Better to keep it charging always or what?

[Hurm...]

Is it better to keep my laptop charging always or what should I do for it to sustain its battery life for the longest period possible?

 

[SuperZer0]

To answer your question:

Neither one will reduce the lifespan of the battery. As the battery ages, it inevitably loses its capacity after each charge/discharge. As it ages, it self-discharges faster, even when you leave your computer plugged all the time.

Two things will accelerate the loss of capacity:

1) the prolonged heat caused by leaving the battery inside the laptop while leaving the laptop plugged.

2) Having too many high-end applications opened (even when minimized), especially computer games which uses a lot of memory and power, can cause your battery to lose its charge/discharge capacity. To prolong the lifespan, close any programs you're not using.

To prolong the lifespan, I suggest to remove the battery from your laptop and keep it in a cool place and plug your laptop on A/C power outlet. Use the battery when you travel or are away from a power outlet.

These three links explain everything better and give more details:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01297640

http://household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com/2007/03/leave_laptop_plugged_in.php

http://www.laptopbattery.net/?file=/var/www/www.laptopbattery.net/html/notebookbatteries_life.html

 

[Troy_Parker]

Take out the battery, connect the charger to your Laptop and turn it on.

Use the battery only when you're away or something. It's what I do.

 

[SuperFerret]

This actually helped me out. Thanks.

 

[SuperZer0]

Take out the battery, connect the charger to your Laptop and turn it on.

Use the battery only when you're away or something. It's what I do.

By the way, if you take out the battery and connect your laptop with a power cord, make sure the cord is not accidently loosened or removed as it will instantly shut down your computer since the battery is not there to act as a power backup.

 

[Troy_Parker]

^ Yeah, I learnt that when there was a power outage in my house a few years ago. LOL, I was panicking because I thought I messed up my laptop. XD

 

[Hotwire]

If you constantly charge the battery, you will kill it. I learned this the hard way. I had a laptop for less than a year, that, by the time I got rid of it, had a battery life of about 5 minutes.

 

[Alistair]

Guys,

It depends on what type of battery, but I've always had mine plugged in and it's never been effected. It's just a personal perference more than anything, IMO. I've had mine for about a year, and I still get 2 hours of battery time on a gaming notebook, and 6 cell.

The biggest factor if damaging your battery is dropping it, or just raw heat period.