[geeks] Extending laptop battery life

[Jonathan Groll]

I have many questions about the Best Methods for extending battery life,
and suspect that there are many on this list who have thought long and
hard about this one.

So these are my burning questions:

Modern laptops now are Lithium-Ion type, so we shouldn't have to
completely drain and recharge our batteries? Right? How well do laptop
batteries deep cycle actually? Is there any benefit to removing your
laptop battery until you actually need it (where that can be done).

Apple's recent release of a firmware fix (1) to correct battery problems
has made me wonder if intelligent software cannot help us to extend
battery life, by for example performing controlled charge and discharges
while you work.  Surely someone has done this, if it would work? I'm not
talking about the traditional battery calibration that most laptop
manufacturers recommend.

Cheers,
Jonathan.

(1)
http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20070430/apple_releases_fix_for_macbook_macbook_pro_battery_problems-id-103420.html