| Laptop computers are great. They are | | | | laptop somewhere in the room. Of course never |
| convenient, can go almost anywhere, are small, | | | | check them when flying either. |
| and many of us use them as our main computing | | | | When your laptop starts to slow down and the |
| device. Not surprisingly, I'm writing this on a laptop | | | | battery life is getting short, consider upgrading the |
| right now. Unfortunately, they get physically | | | | memory to the maximum and replacing the |
| abused, are often stolen, and generally don't last | | | | battery. Upgrading the memory will make it much |
| as long as we'd like. And even though prices have | | | | faster and that extra memory that may have |
| come way down, they are still expensive. Here | | | | cost $500 or even over $1000 when it was new, |
| are a few tips to get more mileage out of your | | | | may only cost $50 or so now. Batteries are |
| laptop. | | | | expensive to replace but you may be able to get |
| Always carry your laptop with some type of | | | | third party batteries for much less. |
| padding. This can be a specially padded laptop bag, | | | | I'm a power laptop user, but my laptops last for |
| carefully nested in a briefcase, or even wrapped | | | | several years. I keep my laptop until the battery |
| in a shirt in a backpack. Too many are thrown | | | | life is seriously diminished, and then I replace the |
| carelessly in bags that are then dragged around | | | | battery and max out the memory at the same |
| without any care. Laptops do get damaged so | | | | time. If upgrading memory is beyond you then |
| treat them gently. | | | | you can have a local computer shop or office |
| Laptops are also often stolen. Do not leave yours | | | | supply shop do it for you very economically. |
| alone in a public place even for a few seconds. A | | | | When the second battery starts having a short |
| friend of mine had one nabbed that was sitting in | | | | runtime, I usually retire the laptop to secondary or |
| front of him while he has on the phone in an | | | | backup status and buy a new one. For example, |
| airport. He turned around, and it was simply gone! | | | | my last laptop from over 5 years ago is still alive |
| Be careful! Also in hotel rooms never leave one | | | | and well and I use it nearly every week for tasks |
| visible or any accessories like a power supply | | | | like email. |
| visible as they are dead giveaways that there is a | | | | |