Has my laptop reached the end of its service?

[D&D_Fan]

I have owned this laptop for years, looking back, it has to have been about 6 or 7 years that I have had it, perhaps longer.

At one point, the headphone and charging ports were not gripping the charger, so I had to hold it in place to have it charge, or hear with headphones. I think the beginning of the end was when my brother snapped the screen in half, and it had to be replaced.

At a certain point, the battery health dropped to 60% so I had it replaced with a new battery. Less than 1 year, perhaps less that 1/2 year after getting a fresh new battery, it's down to 33% battery health already. How is this possible?

Now, it cannot charge past 1% charge. I have to hold in the charger cord at all times. If I let it get loose for even a millisecond, the screen goes black and it dies and restarts. It's impossible to use for more than 1 minute.

I don't know if I can even afford a new laptop, but it's one of the only ways left I have to stay in contact with my friends, to have hardly any of my hobbies at all, to read the news, to play games, to do anything. I have to write this post from a f***ing campus computer for g*d-sakes. I don't know if I can take it anymore.

[Anymage]

A new battery might help, but from the sounds of it a newly manufactured battery might be harder to come by and either a refurbished one or one that's been sitting in a warehouse for a while (both of which have battery health drawbacks) might just be delaying the inevitable.

If you don't mind a hack job, duct tape isn't that pricy and you might be able to just stick the power cord on with a bit of that. It won't be pretty and you'll be tethered to an outlet, but if money's tight that might be the most viable solution.

[D&D_Fan]

A new battery might help, but from the sounds of it a newly manufactured battery might be harder to come by and either a refurbished one or one that's been sitting in a warehouse for a while (both of which have battery health drawbacks) might just be delaying the inevitable.

If you don't mind a hack job, duct tape isn't that pricy and you might be able to just stick the power cord on with a bit of that. It won't be pretty and you'll be tethered to an outlet, but if money's tight that might be the most viable solution.

Given how long the last new battery was able to last, I think I might just have to duct tape the power cord in until I can find a new laptop. But thanks for the advice.

[halfeye]

New Laptops start from about £200, but those are only good for browsing the web, email and the like. To play games with fancy graphics you will need to spend a lot more.

Laptop batteries are alleged to not do well if the laptop is mainly used on the mains.

[veti]

Short answer, yes. That laptop needs to be put out of your misery.

I don't know what your financial resources are, but the cheapest options are a low-end Chromebook or a cheap Android phone. Of the two, the phone is likely to be more robust, but the Chromebook is easier to use like a laptop.

[D&D_Fan]

Well, I tried the duct-tape idea, and it worked well enough. Thanks for the advice. I think I can squeeze out another year from the thing.

[Anymage]

Glad to help.

One other important note, though: If your battery can't hold a charge anymore, it's a good idea to take it out and ideally drop the battery off somewhere that will recycle it. Most repair/electronics stores will be happy to take it off your hands, and I'd be surprised if your school didn't have an option as well. Used up batteries can catch fire or explode. So ideally you'll give them to someone who can safely handle them, but at the very least making sure that it isn't still drawing power is a good idea.

And on that note, don't just throw the battery in the trash. Crushing or puncturing a battery can cause a lot of problems, and that's what happens to general trash.

[snowblizz]

Glad to help.

One other important note, though: If your battery can't hold a charge anymore, it's a good idea to take it out and ideally drop the battery off somewhere that will recycle it. Most repair/electronics stores will be happy to take it off your hands, and I'd be surprised if your school didn't have an option as well. Used up batteries can catch fire or explode. So ideally you'll give them to someone who can safely handle them, but at the very least making sure that it isn't still drawing power is a good idea.

And on that note, don't just throw the battery in the trash. Crushing or puncturing a battery can cause a lot of problems, and that's what happens to general trash.

Quite often you can't simply remove the battery from the laptop and have it still functioning. It's integral to how powered is piped to the computer. AKA if you remove the battery you can't get power into the computer in any way.

[D&D_Fan]

The duct tape solution lasted all of maybe about a day before it stopped working...

Now the laptop won't even turn on anymore!

Welp, thanks for the help.

[Smoutwortel]

The duct tape solution lasted all of maybe about a day before it stopped working...

Now the laptop won't even turn on anymore!

Welp, thanks for the help.

You could take it to a local repair cafe if there is one.
They can probably help you repair it.