How many hours a laptop can be used in a day?

Answer 1

The battery life for a laptop varies from laptop to laptop and depends on several factors including manufacturer, number of cells, age, type of use and recharge history.

Manufacturer

Depending on who the manufacturer of your laptop is, you may have a better quality battery in your laptop. Manufacturers who are looking to sell their product to someone who is going to have a heavy laptop use (college students, mobile workers, etc.) are more likely to put a higher quality battery in their machine to attract customers. Because you are getting a better battery life though, you will probably pay more for your computer.

Number of Cells

Laptop batteries can come with different numbers of cells (usually 6, 9, or 12). The more cells a battery has, the longer it will be able to hold a charge.

Age

As a battery ages, it loses it's potential to hold a long charge. The life-time of your battery can vary greatly depending on its use and your recharging habits.

Type of Use

The more use you put on a laptop, the less amount of time the battery is going to be able to hold up. Someone who just does types up documents in Word is going to have a much longer battery life than a person who is watching/downloading videos.

Recharge history

Many laptops come with directions on how to get the best use of your battery, of which include completely charging it the first time you charge and allowing it to fully discharge on a regular basis. Not allowing your battery to fully discharge on a regular basis (ie. plugging it in every time it gets low) will also decrease your battery life as well as leaving it constantly plugged in. If you plug your laptop in (and are not charging the battery), then take the battery out to preserve it longer.

Those are not the only factors that affect battery life, but only some of the major ones. When I first bought my own laptop, the battery lasted a full 5-7 hours (depending on what I was doing). Now, after three years, during regular internet use, I may get a good 20-30 minutes out of it.

You can use a laptop as many hours a day as you need to, but just remember that the more you use the battery and the more you don't take care of it, the lesser quality you are going to get from it.