As large electronics companies push for thinner, lighter, and more disposable devices, users are left with less ability to maintain the lifespan of their computing devices. The most consumable component of a laptop, the battery, is also one with a lifespan most dependent on its charging cycles — but only a few manufacturers allow the user to control this behavior.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/All-laptop-manufacturers-should-allow-setting-battery-charging-limits.427048.0.html
Huawei/Honor offers this feature as part of their PC Manager software.
Thanks for this article - I enjoyed that. I hadn't known about external batteries until you. As usual, notebookcheck produces more informative and more accurate tech news and analysis than any other tech site I know, and I go through a lot of them!
I just wish reviews would ALWAYS mention whether a battery was removable or not in the specs section at the top, even though the batteries never are, and I wish that they would mention the type of USB port in smartphones. Not all USB C ports were created equally.
I've bought two external monitors recently after first hearing from them on this site - the Bosstouch and the Nexdock 2.
My old Dell laptop had it but to my surprise, Alienware doesn't. AW seems to be Apple of gaming products, too much hype, fan following & expensive for just an average product (I agree it's built well). The m15 is a very hot laptop, no way around it.
I haw ancient laptop whit melted down charger and wires it is all time conected becoese wear is 90% i a fraid these bateries will burn home down.
Oh yeah, Sony *had* this function, but the independent VAIO doesn't, AKAIK. I believe 3rd party software could solve this though, if manufacturers could ship with this function why couldn't it be installed? If only I knew what software does this...
Great article. I also thought about why we don't have the option to protect the battery when it's plugged in for the most of the time.
The sad thing is that this is really simple to implement, and they already have the hardware for it. They just need to read the voltage of the battery and then, based on the reading, they can continue to charge it or stop. The users should only choose when to stop/start the charging.
IMO the EU should ban all the laptops that don't have this feature. It encourages waste. We don't need more waste when dealing with climate change. At most, the price would increase with a few euros, but it would worth the cost.
Also, I would love for you guys to create a new section when you review laptops. When testing the battery, mention if the laptop supports a battery charging limit. And post the result in the conclusion as positive or negative. Like you do with the PWM for the display. Probably the best way to set the battery limit would be in the bios so that linux users shouldn't have to use win for that.
The same thing applies to smartphones. OEM don't allow to set a battery limit. But great news, there's an app for that and it works on most phones! It's called Battery Charge Limit and you can get it from here xda or fdroid. The bad news is that it requires root.
Msi allows this with one of their utility softwares
Limiting power charge should definitely be a standard feature, alongside removable batteries.
Fact of the matter is, while keeping your battery not at 100% would increase battery lifespan about 1.5x-2x, exposing the battery to less heat would increase it 4x! Because with no thermal management on the battery, the heat does most of the damage.
You can solve both the charge problem and heat problem with removable battery. I charge my battery to 50%, then remove it from my laptop when it is plugged in. When I'm about to go somewhere, I put the battery back in and charge it to 100%. This allows me to have my battery work for over 5 years with no issue.
Yes your reviews should mention if this feature is available or not.
Some Lenovos have had this for... since the IBM Thinkpad days.
I don't get this article. Apple is offering a Battery Exchange for 150-250 Euro, depending on your MacBook. On top, they not only change the battery,. But u will also get a new Topcase including new keyboard&Trackpad with it. To me as a Power user, this seems super fair and user friendly. Switch once while still in Warranty, and after four years u pay once 250 euro and get a fresh keyboard, case and track pad. Awesome!
@Stefan Ihmig - I'm more shocked that you think 250 euros for a battery + keyboard + trackpad is a reasonable price... you can get a budget laptop for that. You are literally paying 2X the premium of what it is worth.
Not to mention if you are a power user, most of the time you'll be buying a new laptop after warranty expires anyways.
And that's why users should educate themselves to better manuafacturers like Clevo. They have that feature in the bios (flexicharge) + batteries on the highend models are fully removable.
Quote from: Stefan Ihmig on July 07, 2019, 07:15:52
I don't get this article. Apple is offering a Battery Exchange for 150-250 Euro, depending on your MacBook. On top, they not only change the battery,. But u will also get a new Topcase including new keyboard&Trackpad with it. To me as a Power user, this seems super fair and user friendly. Switch once while still in Warranty, and after four years u pay once 250 euro and get a fresh keyboard, case and track pad. Awesome!
Batteries are cheap stuff, 3rd party batteries go below $30 and even official batteries are generally less than $100, 250 euros is a total ripoff, as are most things Apple charge for.
LG Gram (15Z980) has this option on LG Control Center app (Extend Battery Life option)
Great article !
It should be a mandatory feature on laptops and smartphones !
Given that most companies want to appear eco-friendly / green, they could implement this feature instead of changing the color of their logo !
Technically, it isn't hard, it is only a matter of voltage limitation.
For Android phones there's Chargie - a USB stick that pairs with an app on the phone and stops charging at your desired level. Just look for "chargie stick" on Google and see what it's about.
German brand Schenker (bestware.com) offers this option as they use Clevo Barebones (Flexicharge)