Laptop owners. a question on how you use it

[chrisj1968]

Do you use your laptop always plugged into the wall outlet? I, as a general rule, will always keep my laptop plugged in at all times.

Added: If I go un tethered from the wall outlet, I'm trying this little app https://www.neowin.net/news/batterycare-0914

seems to work pretty good

[FiB3R]

You should let the battery fully discharge at least.... I dunno, once month, if not once a week.

You'll kill it faster if you don't.

[McKay]

Modern laptops generally switch the battery off and run directly from the mains if plugged in. Mine has been running off mains roughly 6 hours a day for 2 years and it gets the same battery life as it did when new. Battery health reports 100% still.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

With the latest lithium batteries, you don't ever want to drain its powers.

If you have it plugged in 24/7, take the battery out. Makes it lighter. :p

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

I'll leave mine unplugged unless it needs charging (i.e. when Linux tells me I should). My understanding is that keeping it plugged in all the time nukes the battery and makes it useless. Not that it matters much, my laptops nearly 6 years old now, and it won't last more than 90 minutes without a charge.

[LUTZIFER]

Mine is always plugged in, unless I actually take it somewhere.

As of right now, I think it's been at least a half a year since I've taken my Ultrabook anywhere.

It's been on steady with steady use 24/7, runnin like a champ.

[TAZMINATOR]

I have 2 laptops ... one is kept plugged in... other is for traveling which it can be temporarily plugged in when needed.

[Roger H. Veteran]

I've had mine for about 3yrs now and it's basically plugged in most of the time (mainly to charge) - when i'm using it I generally have it on my lap in the sofa or something so unplugged then.

What kills batteries are heat, some older crappy laptops ran hotter when plugged in because they unleashed the CPUs which caused the batteries to heat up and killed the cells. Leaving it plugged in all the time though (in general) wont kill the battery. If you laptop runs cool then it wont make a difference either way.

[Damien]

My battery is internal, plugged in most of the time, same 6 hour battery life (varies by a few minutes with wifi on or off) when I head out every so often. :)

[Praetor]

with an modern laptop the when it's using power from the wall socket the battery isn't even used; i've tryed that on some HP laptops and with the HP BatteryCheck tool (a small tool that show the actual health of a battery and current recharge cycle count) i've seen some laptops that are plugged in 24/7 and the recharge cycle is incredebly small.

Also do not completely drain the power from a modern battery, that kills it.

What kills batteries are heat, some older crappy laptops ran hotter when plugged in because they unleashed the CPUs which caused the batteries to heat up and killed the cells. Leaving it plugged in all the time though (in general) wont kill the battery. If you laptop runs cool then it wont make a difference either way.

Exactly.

[Praetor]

Added: If I go un tethered from the wall outlet, I'm trying this little app http://www.neowin.ne...atterycare-0914 seems to work pretty good

nice app, didn't knew it. :)

[The_Observer]

Mine in the wall most of the day when im at work, when i get home ill use it down to 20% and then leave it on the plug.

[IntegralDerivative]

I keep it plugged in till after a while that its 100%

[Denis W. Veteran]

When I'm home it's almost always plugged into the wall. Only while I'm in classes does it run off the battery.

'tis a 2.5 year old Alienware m11x with an internal battery. It has drained to zero a couple of times (left the laptop on standby for too long). Yet the battery meter still reads only 3.7% wear from 64530 mWh. Though when the laptop was new it read up to 69250 mWh - think it's common for design capacity when new to lessen the wear factor?

Definitely agreed that heat is a major factor in the battery's longevity. My older laptop had batteries that blew it after just two years and it was definitely a toasty laptop.

Another recommended battery meter for Windows is BatteryBar.

Here's how it looked like when the laptop was new:

And now:

[chrisj1968]

with this laptop, it has 6 cells stock from toshiba. doesn't last long but I'm not a portable dude in that regard. i think that app can discharge the battery itself

[The Evil Overlord]

I kinda have to, my battery is completely fugged, it will not hold a charge whatsoever on my Clevo D9T.

My Presario is going the same way now,

Both of these I bought used so I didn't expect much from them and expected the batteries to be on their way out.

[COKid]

Honestly I don't know the best way to extend the life of my ultrabook battery, and couldn't care less. And this thread, wow, opinions are all over the map! Anyways, I leave the battery plugged in and rarely let it run down. If that shortens its life, so be it. When I need a new battery, I'll get one off eBay for $20-30.

I mean really, life is too short to fret over a laptop battery.

[+Warwagon MVC]

You should let the battery fully discharge at least.... I dunno, once month, if not once a week.

You'll kill it faster if you don't.