{{ define "article" }}
<article>
  <h2>{{ .Title }}</h2>
  <p>Early in March, I wrote about how I <a href="/blog/2025-03-05+Fixing_Dell's_Trackpad_Disaster_With_Hot_Glue+diy+computers">fixed Dell's trackpad disaster with hot glue</a>. In that post, I mentioned how the fix may degrade over time. Well. Here we are.</p>
  <p>A few weeks ago, the trackpad was in the same situation I found myself in before. Unable to click. I tried pulling it apart and doing the same fix again, but it didn't do anything. The trackpad was still stuck. While diagnosing the issue, I realized that the trackpad was being contacted by the battery which made it difficult to depress the trackpad. Further inspection of the battery revealed the actual issue: the cells were swelling. This made plenty of sense, as I have been experiencing classic battery degradation signs such as random shutoffs at seemingly normal battery levels. I was not excited to have to buy yet another laptop battery, but I didn't really have a choice.</p>
  <p>I decided to go with the higher capacity 97WHr model that takes up the space reserved for a 2.5" drive. While I actually like the idea of dual drives, it doesn't make much sense at this point for my use-case, and I really wanted all-day battery life. Something that's been sorely lacking with all of my laptops.</p>
  <figure>
    <img src="/static/media/Precision_5540/battery-swap_1000.jpg" alt="Inside my Dell Precision 5540 with new, larger battery next to machine for comparison." width="1000" height="750" />
    <figcaption>New high-capacity battery ready for install.</figcaption>
  </figure>
  <p>Swapping in the new battery was straightforward. Remove the bottom cover, remove the old battery, and install the new one. It took about 5 minutes, and I was back up and running. You can see in the picture that the center cells were starting to expand. After charging the battery and letting it drain, it was ready for full-time use.</p>
  <p>The improvements were night and day. The trackpad is as crisp as ever, and the battery estimations are well over 8 hours on a conservative battery profile. I haven't stress tested it yet, but I can already tell that it doesn't drain nearly as fast as before. I can actually spend some hours unplugged and still have over half the capacity remaining. It's like a brand new machine.</p>
  <p><b>Created:</b> {{ .Date }}</p>
</article>
{{ end }}