Setting up My New Laptop
Written on Mar 22, 2026
As I mentioned at the end of an earlier article, I ordered a new laptop and had it shipped to my older son's house in Arizona. Well, I am in Arizona now, and it took me two days to set it up.
I mentioned, in another article, that I was going to back up the drive before replacing Windows 11 Home with Linux Mint. That is not what took me so long. I forgot to bring a mouse and I had to use the touchpad until I bought an inexpensive mouse. No one in my older son's family had one I could use.
Second, I had to learn how to enable a battery charging threshold.
My Old Laptop
I bought my previous laptop in July 2023 while I was in the United States, where I used it until I left. I again used it while I was in the Philippines, until I noticed the battery swelling in May 2024.
Because I could not find a replacement battery in the Philippines, I ordered one from the United States and had one of my daughters-in-law ship it to me when she shipped other things my wife and I needed. I received it seven months later, December 2024, and I installed it right away.
The new battery lasted longer than the old one, but it still started swelling in February of this year. After careful research, I discovered why those batteries would not last. With that particular laptop, there were two reasons.
The laptop would not power up without a battery being in place. The device kept charging at 100 percent even when AC power was being used. Lithium-ion batteries degrade quickly when kept at a 100 percent charge.
That was my first laptop with a lithium-ion battery. We had to drain the old batteries fully before recharging them to 100 percent. Even if I had known the differences, the old laptop would have done its damage anyway because of how the power was routed through the battery.
The 40-80 Rule
You should never drain lithium-ion batteries below 20 percent or charge them above 80 percent, as doing so will increase stress on the batteries. The 40 percent value is just for safety.
I found a page that explained how to limit charging levels at the command line, with this command:
echo 80 | sudo tee /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold
An AI source said to do the same thing with the start threshold:
echo 40 | sudo tee /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_start_threshold
The "40" value, or any value I put in there below "50", automatically saved it as "50", so that is what I left it as. I had to unplug and use the battery until it dropped below 50 percent for it to start charging, and then it stopped at exactly 80 percent.
Limited Battery Usage
I will use this laptop frequently while I am in the United States, and I will always keep it plugged in. I may use the battery while traveling back to the Philippines. Once I am at home in the Philippines, I intend to ensure the battery is at 50 percent before putting the laptop in storage.
I prefer to use my mini PC with a 21-inch screen over this 15.6-inch screen. This laptop has a more powerful CPU, but that does not matter to me. I used the mini PC for 22 months without any issues whatsoever. It may last much longer.
Image by BeezeeStock from Pixabay