In so many ways so many of us take the laptop computer battery for granted. We always assume that our laptop computer battery will be in perfect working order and will power up our portable computer unit when we are away from an AC outlet. We never even stop to consider what the laptop computer battery is comprised of or how the thing even works.
The most common laptop computer battery is principally composed of either nickel cadmium, nickel metal hyrdride of lithium ion technologies. These types of computer laptop battery technologies, as so many elements of the high-tech world, are better known by their short abbreviations:
Nickel cadmium is known as NiCad
Nickel metal hydride is known as NiMH
Lithium ion is known as Li-Ion.
There are some differences between two nickel-based laptop computer battery technologies. (The NiMH version is the newer of the two versions of computer laptop battery units.) The NiMH computer laptop battery offers higher energy density than does the NiCad version. Generally speaking, the NiMH computer laptop battery delivers approximately 100% more capacity that its nickel-based counterpart.
The NiMH computer laptop battery also does not suffer from what is known in the industry as "memory effect." This is the effect in which unless a battery is drained completely before each recharging, the computer laptop battery will end up ultimately never fully recharging. The final result of the memory effect is a serious limitation of the expected lifespan of the subject computer laptop battery.
On an unrelated note, because the NiMH computer laptop battery does not contain the same heavy metals as theNiCad technology, it is more environmentally friendly. A significant problem in recent years has been the increase in heavy metals and products like some computer laptop battery units containing heavy metals that have found their ways into municipal landfills causing serious environmental damage.