When I got my laptop 1.5 years ago the battery life was really pretty good. I'm thinking it was 1.5 to 2. hours. Right now it is 45 minutes. My laptop gets very hot. I did buy one of those cool pads with fan and I have been using that to sit under it. Could someone inform me about batteries. Is it time to replace this one? Can I increase the life of this one? Do I purchase a new one from Dell only, or are there options? <or anything else you wish to share with me that I need to know about this subject>. Re-Na Hanson / Arkansas USA --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0624-1, 06/13/2006 Tested on: 6/14/2006 3:09:42 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com -- -------list-services-below----------- Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig> Freelists login at //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi List archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/pchelpers PC-HELPERS list subscribe/unsub at http://modecideas.com/discuss.htm?sig Latest news live feeds at http://modecideas.com/indexhomenews.htm?sig Good advice is like good paint- it only works if applied.