The most anticipated new device is finally here. Well, almost.  On Friday, Apple, Inc. began taking orders for their latest innovation, the iPad. Even though Apple has begun taking pre-orders, the iPad won’t be distributed out until April 3^rd.  That’s the same day they hit the store shelves.  Customers will be limited to only 2 iPads initially. The Wi-Fi version, starting at $499, will be delivered on that date with the 3G version that starts at $629 coming later in the month. Consumers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK will be able to buy both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G versions of the iPad in late April.  AT&T will carry the iPad offering 250MB of data for $14.99 per month, and an unlimited plan for $30 – both without an annual contract.  Not a bad deal if you ask me.

The most troublesome laptop components are hard drive, screen, and keyboard. While you probably would not want to replace an expensive laptop screen, anyone with the right tools and even a slight mechanical inclination can replace the hard drive, keyboard, and other components, with some patient tinkering.

Opening your laptop case may void the warranty, so if your system is still under warranty, let the manufacturer deal with repairs. Notebooks are delicate, so never force anything. One slip and your motherboard is ruined.

Before doing anything else, remove the notebook’s battery and disconnect its power cord. Remember to ground yourself before you open the case, either with a grounding strap ( the safest way), or by touching a piece of grounded metal ( a lamp or water pipe will do), while touching  a metal part on the case’s exterior.

The construction and power behavior of laptop battery are often neglected especially if the battery works without any problem. But knowing the truth about the battery chemistry and structure will help you understand its mechanism and eventually, provides you ideas on how to take care and prolong the life of your laptop battery.

Below are some facts about Lithium-ion Laptop battery

- Lithium-ion battery is the most widely used and preferred laptop battery due to its high energy density and great power features

- It has no “memory effect”. This means that you don’t have to fully drain the battery before recharging it unlike other batteries like Nickel Cadmium battery, which is advisable to use until empty before charging it to full.  Still, draining the Li-ion battery once in a while before recharging it again is being done as a good battery exercise to activate its partial capacitance.

- Li-ion battery has a tendency to self-discharge if not being used; however this type of battery has the lowest self-discharge rates. This characteristic allows Li-ion laptop battery to retain its charge power for a longer period of time than other kind of batteries.

- A fully charged battery will not get damage if the power adapter is connected to the laptop. This is because the charging portion will cut the battery off once it is completely full. Also, the power circuitry of laptops will bypass the battery unless it is needed.

- Modern Li-ion battery like the Dell XPS M1210 battery has power safety features; so overheating, exploding or short circuit will not be a problem.

- Generally, Lithium-ion battery can manage hundreds of charge/discharge cycles than other types of notebook battery.