the capacity in Watt hour (WHR). There is a direct relationship between Whr and mAh: WHR are obtained by multiplying mAh battery voltage and dividing by 1000.
For example, for a battery 3,200 mAh is, with a voltage of 15 volts. The result is a capacity of 48 Whr. This figure indicates that this battery is capable of powering a computer that consumes 48 W for one hour. If the computer to consume 24 W, it may feed for two hours, and so on.
The use of laptops is not constant and depends on the processor, display, network components, and so on. When they are at rest they consume virtually zero watts. For “light” applications with standard Core i processors, they can consume five to ten watts, and for demanding tasks can consume about 20 watts. Henceautonomy is not always an exact science.
Battery and power for your audiovisual content
Advances in battery technology makes it possible not only to ultralight computers have many hours of battery life, but also that teams with a performance that makes only a few generations only could expect from a desktop computer, now may have a format portable with enough time to work or watch movies autonomy even if we plug by hand.
The Asus VivoBook Pro N552V is a good example of this type of technological achievements, with Intel Core sixth generation processor, dedicated graphics card; display up to 4K resolution, connectivity includes even USB-C, up to 16 GB of RAM and storage solid state.
Yet, it has autonomy for three to four hours of use watching movies or working with applications that do not squeeze the maximum CPU or GPU.
The temperature management with an aluminum construction that favors the dissipation of heat generating components is a factor that helps the computer run properly.