We have broken them down into the following broad categories:

• desktop replacement laptops
• home laptops
• ultraportable laptops
• gaming laptops
• business and professional laptops
• budget laptops

Desktop Replacement Laptops

These laptops are generally used at home as a replacement of the more traditional desktop computers. They are often times the only PC owned by an individual. They need to be relatively fully featured and will have the processing power and peripherals needed to handle multimedia applications. Common features in the PCs are relatively fast processors, sufficient RAM, an integrated WiFi card and large hard disk. Since they are fully equipped with hardware, they are relatively large and heavy. They are also characterized by a large video screen and a midrange graphics card. These computers will also come equipped with upgraded writeable optical drives and a large variety of ports and slots.

Home Laptops

Home laptops are the mainstream product of most computer manufacturers and are the most common laptop category. They are not built with the latest advanced components, but they are very well equipped to perform everyday computing task at a reasonable cost. By design, they are general purpose PCs and will fit the needs of most buyers. These are truly utility computers by their nature and are generally suited for the home and the small business. These computers will generally come equipped with a midrange processor, a sufficient amount of RAM and a midsized hard drive. They will also have a standard graphics card and a display that is approximately 15 to 17 inches. They cost a little more than the budget class of laptop, but are a bit more powerful and fully featured.

Ultraportable Laptops

Ultraportable laptops are designed for one thing, the smallest size and the lightest weight possible. They are primarily intended for business people that do a lot of traveling. They will generally weigh in the 3 1/2 to 4 pound range and have a display that is about 12 inches. They will be supplied with enough memory demanded by the operating system and a relatively small hard drive. The integrated keyboards are also very small and may present some problems for certain users with larger hands or poor dexterity. They will also be configured with an integrated graphics card and a minimum amount of connectivity options. But for this somewhat limited feature set, these computers are priced at the upper end because this reduced size comes at a high price. Because this class of laptop computer is used primarily by business and professional people and has sensitive data on it, they are usually safeguarded by some sort of security device. Fingerprint readers are finding widespread use and have become integrated with many of these computers.

Gaming Laptops

These laptops are targeted at a niche market and have all of the necessary components to run today's advanced and power hungry games. However, despite the advanced CPUs, the large hard drives, the increased amount of RAM and the larger display sizes, they are pretty much predominated by one common feature, namely their graphics card that will come with the latest ATI or nVidia chipset. Gaming laptops are generally manufactured with the most advanced components and therefore have the highest cost in the laptop computer market. The weight and size of these laptops is not a consideration and they usually are the biggest and heaviest of the portable computers. These PCs are usually equipped with large hard drives that are the fastest in their class. The display size on most of these computers is 17 inches since this is demanded by the gaming population. These PCs are also equipped with an abundant supply of peripheral slots and USB ports so that the gamer will be able to use their speakers, headphones, joysticks and any other gaming device that their software may require.

Business and Professional Laptops

The laptops in this category come in a broad variety of standard configurations to target the subcategories in this market segment. True business models may only need to run spreadsheets and word processors and offer connectivity for e-mail and web access. On the other hand, some of the laptops designed for the tech savvy professional will be equipped for the power user that needs to run complex software applications. The laptops in this category are usually targeted to the various niches within it. In any case, these laptops are usually equipped with safety devices, durable housings and video options for connecting to various display types in a presentation setting and long life batteries.

Budget Laptops

These laptops will appeal to the consumer that has a modest budget for a laptop computer. Many of these systems can be found at the local electronics store or directly from the manufacturer for around $500-$700 when they are on sale. They do not use any of the new and cutting edge high tech components that will be found in the gaming or business/professional laptops, but will incorporate components that are reliable and in abundant supply. All in all, these computers offers some of the best value in the laptop PC market and are worthy of your consideration if you do not have extreme technology requirements. These laptops are generally equipped with 14 to 15 edge display panels, a standard WiFi card, a small to medium hard drive and a modest amount of RAM. Some of these shortcomings can be corrected with component upgrades after the purchase.

It is important that you properly maintain your laptop battery, but sooner or later you may find that your laptop computer is not being powered properly by it. This may simply be due to the fact that your laptop battery is a rechargeable battery that has a limited lifespan. However, if you feel that this is not the case there are several things that you can do to try to alleviate this lack of power.

• If you find that the battery will not keep its charge even when it is connected to the adapter, then the battery probably has reached the end of its useful life and will need to be replaced with a new battery. In that event, you will need to buy a replacement laptop battery from either the computer's manufacturer or a secondary source.
• Sometimes laptop batteries will not fully charge due to the fact that they become less efficient over time. If this happens, try to completely drain the battery of its charge and recharge it again and see if you notice an improvement in its performance.
• If you notice that the battery accepts a full charge but that the power is quickly drained, this may result from the high power demands that you place on the computer. Some of the computer's applications simply are resource hogs. In this event, try to close some of the more powerful software applications and limit yourself to running only one piece of software at a time.
• If you have a fully charged battery but the laptop does not operate at all, there may be a problem with the power connections between the battery and the computer. Remove the battery from its compartment and clean the terminals on both the battery and the computer. Reinstall the battery and see if the problem is corrected.
• If you have properly installed the battery and it still does not operate the laptop computer, visually inspect the battery to make sure that it has not been damaged. Although the battery cells themselves are relatively sturdy, the circuit board inside the battery pack may have became damaged and will require replacement of the battery pack. Also, make sure that the battery has not come in contact with any fluids. If so, dry the battery off with a paper towel and allow it to air dry completely before reinserting it into the laptop.
• If the battery does not operate properly and you notice that it becomes hot while the computer is being operated, there may be a problem with the battery pack. Laptop batteries will normally have a warm temperature when they are being used but an overly hot battery is probably an indicator of a faulty battery and its use should be immediately discontinued. If this is the case, contact the computer manufacturer to ensure that these batteries are not defective.

