Dell Inspiron 500m

My trusted 6 years old notebook

The battery of the notebook finally kicked the bucket last week after six long years. I know a friend and a family member whose notebook battery lasted for only around one year - reason being they didn't take out the battery whilst using the notebook on AC cable all the time.

How I managed to keep the battery in good working condition over the years? Once in a fortnight or so, i charge the battery fully and drain the battery fully by working on battery power alone. Then take out the battery. Work on AC cable without the battery. I know there're various theories surrounding this issue, but so far, this has worked well for me.

The notebook originally came with 2 stick of 128MB RAM for a total of 256MB, which was a respectable amount back in 2003.

Just before my battery died on me last week, I actually bought another stick of RAM. 1GB Kingston Value RAM DDR 266 MHz PC2100 for a staggering RM170 . So now I'm working on a stick of 1GB RAM and a stick of 128MB RAM (laughable to some by today's standard).

I guess RAMs are like antique car. More expensive as it gets older!