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Laptop Battery Best Practice: Always Plugged or Unplugged?

Posted on 10/6/19 at 11:12 am
Posted by TDFreak
Dodge Charger Aficionado
Member since Dec 2009
7369 posts
Posted on 10/6/19 at 11:12 am
So with phone batteries, the experts tell you to run your phone battery down to zero percent before recharging as that will get you the longest life out of your battery.

What about laptops? Should I only charge my laptop when the battery gets low? It is 100% now, should I unplug it until its down below 20%, and then recharge it to get optimal battery life?

TIA
Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28708 posts
Posted on 10/6/19 at 11:20 am to
quote:

So with phone batteries, the experts tell you to run your phone battery down to zero percent before recharging as that will get you the longest life out of your battery.
Not sure what experts you're talking about, but I don't think this has been true for a very long time. More than a decade, at least.

Modern charging circuits actually never top off your battery, nor do they let them run completely dead. "100%" is usually somewhere around 85-90% of the battery's actual capacity, and "0%" is somewhere around 10-15%. Lithium batteries last longest when they are kept near the middle of their capacity. I doubt you could extend the battery's life by keeping an eye on the charge much more than the charge circuit already does for you. It's just not worth the time and effort.
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
89528 posts
Posted on 10/6/19 at 1:25 pm to
You should charge portable devices in the 35% to 85% range. I think laptops are okay being plugged in "mostly" but, again, YMMV.
Posted by Hu_Flung_Pu
Central, LA
Member since Jan 2013
22164 posts
Posted on 10/6/19 at 2:34 pm to
This
Posted by dakarx
Member since Sep 2018
6841 posts
Posted on 10/8/19 at 8:11 am to
Charging circuits and batteries in Laptops in general using Litium-ion type batteries are designed to remain plugged in pretty much indefinitely. It should not matter if docked or undocked (sometimes called a port replicator).
Posted by notsince98
KC, MO
Member since Oct 2012
17989 posts
Posted on 10/9/19 at 7:34 am to
quote:

So with phone batteries, the experts tell you to run your phone battery down to zero percent before recharging as that will get you the longest life out of your battery.


That is absolutely not true for lithium ion batteries. Getting the most out of lithium ion batteries is complicated as essentially everything but sitting at a 40% charge reduces the lifetime.

The worst things for lithium batteries are deep discharge (below 25-30% remaining) and sitting on a charger. The float voltage keeps the battery hot and shortens the life.

For a lithium ion phone, if you want the battery to degrade as little as possible, keeping the battery charged between 30% and 60% are good practices. Don't charge it over 60% and don't let it discharge below 30%.
Posted by lsu480
Downtown Scottsdale
Member since Oct 2007
92876 posts
Posted on 10/9/19 at 3:32 pm to
Plugged, always plugged
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