Laptop Battery Replacement — When the Old One No Longer Holds a Charge
A laptop battery typically lasts 3–5 years of daily use. After that the capacity slowly drops until it reaches the point where it “only holds a charge for an hour.” That’s the moment to replace it — and it usually pays off, because after a battery swap 90% of laptops feel like they’ve been plugged into power the whole time.
How to Tell When the Battery Is Done
Windows has a built-in test. Open Command Prompt as an administrator and type:
powercfg /batteryreport
The system generates an HTML report on your disk showing “Design Capacity” (the factory value) and “Full Charge Capacity” (the current maximum). If your present capacity is below 60% of the factory value — it’s time for a replacement.
For Mac: click the Apple icon → About This Mac → System Report → Power → Battery Information. A “Cycle count” below 1000 means it’s still OK; “Condition” should read “Normal,” not “Service Recommended.”
Prices by Model
Original or Compatible — How to Decide
An original battery (from the laptop’s manufacturer) lasts 3–5 years and has protective systems against overheating. It costs more. A compatible one (a quality brand like Green Cell or Mitsuru) lasts 2–3 years and is 30-40% cheaper. For people who use their laptop moderately (4-6 hours a day) — a compatible battery is perfectly fine. For those who run it 10+ hours a day on battery — go original.
We never recommend the cheapest batteries from the market stalls. Those are mostly repackaged old batteries or low-grade ones — they fail or swell up within a few months.
Free Battery Test with a Replacement
Bring your laptop into the shop, we’ll test the battery for free and tell you honestly whether it’s worth replacing or whether a few tweaks can get you another year out of it.
Questions
When the battery starts draining fast, does it have to be replaced?
Not always. Sometimes the problem is in the Windows settings (background programs draining the battery), drivers that aren’t set up properly, or a “stuck” charging behavior that always charges to 100% and leaves no protective margin. Before you buy a new one, bring it in for a test. We often fix the problem with a few settings.
After how many charges does a battery start to fade?
Typically 500-800 charge cycles. A cycle means “from 0% to 100%.” If your laptop was bought 4 years ago and you use it every day, it’s probably already in that zone.
Can I save the battery by not charging it all the way?
Yes, it actually improves the lifespan. If your laptop is modern (Lenovo, Dell, Asus, HP), open the manufacturer’s Vantage / Power Manager / MyAsus app — there’s a “Battery conservation mode” option that stops charging at 60-80%. It reduces wear. Especially useful for laptops that spend most of their time plugged into power.
Am I doing harm if I use the laptop while it’s plugged in?
Modern laptops have protection — when the battery hits 100%, it won’t keep charging. The real problem is heat. A laptop that’s constantly plugged in inside a warm room ages the battery faster. The best approach: use it normally and once a month drain it fully and then charge it — it helps the sensors calibrate the true capacity value.
We cover every Belgrade municipality
Our courier picks up and returns devices across the whole city. Click your municipality for the neighbourhoods we cover, the problems we fix most often and arrival times: