#132 - Laptop Maintenance

A great majority of our customers have laptops as well as desktop computers. Laptops are DIFFERENT and require different maintenance procedures. Many times we see customer who always leave their laptops plugged in. They aren't using them as a true laptop, just a small desktop. The risk in following this use model is the life of the laptop battery. If you leave the laptop plugged in always and don't use the battery then it will die a quick death and that will cost you over $100 to replace.

When you get a new laptop or batter you should fully charge it (6-12 hours) and then fully discharge it. Here is the recommended cycle (from the battery manufacturers):

1. Unplug the laptop and use the laptop until the battery fully drains.
2. while the computer is turned off, plug in the computer and charge it a minimum of 6 hours.

Lithium-based batteries should be given a full discharge/charge cycle once every 30 charge cycles. If the batter is not going to be used for more than a month, it is recommended that it be removed from the laptop and stored in a cool dry clean place. A charged battery will eventually lose its charge if unused.

Do not expose the battery to high heat or freezing temperatures. Do not leave your batter in your car in the summer. The life of a rechargeable battery operating under normal conditions is generally between 500 to 800 cycles.

Getting the most Usage Time with a Battery:

1. Turn off your WiFi if not using it.
2. Don't use your DVD/CD player
3. Disconnect all external devices (USB devices, PC Cards, Printers)
4. Adjust your screen brightness to the lowest acceptable to your eyesight.
5. Don't multitask. Run just one program at a time.

#131 - June wanderings

Firstly, I still don't know when XP will go away. One distributor says they will have no more XP PCs come June 30, but Toshiba says the will have XP laptops through at least July. Go figure.

There are lots of great websites to set up tracking any event you would like. You can do a blog here at blogger.com to keep any trip of event up to date. I did it for my Mexico trip and it went over big with friends and family. You can also use a dedicated site like My Trip Journal.com. There you can load information, pictures and receive update notifications and comments.

We've see Wedding Planning sites that let you link family and friends to the important info on your wedding. The Knot.com has lots of help from registry information to setting up the particulars of the wedding for guests to see (location, times, dates, hotels, you name it!).

Pick an event and you can probably use the Internet to help you invite, prepare and inform your guests.