Generally about 6 hours a day, but I have only had it since Christmas. i think I read somewhere that one of the important things with laptops is to make sure that the fan vents are not obstructed, as they can overheat quite easily causing lots of damage.....

Why do you take the battery out Louise? I ask only because I always use the mains power but leave the battery in, will I do any damage that way?

YES... It damages the life of the battery..

Batteries have a "memory".. They work for longer if they are completely dead before being recharged..

A friend bought a laptop same time as me...same laptop...My battery lasts on average about 5 hours, thats from a fresh charge after being completely flat..

She always left hers in and hers only lasts for an average of 35-45 minutes now..


I always completely decharge batteries before recharging them as it gives them more memory..

Think of it as filling a cup with cement.. if you let it go hard you only get some of the cup left.. same sort of idea

I hope that made some sort of sense

I leave the battery in mine when on mains, it's fine, still lasts around 5 hours it's a lithium Ion battery, which DOESN'T have a memory, so is fine left in the laptop

Perfect sense, thanks Louise

The memory effect thing is less of a problem with newer types of rechargables, but NiCad batteries are flippin awful for it!

With the leaving on/length of use issue, I can't imagine any of the components are too different from a desktop PC. My desktop's been up for a week now. When I do reboot, it's usually just a restart to clear out any rubbish left in memory or whatever... Maybe setting the screensaver/power options to something sensible would suffice, allowing you to keep a laptop fired up all the time? Dunno...

During the week,this laptop is on for around 6 hrs a day,but weekends-about 16-17 hrs per day (i just switch it on when i get up and leave it).Had this particular one (Acer Travelmate) since August 2005 and previously used a Toshiba Satellite laptop for several years.

I prefer lappys to desktops cause it dont take up any space and prefer the flat keyboard with mouse pad thingy.I can also sit in lounge with comfortable armchair comfort rather than sitting on a creaky old secretarys chair from Staples...

Thanks all - thats reassuring!

I've been using the laptop more and more and did worry i might be damaging it since getting wifi it is ace cos I can use it at the dining table, sofa, desk, bed

ok another question for ya... do any of you have a synchronising program that allows you to sync all your email data with a desktop PC? That would make things even easier for me!