A few days ago, I noticed something odd with my laptop. The charging light, which usually turns green when fully charged, was stuck on red. I waited for it to turn green, but it never did. Curious, I turned on the laptop to check the battery status, and it was at 88%. The charger was connected, yet the laptop wasn’t taking in any power.
Fast forward to today, and the situation has worsened. Now, my laptop stops charging at around 68%. This used to be a laptop that would give me a solid 15 hours of battery life, but now it struggles to last for three hours.
The most concerning part? The battery is draining rapidly. I remember when a 1% drop would take about 10 to 15 minutes—now, it only takes 2 to 3 minutes. I’ve checked for any built-in battery protection features that might limit the charge, but there’s nothing like that. So, what’s going on?
I decided to dig deeper and calculate how many charge cycles my battery has gone through. For those who might not know, a charge cycle is counted every time you use up 100% of the battery's capacity, regardless of whether you use it all in one go or over several smaller sessions. I figured out that my laptop battery has been charged around 1,500 times. That's way past the typical lifespan of most laptop batteries.
For comparison, I learned that MacBook batteries are rated to last around 1,000 charge cycles. So, it's pretty clear: my laptop's battery is nearing the end of its life, and it’s time to replace it.
A quick Google search revealed that a replacement battery could cost anywhere between 1,000 and 5,000 Rupees, depending on where you buy it from. However, the prices vary widely across different websites, so I’m planning to visit the service center later this month to get an exact quote and, if needed, get the battery replaced.
But here’s something else I’ve been thinking about: what happens to all these batteries when they die? Considering the millions, if not billions, of laptops sold worldwide, that’s a huge amount of degraded batteries. Can they be repaired or recycled? Could the lithium from old batteries be used to make new ones? Or will companies continue mining for more lithium, potentially causing environmental harm?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you ever had to replace your laptop battery? What did you do with the old one?