I used to take the battery out of my old toshiba and it lasted at least 4 yrs before I broke the laptop. I'd store it at slightly less than full charge when removed from the computer. New toshiba I replaced that broken laptop with the instructions say leave the battery inplace all the time as it only charges when its capacity is something like below 94% of charge. Its really rare that I see its charging light glowing. It's a year and a half old and still always shows and acts like it has full capacity as when new. I don't often use it on battery but when I do I try to let it run untill it warns me its low. The battery placement in the new laptop is located in a very cool to touch section of the laptop so heat certainly shouldn't be an issue degrading it by leaving it plugged in & the lith-ion type batteries do not self discharge and leak down as quickly as some types will. eBay usually has some new replacements at auction that if you inquire, usually they will have a date code that's about a year old but certainly less moneys.

As it turns out, Dell did decide to expedite shipping so I got in time to try it. BUT - they sent the same incorrect item - just the empower and car plug - no actually adapter. Just absurd. Then they wanted me to call fedex to arrange a return. I emailed them that I wasn't taking any more time on them - and they could email me a label - which they just did. I wound up paying for one-day shipping through Amazon to get a non-Dell adapter on the day or her flight(I have prime anyway - so it was just an additional $4. I bought 3 different adapters bc. there was no way to be sure which might work with dd's dell laptop (it's new enough that it's not specifically listed as a compatible laptop). Good thing I did. One item was not the appropriate item. One never came - and one arrived in a nick of time and seemed to be the right one - a Kensington car/air ac/dc adapter - that fit her laptop. Raven - thank you for that link. Sounds like a great program - unfortunately they left on the 27th. But I may look for something similar for my smartphone. I think I already downloaded an app that does that for the phone. Mike - I do know that there could be any type of plug (empower,car type plug or regular ac) - and that there may or may not be a plug - and it may or may not work. Of course, neither my daughter nor husband has gotten online to email me that they've arrived and are okay. Guess I'll find out soon whether it worked. Thanks. Lynn.

First I have to confess that I have not gotten to backing up the hard drive - or working on the start up programs. Other computer issues in the family took priority - and then we had non-technological family difficulties. So my focus has been elsewhere. The internet connection still sometimes drops. Less often but it happens. I can just buy a wireless dongle. The laptop had been running cooler after getting all the bogus programs off. But lately it's sluggish again and running hot. The hard drive is making a bad noise. Not sure how to describe it but kind of like a car struggling to turn over. It does it just occasionally - some times if it's just trying to perform some action - and just now when I started the laptop. (It has not made the sound since it started up). Since hard drives are mechanical, does this sound like the hard drive might be failing? if it's hardware failure, is there any point in running chkdsk? or any other test? If the hard drive is failing, could that be causing it to run hot and slow at times? seems logical to me but I have no idea. I could inexpensively replace the hard drive. And get a wireless dongle. I imagine all that could be done for under $100 and just a small amount of time. The other troubleshooting I did was partly to learn. Here's what I like about the computer and why I may want to save/keep it: great size - 13", light - but has a great, great keyboard for such a small laptop. like the trackball and no touchpad. includes a free upgrade to Vista (so it could be used after XP is not supported) What I don't like: ongoing wireless adapter problems, sometimes running hot, possible failing hard drive, no web cam. Not sure if I'll put it to sleep soon - or try to resuscitate it. If I decide to let it die a peaceful death, there's no need to back up the HD. If I decide to replace the hard drive (if it needs it) or keep it if the HD's fine, I will back it up and make that a priority. And of course, now that I'm writing this post, it's behaving absolutely fine. Quick, cool, no noise. Thanks. Lynn.

Several months back I also had problems with my 4 year old HP laptop. The power adapter had to be wiggled for the darn thing to make a connection and keep power flowing to charge the battery and power the laptop. I took it to a shop that specializes in laptops and had it checked out. What was wrong was that where the adapter plugs in at the back was cracked inside from wear and needed to be replaced. The tech took apart the laptop and even showed me where the problem was. The new part had to be sodered (sp) so was not just a simple fix. With labor, parts and having them add another 500mgs of ram (Something I had been wanting to do for a long time.) it cost me around $300 for everything. Cheaper then a new one and works like a charm now. It should last a few more years until I'm ready to upgrade ;o)