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My laptop battery gave up mid-flight over Denver last week
Was on a 6am United flight to SFO when my 3-year-old ThinkPad just shut down at 40% battery. Had to handwrite notes on a napkin for the rest of the presentation. Has anyone else had a device die in a really inconvenient spot like that?
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avery2191d agoMost Upvoted
40% battery dying mid-flight is exactly why you should never trust lithium ion batteries past the two year mark. That ThinkPad was already on borrowed time and you got lucky it didn't catch fire instead of just shutting down. United's outlets are garbage anyway, most of them don't even work. The napkin thing honestly sounds like a perfect opportunity to sell the client on handwritten notes being more authentic, bet they remembered that presentation better than any slideshow.
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ellioth371d ago
Gonna push back a little on the battery thing... I've had a ThinkPad from 2016 that still holds a solid charge, maybe it depends on how you treat them. Not letting it drain all the way down and keeping it out of heat seems to help a lot. Most people just run them into the ground and blame the tech. As for the napkin presentation, I call that being unprepared not being authentic. A client paying good money deserves actual slides, not scribbles that could get smudged by a coffee cup. If you're gonna sell handwritten notes, at least use a notebook and make it look intentional.
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patricia_gonzalez1d ago
Three years is actually pretty good for a laptop battery in my experience... most of mine start giving up around the two year mark, especially if you travel a lot. @ellioth37's point about heat is spot on though, those airplane cabins get so dry and hot it probably cooked that battery faster than normal use. I've had the same issue with United outlets too, they are always either loose or just dead completely. The napkin story honestly makes me think you could frame it as a deliberate pivot next time... buy a nice leather notebook and make the handwritten thing look like a premium choice rather than a panic move.
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