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General discussion

My tablet's battery stopped taking a charge, have computers become that expendable?

May 1, 2015 9:59AM PDT
Question:

My tablet's battery stopped taking a charge, have computers become that expendable?


I'm a bit frustrated and I think full disclosure is needed at the point of purchase regarding the device battery replacement policy/capability. My ASUS SLATE eee121's battery stopped taking a charge after 4 years, which is when I discovered it has to be returned to an ASUS service center for replacement. My wife tells me her Apple iPad is the same. What's going on? Have computers become that expendable? Is this on purpose so that companies can make a buck or is it the nature of batteries themselves? Are there best practices I should be doing to extend the life of these types of batteries? My fingers are crossed over what I get back from Asus and when.

Thanks for your help.

--Submitted by Chris H.

Discussion is locked

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Part of the deal
May 8, 2015 11:31PM PDT

We all feel your pain, Chris Wink. I have a 6 year old Dell Latitude laptop who's battery quit taking a charge a year or so, and like some of the other responders, decided I would just pass on spending $100+ for a new battery and run it off the charger since I don't need it to be portable.

The thing that gets me though, is the small devices like iPods/iPhones and iPads that are no fun unless they're cord free. Their batteries are not as expensive and should last a long time, but the manufacturers make them so freaking hard to change, most people who don't want to upgrade pay the company or a third party to change them. My old iPods were easy enough with the tool the replacement battery company sent with the new batteries, so I replaced them for around $30 each. But my newer iPod Touch is too difficult to open without fear of destroying the damn case. My new iPad Air 2 is definitely going to a Pro when its battery gives up.

I'm in the market for my first "Smart" phone, and notice most are not user replaceable batteries. When Samsung changed the Galaxy S5 to the S6, the user replaceable battery went Bye Bye. Glad to see LG kept it on the G4, as are a lot of folks leaving User Comments about it on various review forums who've have made a point of mentioning how they love that LG kept the removable battery.

The way new model roll-out cycles are, the OEM battery lasts long enough to make it to a couple new generations of the device, and a lot of people weigh the cost of a new battery against a buying a new device that may have enough new features or improvements to justify simply replacing the old one. But, if you like your old one, and don't buy into the wasteful world of designed obsolescence, have the company replace the battery and keep enjoying the device, as you and I have done.

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Vizio
May 9, 2015 12:15AM PDT

At least you have access to get the battery replaced. I have a dead Vizio 8" tablet with a dead battery and their tech support said, more or less, tough luck. They don't do battery replacements. Also the mini-usb charging receptacle got so loose it wouldn't hold the cable snug enough to complete the charge. It is the 1st. and only tablet that Vizio has ever produced. Same old, same old, built in obsolescence.
jrenjr

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Limited life batteries, no way to swap them yourself
May 9, 2015 1:21AM PDT

For whatever reasons (corporate greed, user demands for slim designs) all too many products fail to support user exchangeable batteries...tablets, ultrathin laptops, smartphones all lack access ports for batteries. And a number of these products even fail to support slots for memory cards...my wife's smartphone lacks a slot to support even micro SDHC to make it easy to migrate her photos to a new phone! It seems the products demand 'planned obsolescence' and the buying community largely does not mind because of voracious "I want the newest one..." attitudes that are reflected in the camp-out-all-night pre-launch lines. This is not a new phenomenon though, as folks with the original Palm Pilots did not have access ports for the Palm battery, either!

Lithium batteriess ALL have a finite lifetime, even with ZERO USE! This is due to the chemistry of the lithium in the battery, who all start to age the day they are manufactured. Read on the web about this fact of lithium battery life. So we have products with 'sealed in' batteries that have a finite lifetime...engineered obsolescence. All we can hope for is that inventive individuals and companies continue to publish videos on the web, providing illustrated instructions on how to open our products (in spite of lack of instructions from the manufacturers) and replace the batteries.

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Try replacing the battery
May 9, 2015 1:37AM PDT

You can probably find a YouTube video that shows you how to open the case and replace that battery. If you were going to toss the unit, what do you have to lose?

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Asus Tablet
May 9, 2015 1:40AM PDT

My Asus 101 e-tablet stopped charging. The problem was not the batteries! Troubleshooting showed that the charger failed. I found a cheap replacement charger which has solved the problem going on three months.
YellowJacket70

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I think the proper terminology is "disposable"
May 12, 2015 1:37AM PDT

Computers, tablets, cars, appliances, even buildings are "expendable." In other words, all real and personal property is "expendable". I believe the applicable word to describe the situation is "disposable." If
it comes to the end of its useful life or the cost of repair exceeds its value, the object/property is thrown away., ie: "Disposable...."

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Might not be battery's fault
May 14, 2015 6:36AM PDT

While the battery is the natural suspect, I know from experience that it can be the device. My experience - after three years use my Kindle Fire, gen 1, would not take a charge. With a good bit of searching, I learned, on an Amazon site, that the gen 1 Fire had a known issue where a poor solder joint would cause the unit to stop charging. If this defect was discovered prior to warranty expiration, they'd fix it free. Otherwise, tough s**t.

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HEY
May 20, 2015 10:09PM PDT

After using for 4 years, battery replacement from suppliers, this way would be very hard! Just buy a new one to replace it.