Ezekeel, on 21 February 2012 - 03:10 PM, said:
You are missing the big picture, which is the environment. Lithium-ion batteries contain significant amounts of cobalt, copper and nickel and dumping these in landfills like it is sadly still done in a lot of countries can contaminate the water. On the other hand recycling the batteries properly is a lot of work. Then you also have to account for the replacement battery which includes the damage done to the environment for gathering the raw materials (a lot of them require mining) and the assembly in China where authorities do not care for the environment and health of the workers. All in all, the cheap price of Lithium-ion batteries does not properly reflect the actual environmental and social costs.
And as long as the reduced maximum capacity is still enough to last for the day, the only trade-off is that one has to recharge slightly more often. I guess since most users already charge their battery daily this would even require any change in their habits at all.
I've never had a battery die, even after over 2 years use.
Besides, I'm a Republican. We don't care about the environment