Is my battery defective?

[Louis]

I just came back from a vacation trip and noticed to my surprise that my battery although fully charged, did not even last long enough to watch a full dvd, when a few months ago on my last trip it lasted enough to watch a whole dvd and part of a second one. The only change made to my laptop was installing Vista which i understand is a battery drainer...however such a big difference was kind of fishy to me. I rarely use my laptop so it is mostly turned off and then when it's on, i use power. Basically i only use the battery for trips which may happen only once every few months. I just checked on the IBM power manager for the battery and it says "your battery can store 75% of its original full charge capacity. click the help button to learn about increasing battery lifespan." Does this mean my batter already lost 25% of its charge capacity? The laptop is not even a year old and the battery has been used fully maybe 8 times (in trips watching DVD's) . If indeed I am right and this is why my battery now lasts less than 2 hours (even though the meter says it's fully charged and should last 3 hours), could this be a defective battery? Would i ahve any luck trying to get a replacement tru lenovo? Thanx for any advice!

[pianowizard]

it says "your battery can store 75% of its original full charge capacity. click the help button to learn about increasing battery lifespan." Does this mean my batter already lost 25% of its charge capacity? The laptop is not even a year old and the battery has been used fully maybe 8 times (in trips watching DVD's).

If your battery was fully charged at the time of this measurement, then yes, the battery has lost 25% of its charge capacity. What's the cycle count? If it's really only 8 (look that up in Battery MaxiMiser under "Battery Information"), losing 25% after only 8 cycles of recharing and less than 1 year is ridiculous and I'm sure Lenovo would give you a replacement.

Just for comparison, my T43's battery was made in Apr 2005, has gone through 17 cycles, and has gone from a ~52Wh design capacity to a 47Wh full charge capacity.

[GomJabbar]

FYI, my 6 cell SANYO battery in my T42 has 60% of the original capacity at 2-years old with a cycle count of 86.

I have read in the Vista forum that battery life is much reduced in Vista. Go check out the Vista forum here.

[Louis]

After doing the forced drain/recharge in the IBM power management, my battery state actually dropped to Poor and stated it only holds 60% of its original capacity. I called IBM and they are replacing it for me.
I am at work now so haven't checked on the cycle count, I'll check on it though when I get back home. Just thought I'd post a heads up since my laptop is barely 9 months old in case someone with the same laptop/battery experiences it. The battery is a 7-cell SANYO.
While on the subject...whats the best way to care for your battery and extend its life considering I rarely use it? Am I better off not connecting the battery at all unless Im actually going to use it? leave it connected but use the power management settings to not charge it unless it drops under a certain % and stop at 100%, or leave it on the laptop but leave the laptop unplugged unless Im using it?