Laptop with very low memory - solutions?

[lalalonglegs]

I use my laptop for work (and everything else) but find that it runs out of power really quickly if it is unplugged. It's got about half its 140GB memory free but if the children want to watch a DVD in the car, it barely lasts 10 minutes before switching itself off. Any simple solutions or, even better, is there some sort of adaptor which means you could plug it into the car socket?

A bit confused.... Are you saying that the free disk space (you mention 140gb, which will be the disk not the memory) is vanishing as well as the power? Or is it just the power that goes?

Watching a DVD does consume a lot of power so it's natural that the computer will run out of juice quite quickly compared to "normal" use.

You can probably find a new batter for it somewhere that should have a longer life.

For power you can find adapters pretty quicly with Google. Hhis one is the first that came up, I don't know if its any good.

Badgers someone told me (probably incorrectly) that the more stuff you had on your memory, the shorter the battery life... I guess you're saying that's not the case. So I need a new battery - is that all? Does it clip on to the current machine (really have no idea).

Cruel - great name and thanks for the link. The ad says it works on notebooks - am I correct in thinking those are those little versions of laptops rather than a normal one?

no, netbooks are the small laptops, notebooks are normal size laptops.

A new battery should be pretty easy to install. If you look at the bottom of your laptop you will probably see a sliding catch and maybe a battery symbol. Undo the catch, pull the battery put, drop the new one in, charge up and go.

Woo-hoo - bought one on amazon (#12 cheaper!). I asked if there was such a thing in Curry's months ago and was sneered out of the shop - I knew I should have asked here first. The long drive up to Yorkshire this half term not looking nearly as hellish.

Many thanks.

"someone told me (probably incorrectly) that the more stuff you had on your memory, the shorter the battery life... I guess you're saying that's not the case."

I think there's just a bit of a muddle overterms.

"Memory" refers to your computers memory, and it won't be 140gb and more than likely less than 4gb.

The 140Gb will be your computer's hard disk drive.

Memory is for temporary storage used when your computer runs stuff.

The Hard Disk is used to store things and they stay there when the machine is turned off.

So does more stuff in memory shorten battery life?

Well a little bit yes. Running lots of programs at once, which take up memory once they're loaded from the disk, will for technical reasons cause your computer to get through it's battery quicker.

Does more stuff on the hark disk drive shorten battery life?

No, not really, perhaps a teeny tiny bit for very technical reasons but not anything worth worrying about.

OK, thanks for explaining that - I think I am the sort of person who shouldn't be allowed to own a laptop .