Battery life time expectancy

[CrazyD2]

I got my HP laptop about 3-4 years ago. After two years the battery went from working absolutely perfect to not being able to charge properly. The battery time went from several hours down to 20 minutes.

I think this problem started right after I updated the BIOS. I've used the HP diagnostics software, but it does not find any issues at all.

So my question is: When I buy a new computer, how long can I expect the battery to last if I'm mainly using the power adaptor ?

I mainly use my computer with the charger plugged in. The battery cycle count is 263 out of 1000 so I expect the battery to be degraded but not having this kind of serious problem.

Obviously the computer is now out of warranty, but does that mean that HP can put any crappy battery in their laptops and get away with it?

I'm kind of disappointed because it feels terrible to scrap a laptop because of the battery and not because of outdated hardware or slow performance. Not to mention how bad this is from a environment point of view.  Just to give some perspective, my now 10 year (!!) old Mac book is still running fine with the battery as good as new.

[Huffer]

Batteries have always been the achilles heel of laptop technology. It's not really possible to tell much about your battery without seeing the advanced diagnostics. Battery lifespan is a bell curve. Average is maybe 2.5 years and the range of normal is from maybe 8 months to well over 5 years. 10 years is like 125 in people years...an extreme outlier. If you have put 263 cycles on it then it is not always being used on mains power. I will say it is a bit shortsighted to "scrap" a laptop over a battery that might cost $50-75 to replace. We can help you find a battery and replace it. It is not that hard to do even though the cover must be removed to access it.