# When did changing laptop batteries become hard? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [August 3, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115 "2026-08-03T15:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/1 "2026-08-03T15:20:44Z")
I always carried a 2nd charged battery for my Dell laptop. Slide three plastic tabs and the old one popped out. Changing a laptop battery was a 2 minute job. My older Win 10, Dell Laptop was manufactured in 2017. I bought a newer, faster, “New to me” Win 11, Dell Latitude 5420. Made in 2021. Dell Latitude is a corporate, business laptop. Dell Latitude is on our state purchasing contract. All our state agencies purchase from it. This is beyond pathetic. Remove eight screws, pry off the back, Unplug a fragile power cable. Slide the battery from a slot. Install new battery. Is this some kind of sick joke? What happened to hot swapping batteries? What if I’m doing a powerpoint presentation at a computer conference and need to swap batteries? A battery charge isn’t going to get me through a busy 8 hour day at a conference. Most importantly, why is technology getting worse and more useless every damn year? Link Laptop [https://www.parts-people.com/blog/2023/01/03/dell-latitude-5420-how-to-install-replace-battery/](https://www.parts-people.com/blog/2023/01/03/dell-latitude-5420-how-to-install-replace-battery/) **Do they still make Laptops with easy battery swapping?** What brands? The heck with Dell. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/2 "2026-08-03T15:29:56Z")
My daily use laptop is the semi-ruggedized version of yours. I was considering upgrading it to _two_ high-capacity batteries, but after looking at the online instructions … decided that procrastinating was, by far, the better path 😉 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/3 "2026-08-03T15:33:59Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > **Do they still make Laptops with easy battery swapping?** What brands? > The heck with Dell. Generally, most laptops now come this way. You have to search for a swappable battery. Laptops are built very slim, light weight and efficient. So your preferred shorter life batteries in large non-efficient laptops are basically gone. It is a pain, but mostly it isn’t. Next time you buy a laptop look for a “rugged enterprise notebooks” and hopefully they will still have the swap. Ironically, Dell is a likely source for said with both field and military grade laptops available. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/4 "2026-08-03T15:42:52Z")
I have always purchased Dell Latitude laptops for my personal use. I’ve owned 5 since the mid 1990’s. I used them at work and was impressed with the rugged case. I’ve seen several that survived falls from a desk without a scratch. I noticed the Latitude 5420 case isn’t nearly as rugged. I will have to replace the battery soon. A full charge barely lasts three hours. That’s the downside to buying a used laptop. Replacing the battery used to be trivial. I bought 32Gb Kingston memory for the laptop. I’ll change the battery at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/5 "2026-08-03T15:50:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This is beyond pathetic. Remove eight screws, pry off the back, Unplug a fragile power cable. Slide the battery from a slot. Install new battery. Is this some kind of sick joke? The number of people who need this feature is effectively non existent. Those who do need to buy and pay more for a laptop with this feature. Everyone else prefers a less expensive laptop. > [@aceplace57](#): > > What happened to hot swapping batteries? What if I’m doing a powerpoint presentation at a computer conference and need to swap batteries? A battery charge isn’t going to get me through a busy 8 hour day at a conference. Buy an external battery at Best Buy or whatever that plugs directly into the power port or maybe USB port. It’s even faster than swapping the old style batteries. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/6 "2026-08-03T15:51:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This is beyond pathetic. Remove eight screws, pry off the back, Unplug a fragile power cable. Slide the battery from a slot. Install new battery. Is this some kind of sick joke? The number of people who need this feature is effectively non existent. Those who do need to buy and pay more for a laptop with this feature. Everyone else prefers a less expensive laptop. > [@aceplace57](#): > > What happened to hot swapping batteries? What if I’m doing a powerpoint presentation at a computer conference and need to swap batteries? A battery charge isn’t going to get me through a busy 8 hour day at a conference. Buy an external battery at Best Buy or whatever that plugs directly into the power port or maybe USB port. It’s even faster than swapping the old style batteries. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Most importantly, why is technology getting worse and more useless every damn year? No it fucking isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/7 "2026-08-03T16:00:30Z")
