I remember this being discussed in the past at some length: I paid extra for my battery when I bought my Dell it is supposed to be a better quality but how would I know? It used to last at least 5 hours with which I was very pleased and although I do keep the battery in place when using from the mains which I do most of the time: I am making sure I use the battery power at least once a week and now it seems much depleted. I totally ruined my Toshiba battery when I used that laptop and do not want the same to happen to this one. What is the correct thing to do? Is it to only have the battery in place when you want to use the laptop from the battery? Apologies for the wording of this email. Mandy.