Laptop Battery Question

[Richard Sinkler]

I leave my laptop hooked up to the power adapter. This is my main computer and I leave it on 24/7. Should I remove the battery?

[Dave Potter]

I leave my laptop hooked up to the power adapter. This is my main computer and I leave it on 24/7. Should I remove the battery?

IMO, no. Some types of batteries can be damaged if allowed to self-deplete beyond a certain level, which the internal charger is designed to prevent. And I've never seen an OEM recommendation to do that.

[Wiz Feinberg]

In the event your battery loses its ability to hold a charge, replace it. In the meantime, it will act as a UPS, should your power go down without warning.

[Richard Sinkler]

In the event your battery loses its ability to hold a charge, replace it. In the meantime, it will act as a UPS, should your power go down without warning.

With the storms we have been having lately, the power has gone out a few times.

Thanks guys.

[Doug Clark]

Do you have a little icon in the lower right corner that looks like a battery, with an electrical plug next to it? (If you unplug the power cord, you should see just the battery part of it.)
When the computer is unplugged or otherwise not receiving external power, that will act as a battery meter. It should turn yellow, and you can see the level go down as it discharges, or back up once it's getting external power again.
I think computer batteries are lithium-ion (Li-ion) chemistry, which don't have the "memory" problems that some other battery chemistries had/have, but I've read that it's good to discharge them now and then so they don't get "lazy" by always being charged. It's not good to run any rechargeable battery to "dead dead," but give them some exercise now and then.
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/arti ... _batteries

[Richard Sinkler]

I've heard that about the batteries too. I do have the battery meter. Since my computer is hooked to the AC, the meter never does anything. I was worried about damaging the battery with the AC power all the time.

[Dave Potter]

Googling the question gets all sorts of hits, and, as with everything else on the internet, most of them come from people just repeating what they've read elsewhere.

I did find this page, which seems authoritative, and does a pretty good job of explaining things. Good guidelines, but all the variables might make it tough to put into practice.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Several years ago I published a series of articles about laptop batteries. Links to the other articles are near the bottom of each page.

These articles were provided to me by battery seller Laptops For Less, for whom I used to be an affiliate.