“My laptop won’t hold charge” almost always means one of two things: a worn-out battery, or a charger and cable that have stopped doing their job properly. Here’s how to tell which before you buy either part.
1. Check the charging light or icon
Most laptops show a light on the charger plug or an on-screen icon when power is flowing. If it doesn’t light up at all with a charger you know works, or only lights up when you wiggle the cable, the fault is very likely the charger or the charging port, not the battery itself.
2. Try a different, known-good charger
If a friend or colleague has the same laptop, or a compatible charger of the correct wattage, swap it in. If charging suddenly works properly, your original charger or cable is the problem — a much cheaper fix than a battery.
3. Check the battery health report
On Windows, run powercfg /batteryreport in Command Prompt and open the resulting HTML file — it shows design capacity versus current full charge capacity. On a Mac, hold Option and click the Apple menu, then System Information, then Power, to see Cycle Count and Condition.
A battery reporting below roughly 60–70% of its original design capacity, or a Mac reporting “Service Recommended,” is a genuine battery fault — replacing the charger won’t fix it.
4. Watch for swelling
If the trackpad has started lifting, the case doesn’t sit flat on a desk, or you can see the casing bulging anywhere, stop using the laptop immediately. This is a swollen battery and a fire risk, regardless of what the software reports.
5. Listen for charging that “restarts”
If the percentage climbs a little, drops back down, then climbs again in a loop, that’s usually a battery that can no longer hold a stable charge, even while plugged in.
Once you know which part is at fault, our Battery Replacement page has pricing, or book a repair and we’ll confirm it for you free of charge.