Thinking About an External Laptop Battery?
Do you never seem to get enough out of your laptop before it runs flat? If you live a life on the go and have to do a lot of work either out in the field or away from a power source, then buying an external laptop battery for your laptop computer could be just the thing that you need. This type of battery is gaining a lot of popularity among both the consumer and commercial markets as the charge life of a normal laptop battery just does not seem to cut it these days. These external batteries can provide up to 10 hours extra which is about 5 times that of a normal laptop battery. Before you decide to buy one, have a quick read over this article to see if it is what you really need for your computer.
External laptop batteries, otherwise known as universal laptop batteries, usually use either lithium-ion (Li-ion) for their battery chemistry although some are known to use lithium-polymer (LiPo). This is because both of these materials provide the best power to weight ratio that is economically available on the market today. This special type of battery is also a lot more environmentally friendly than older models once were.
The reason that this type of external battery is known as a universal external laptop battery is because they don’t only power one type of laptop and for that matter, they do not only power laptops. Most of the external batteries on the market today will power nearly all types of laptops that are available and many can power other devices such as MP3 players, phones, and PDA’s and even devices such as a mini laptop. They can do this because there are inbuilt voltage adjusters to suit the required voltage of your computer and most models come with a wide range of power adapters.
The main factor that will affect the price of an external battery is the amount of charge that it can hold. More expensive models will nearly always hold a charge for a lot longer than the cheaper models available. The capacity of most laptop batteries is specified by the milliamp-amp hour (MAh) rating although a much better rating to look at is the watt-hour (WHr) rating. This is more of an exact value that does not depend upon the batteries voltage. This is similar in a way that speakers are rated, many manufacturers will only try to give you the wattage of the speakers, but when you look at the watts RMS rating, you will get a much better idea of how powerful the speakers truly are.
Most of the external laptop batteries on the consumer market today are rated at around 70 – 140 WHr. This will give approximately an extra 5 – 12 hours of battery life but that is dependent on the power requirements of the laptop computer. Commercial versions of external batteries usually range from about 200 – 500 WHr as they may be the only available power source in some remote situations. Consumer varieties will weigh in at approximately 500g to a bit over a 1 kilogram. The commercial models are obviously heavier as they need to be bigger to hold more of a charge.
It is essential that you know what voltage requirements your laptop has and that you match this to an external laptop battery. It does not have to be an exact match, but preferably within +/- 1 volt. This is usually not that much of an issue because universal external batteries will have 3-5 different voltage outputs. This means that they can be used to charge different types of laptops so you will not have to purchase one for every member of your family.
Another important feature that you must look at when making a purchase, is the power adapter that comes with the battery. You need to ensure that one will come with the battery or you can buy one that fits both your computer and the external battery.
Finally, you need to check the amperage of the external battery and compare it to your computers amperage. The external batteries amperage should equal or exceed that of your laptops. If not, the newly purchased battery might not be able to supply your laptop with any power at all. This can be easily checked by looking at the charger that came with the laptop and on the external laptop battery charger.
You should now be ready to make your purchase and receive the great benefits that come with an external laptop battery. A wonderful place to purchase one of these items is online. As you might know, most electronics are a lot cheaper if purchased online. And if you find a trusted site then your battery should come with a full warranty and return policy.
If you are looking for an alternative to purcahsing another laptop battery, then have a look at this site about the cool Solar Power laptop.
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Tags: external battery for laptop, external laptop batteries, External Laptop Battery, external laptop battery charger, laptop battery, universal external laptop battery
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