Laptop care! (Electrical power tips)

Well, this is yet another general-help post. Doesn't really have anything with Ubuntu, but it's important to know a few things.

One very important to keep in mind when buying a laptop (and any other li-ion battery based device), is to:
Let it charge completely for a few hours before the first use! This varies from one device to another but most devices need 8-15 hours of charge the first time. Read your device's instructions for more information.

Also it's very important to: Let the laptop's battery cycle every once in a while. If you keep your laptop plugged into the electricity the battery will lose it's capacity and when you need the battery it might be damaged to the extent of not being able to keep the laptop on for more than 10 minutes. I've seen this happen a lot of times, and batteries are expensive. So take your laptop for a walk around the house once or twice a week. Also try to avoid leaving the laptop plugged in for long periods of inactivity, for example, all night long. If you finished your work at night unplug it and let the battery rest.

Most laptops, if not all of them, have a little box in the middle of the charger, most times one part of the charger plugs into it and it has another cable at the other end which goes connected to the laptop itself. Look at the screenshot for reference. (That's my Toshiba's charger).


This little box is a transformer (most the times) and it can get very VERY hot. So try to keep it where it gets some fresh air, and avoid putting it in closed areas or near heat-sources, like heaters, behind a monitor, near an engine, and so on.

And last but not least, avoid using your laptop (or any other device) in hot climates. In some countries a room's temperature can go as high as 115 F degrees...and that's suicide for any electronic device. If the laptop or device is forced to work under those temperatures the insides of it can melt, causing a whole mess of trouble. So try to keep it cool...know what I mean?... =)

Hope this was helpful! ;-)
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Got UPS?

No, I'm not talking about those huge brown vans with golden logos that are responsible for bringing packages to our houses. I'm talking about Uninterruptible Power Source. I always say that a well-taken-care-of computer, is a happy computer! And this is specially true in blackout-prone areas, like where I live.

If you suffer from power surges, spikes, or blackouts you're better off buying one of these UPS, also known as batteries. Most UPS claim to last 10, 15, 20...or more minutes, but that's not always necessarily true. As most people know, these numbers are based on voltage and wattage usage. Most UPS won't handle high-power-demand devices such as TVs, Laser Printers, big LCD or Plasma screens/monitors, or speaker systems. Such devices require too much power and the UPS/Battery might malfunction or even get internal damage due to the high power demand.

So for better performance and longer life of your computer, laptop or desktop, you might be interested in buying a UPS/Battery.

If you're interested in one, just post a comment and I'll post some links to specific sites that sell UPS.

This was a general-help post by the way! ;-)
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