should I leave the laptop battery in when plugged in?

Overblood

What should I do with my battery when the laptop is plugged into the mains? Would leaving it in and constantly charging it shorten the battery life at all?

fifth

I've found that constant charging of a battery - any battery - can shorten it's life. Charge it, then take it out if you want to continue using the laptop for a long period of time and just use the AC.

marco_polo

It is reccomended that you do that alright. I am not sure how much longer the lifespan it will be increased for.

All I can say is that I have a three year old laptop, and I never take the battery out when on A/C. Whenever the power cable falls out I probably have about 15-20 minutes of juice maximum at this stage.

fifth

I've a dell with a (9 cell I think, the big one) battery and i'll get 1hr - 2hrs juice out of mine still (after 1 year daily use) by charging, removing battery when I'm working for prolonged periods of time and just using AC.

There are other methods of prolonging battery life like putting them in bags in the fridge etc but don't bother with them.

Remember, batteries do need to be replaced after time. I expect another year or so out of mine and then I'll get a new one.

Flaccus

Obviously leaving battery attached or unattached while using mains ALL the time it is not good. Batteries have a finite number of charges and their maximum capacity diminishes over time the more your charge it. Apple have a guide on their site on how to keep your battery in good nick. And mac fans are obsessed with this on forums like Macrumours. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490 The general approach is to calibrate it every couple of months (charge it to full, unplug charger and let it run down from normal laptop use, let laptop go into hibernate and leave for a few hours, and finally boot back up and recharge to max), exercise it every day (use it for an hour or two off battery only, and then plug it in when you get home), and recharge anytime battery hits around 10%. Using this approach I still get well over 3 hours of daily use out of my Macbook's battery after 12 months. They key is to have a good balance. Don't be charging it all the time, and don't be running off mains all the time.

Overblood

Also I read somewhere that if you are storing your battery for prolonged periods, the charge should be left at ~40%. Leaving a fully charged battery around degrades it. Or so they say...