LiPo vs LiIon

MouldyOldDough

My new laptop has a non replaceable Li polymer battery 
My old laptop had a replaceable Li ion battery - which I replaced twice over the 8 or 9 years that I had it for 
My question is how long is a LiPo going to last for? 
I use the laptop every day for 8 hours 

mgfvvc

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the battery is probably replaceable, but will require some disassembly to do so. It doesn't usually require more than the appropriate screwdriver and a thin plastic tool to pry the case open.
Obviously not everyone is going to be happy taking a laptop apart to change the battery.

MouldyOldDough

mgfvvc said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the battery is probably replaceable, but will require some disassembly to do so. It doesn't usually require more than the appropriate screwdriver and a thin plastic tool to pry the case open.
Obviously not everyone is going to be happy taking a laptop apart to change the battery.

I agree - like my phone battery, which I took to a phone shop for replacement last year
But is it obtainable as a replacement? 
And at what price?
It's an MSI Vector GP77 13V

mgfvvc

MouldyOldDough said:

mgfvvc said:

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the battery is probably replaceable, but will require some disassembly to do so. It doesn't usually require more than the appropriate screwdriver and a thin plastic tool to pry the case open.
Obviously not everyone is going to be happy taking a laptop apart to change the battery.

I agree - like my phone battery, which I took to a phone shop for replacement last year
But is it obtainable as a replacement? 
And at what price?
It's an MSI Vector GP77 13V

There's an Indian website offering them for about 90 quid.
I'm guessing they will be more widely available by the time yours is end of life, but that's not guaranteed.

MouldyOldDough

So - how do I prolong the life of the battery ?

Do I charge it every day or use it plugged in ?

ballyblack

do not use it plugged in all the time. charge only when it drops to 25-30 %

MouldyOldDough

How many complete cycles should I get out of the battery ?

The laptop is guaranteed for two years - so I am looking for 700 complete (100% - 25% - 100%) cycles

Newcad

We had a discussion about this on Bleeping Computer earlier this year.

It's quite amazing how much old, outdated, advice is still given on the web given that battery technology has advanced amazingly in the past 2 decades.

As part of that discussion I did some testing of the battery in this 9 year old laptop which is plugged in 24/7 (apart from the very rare occasion when it take it somewhere).
It's a 'built in' battery but can be fairly easily replaced if you are not scared of opening up laptop cases.

That testing showed that even with the machine plugged in 24/7, so the battery always fully charged, and used 8-10 hours a day the 9 year old battery had hardly degraded at all since new, if ith had degraded any at all.
And of course battery technology has advanced in bounds since that particular  battery was made 9 years ago.

You can see that thread and my testing/results here: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/782806/tech-question-about-laptop-built-in-batteries/?p=5479846

Overall I would not be worried about a laptop having a built in battery, and I wouldn't go out of my way to do anything special to 'preserve' it. The laptop will proably be out of date before there is any problem with the battery.

Of course there is still always a slim chance that you may get a faulty battery, if that should happen and it's still under warranty then have it replaced, if it's out of waranty learn how to open the laptop and replace it yourself..

MouldyOldDough

Newcad said:

We had a discussion about this on Bleeping Computer earlier this year.

It's quite amazing how much old, outdated, advice is still given on the web given that battery technology has advanced amazingly in the past 2 decades.

As part of that discussion I did some testing of the battery in this 9 year old laptop which is plugged in 24/7 (apart from the very rare occasion when it take it somewhere).
It's a 'built in' battery but can be fairly easily replaced if you are not scared of opening up laptop cases.

That testing showed that even with the machine plugged in 24/7, so the battery always fully charged, and used 8-10 hours a day the 9 year old battery had hardly degraded at all since new, if ith had degraded any at all.
And of course battery technology has advanced in bounds since that particular  battery was made 9 years ago.

You can see that thread and my testing/results here: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/782806/tech-question-about-laptop-built-in-batteries/?p=5479846

Overall I would not be worried about a laptop having a built in battery, and I wouldn't go out of my way to do anything special to 'preserve' it. The laptop will proably be out of date before there is any problem with the battery.

Of course there is still always a slim chance that you may get a faulty battery, if that should happen and it's still under warranty then have it replaced, if it's out of waranty learn how to open the laptop and replace it yourself..

Thanks - an interesting link - I assumed the same, but just wanted confirmation

battery technology has moved on considerably since my first laptop (1994) with a Nickel Cadmium battery with memory effect

PHK

I agree,modern batteries have protection circuitry and the laptop will manage the battery. There's no need to take any special precautions or do battery cycling. 

MouldyOldDough

My Motorola phone battery (LiPo) had to be replaced after 3 years - it swelled up in the phone and forced the back of the phone off !