To ascertain that the problems that you are experiencing are the fault of the battery and not the computer itself, remove the battery and operate the computer on all electrical power only. If it runs properly the problem probably is associated with the battery.

How to Remove Your Laptop Battery From the Computer

To remove your laptop battery from the battery compartment of your computer, turn off your computer and lock the monitor into place. Place the computer on a firm surface with the bottom of the computer facing upwards. Determine where the battery is and unlock it by either pushing or sliding the retaining lock. If you are not sure which compartment stores the battery, you can either look for a battery icon on the bottom of the computer or refer to your laptop's documentation. When you release the lock, the battery will disengage and you can either lift or slide the battery out of its compartment.

Replacement Laptop Batteries

All batteries, and particularly rechargeable batteries, have a limited lifetime. The decline in functionality of a laptop battery is gradual but sooner or later when it is at the end of its life you will no longer be able to charge the battery at all. The average life of most laptop batteries is around three years and correlates to about 500 charging cycles. This will be displayed on your laptop computer by its battery management software utility. You will notice that the charge level will remain at a very low level and will not improve regardless of the time that it is charged by the power adapter.

At this point, you will need to purchase a new laptop battery. These are readily available from the computer manufacturer in their OEM versions and are also available in their generic equivalents from many suppliers. A new OEM laptop battery will generally cost between $100 and $200, while generic laptop batteries are usually available for half that price. To ensure that you purchase the proper battery, simply make sure that the battery provider guarantees that it will fit your particular laptop brand and model. Also, this is a good opportunity for you to increase the operating time of your laptop computer by purchasing a laptop battery with a higher storage capacity.

One of the critical components that identifies a laptop computer is its laptop battery that gives it its portability. A number of different battery technologies have been utilized over the years and laptop computers and as they have developed they have become smaller and lighter while providing more power. However, computer hardware has also seen a reduced size and weight so laptop batteries still contribute highly to the weight of the overall machine.

Modern laptop computers use two types of batteries, the lithium ion battery and the lithium polymer battery. Both of these battery types provide a high power to weight ratio and lose their charging capacity over a relatively long period of time. However, the lithium ion battery may be subject to overheating due to either defects or improper care. That is why the stability of a lithium polymer battery is regarded as a more advanced design.

Laptop computer batteries are rechargeable and they can undergo the discharge charge cycle numerous times. But all rechargeable batteries eventually wear out and will need to be replaced. The type of battery that are supplied with your laptop computer will be indicated in the user's manual that came with the laptop computer. This information is also commonly available on the vendor's website. This documentation should also provide an approximation of the batteries lifetime and the steps that you can take to prolong its life.

Laptop Battery Power Consumption

Most modern laptop batteries will power the computer for an average of 3 to 5 hours. This is a large improvement over the shorter operating life that the earlier technologies have provided and battery engineers are continuing to develop more sophisticated batteries that offer longer operating times for the computer. Laptop computers themselves consumed different amounts of power and even the same laptop computer will have different power consumptions the pending on how it is set up.

Different programs and different computing task typically require varying amounts of electrical power from the laptop computer. Normal business applications such as word processing programs and spreadsheet programs do not place a high demand on the laptop's battery power. And although e-mail applications and Internet software clients do not require large amounts of power themselves, the WiFi circuitry in the laptop computer is somewhat of a power hog. Other power intensive applications include DVD players, applications to play music, and graphics programs to add it digital video and photographs. Generally speaking, multi-media applications generally demand a lot of the laptop's power. It is recommended that you run your laptop computer from its power cable when you are performing any energy intensive task so that you do not unexpectedly need to terminate your programs.

The battery icon that appears on the bottom right in the taskbar of most computers will show you how much battery power you will have to left. You should maximize your laptop computers power management functions to conserve battery power and you should also use its sleep function when you are not using your laptop. Many times this battery icon will also give you an indication of the overall health of the laptop battery.

Your laptop computers battery management utility a layout you to set your personalized power scheme. The settings can usually be differentiated for both operating the computer on battery power and on electrical power. These laptop computers battery management settings can be found under the power options in the system's control panel for Windows operating systems.

Battery Charging

Your laptop computer is powered by DC or direct current. That is because this is the type of energy that is stored in all rechargeable batteries. However, since electrical outlets provide AC or alternating current, a converter must be used to transform the energy to DC power. This AC DC adapter will come supplied with the laptop computer. It can be used to charge the battery when the computer is not being used and it can also be used to power the computer when it is plugged in to the computer's power port. When the adapter is supplying power to the laptop computer while it is being used, the utility will indicate that it is running on AC power. Your laptop computer will also indicate that the battery is being charged when the computer is not in use by flashing LEDs on the computer. This is different for each computer system so referrer to your computers manual for the specifics to your system.