I need to order this Lenovo ASAP. Once they’re gone the opportunity is lost. Link [Lenovo ThinkPad T580 Dual-Battery System (Power Bridge Battery 1 and 2): A Practical, Professional Guide - Upgrade Guides & Tips](https://www.upgrade-my-laptop.com/guides/laptop-battery-replacement/lenovo-laptop-battery-replacement/lenovo-thinkpad-t580-dual-battery-system-power-bridge-battery-1-and-2-a-practical-professional-guide/) > [@](#): > > Lenovo’s ThinkPad T580 is one of the last mainstream 15.6″ business laptops to ship with a true > _dual-battery Power Bridge_ design: a fixed **internal 32 Wh pack** plus a hot-swappable > **external pack** (24 Wh / 48 Wh / 72 Wh family). This post explains how it works, how to hot-swap > safely, how to choose capacities, and how to care for both batteries for long-term health. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/8 "2026-08-03T16:14:05Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > The number of people who need this feature is effectively non existent. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > So your preferred shorter life batteries in large non-efficient laptops are basically gone. Exactly to both of these. An internal battery is better in every way except ease of replacement. It’s a great example of an engineering optimization principle: Make the common case easy, make the uncommon case possible. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/9 "2026-08-03T16:28:09Z")
No. Get a charging brick. [https://www.amazon.com/clp/sr?clpRedir=Y&k=laptop+external+battery&channelId=500](https://www.amazon.com/clp/sr?clpRedir=Y&k=laptop+external+battery&channelId=500) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/10 "2026-08-03T16:41:17Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > Most importantly, why is technology getting worse and more useless every damn year? > > No it fucking isn’t. Ehh, you can say that, and it might be true for you, but the same thing won’t be true for others. I have a 2013 or so Toughbook. It’s battery died last year to the point where it wouldn’t even boot with the power adapter plugged in, but otherwise was a perfectly functional laptop. Instead of taking it apart and swapping the battery, I ordered a replacement and swapped it out in a few seconds. Without that capability, it would probably have been recycled (I’ve taken laptops apart and fixed them before, I’d rather not do it again). There’s no technological reason why this can’t be the procedure on modern laptops. It’s only done that way because it’s cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/11 "2026-08-03T16:45:52Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > It’s only done that way because it’s cheaper. It also makes the packaging of the battery itself more flexible and the whole laptop both smaller and lighter. Laptop batteries in a case are bigger and heavier than a bare LiPo pack. Laptops that have to have invididual docks for batteries instead of flexible packs made to fit the space are bigger and heavier. Smaller and lighter are what sells laptops these days. The USB-C brick is the superior choice as that brick can be used for every device I own and is simpler to charge on its own when not in use. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/12 "2026-08-03T16:50:07Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > No it fucking isn’t. Eh, I’d say that it is in some respects and laptop self-servicing is definitely one of them. Harder to open/access, fewer user replaceable parts and even stuff that used to be standard user-upgradable like storage and memory often isn’t any more. Manufacturers have a vested interest in either making you pay more up front for that stuff since you can’t easily do it yourself later or making the laptop obsolete quicker so you buy a new one. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/13 "2026-08-03T16:51:03Z")
Or making the whole thing less expensive for the vast majority of the populace. You’re correct that there are cases where you can argue that things are worse but those are edge cases for most of the population ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/14 "2026-08-03T16:51:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > A battery charge isn’t going to get me through a busy 8 hour day at a conference. On a modern laptop? Yeah, it probably will. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/15 "2026-08-03T16:52:56Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Or making the whole thing less expensive for the vast majority of the populace. Yeah, sorry, I don’t believe that soldering memory in is saving the end user any money. It’s absolutely COSTING you money if you want to go from 8GB to 16GB and your only option is overpaying Dell (or whoever) when you buy the laptop ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/16 "2026-08-03T16:55:00Z")
The price of tech has gone way down over the decades and it’s in large part because of cheaper manufacturing. I’m saying this as a career manufacturing engineer ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/17 "2026-08-03T16:55:40Z")
Exactly. The newest Macbook Pros, for example, have a 20+ hour battery life for continuous light web browsing on the 16 inch model and 17-18 hours for the 14 inch model. My couple year old M3 MPB continues to last well more than a work day for me. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/18 "2026-08-03T16:56:14Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > It’s absolutely COSTING you money if you want to go from 8GB to 16GB and your only option is overpaying DELL (or whoever) when you buy the laptop You personally maybe. What percent of users overall want or need to do that? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/19 "2026-08-03T16:57:33Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > What percent of users overall want or need to do that? Fewer and fewer as manufacturers make it harder and harder to do. Funny how that works 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115/20 "2026-08-03T16:58:35Z")
and of note, since they started soldering in RAM, I haven’t had an issue with RAM coming unseated or having the connector fail. It was rare before but it did happen to me more than once. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-changing-laptop-batteries-become-hard/1032115.md?page=2)