Should i use laptop plugged in

Hey, developers: Opportunity alert! So keep your laptop out of hot cars, direct summer sunlight, Bikram yoga class, etc. And make sure to keep the cooling vents clear — work at a table or desk, not in bed with your computer on a quilt on your lap. There you have the secret to long life: Watch your power levels, and keep it cool. And you know, I suspect following that advice might translate to a longer, happier life for ourselves as well as our batteries. We aim to inspire more people to talk about climate change and to believe that meaningful change is not only possible but happening right now.

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The reason is that each cell in a lithium-polymer battery is charged to a voltage level. The higher the charge percentage, the higher the voltage level. The more voltage a cell has to store, the more stress it's put under. That stress leads to fewer discharge cycles. For example, Battery University states that a battery charged to percent will have only discharge cycles, while a battery charged to 70 percent will get 1,, discharge cycles. Buchmann would know. High temperatures, typically classified as being over 30 degrees Celsius, will shorten the life of a battery irrespective of any other factors.

Simply leaving your laptop in your car on a summer afternoon is a bad idea. When you combine the stress of high temperature with the stress of high voltage, the effects are even worse. The Battery University study shows that a battery stored with a 40 percent charge at 40 degrees would see its capacity fall to 85 percent after a year.

Charged to percent, the capacity falls to 65 percent under the same conditions. For a fully charged battery at 60 degrees, the capacity plummets to 60 percent in just three months. The evidence seems clear. Keeping the battery permanently charged at percent will slowly shorten its life.

Keeping it at percent and exposing it to high temperatures will shorten it much quicker. And remember, these high temperatures are not just environmental. Resource-intensive tasks such as gaming or video editing will considerably increase heat levels, and using the laptop on a pillow or in a poorly designed case will trap that heat as well.

For the sake of your battery, it's always a good idea to fix an overheating laptop. If heat is such a danger, it begs another question. Should you remove the battery altogether when using your laptop on AC power? Obviously, this isn't possible on the growing number of laptops that sport sealed batteries. Where they are replaceable, the answer seems to vary from one manufacturer to the next. Acer, for instance, says you don't have to remove the battery on AC power, but should remove it if you aren't going to use it for several days.

With lithium-ion batteries, it is better to avoid discharging them completely then recharging them to full capacity -- this is called a "deep cycle," and this process is only useful for nickel—cadmium and nickel—metal hydride batteries. However, you should perform a deep cycle once a month or so to recalibrate the battery. This allows the battery monitoring mechanics to remain accurate when displaying battery life and charge.

While leaving your laptop plugged in constantly is not detrimental to its health, excess heat will definitely damage a battery over time. Higher levels of heat are most commonly produced when you are running processor-intensive applications like games or when you have many programs open simultaneously. When your computer is running hot and it is plugged in, disconnect the battery and keep it somewhere cool to prevent heat damage.