I have a new laptop. I am retired so I use the laptop at home 99% of the time, & I keep it plugged in all that time. I rarely use it in battery-only status. QUESTION: How can I get the longest battery life..... 1- By leaving the laptop plugged in, 99% of the time? OR 2- By mainly running the laptop on battery, & only plugging in when it needs recharging?
You should make sure not to charge the battery over 80%. I think all brands now will provide a program that does just that: once the charge reaches 80% they stop charging. I have it with a 10 years old Samsung, and now with my new Dell machine.
My ASUS ROG Zephyrus M has an app called ASUS Battery Health Charging. From the tray icon, you can select either Full Capacity Mode, Balanced Mode, or Maximum Lifespan Mode. Full Capacity Mode (Yellow): Battery is charged to its full capacity for longer use on battery power. Balanced Mode (Blue): Stops charging when power is above 80% and resumes charging when power is below 78%. This mode is recommended when using the Notebook on battery power during meetings or conferences. Maximum Lifespan Mode (Green): Stops charging when power is above 60% and resumes charging when power is below 58%. This mode is recommended when the Notebook is always powered by AC adapter.
@roger_m -- Model number (a weird one) is HP Laptop 17-cn0097nr. As to battery: "Battery :3-cell, 41 Wh Li-ion, 45 W Smart AC power adapter, Up to 6.5 Hours." I could find no definition of what is meant by "smart...adapter" so I *assume* it means that the charger turns off when the battery is fully charged. However, I dislike assumptions so (as discussed in comment below) I will do the "smart" work myself by personally keeping the charge between 68-80%. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hadron -- I wish my laptop had the same sort of battery-charging-control app as does your ASUS. Sadly, it does not. So -- until find a better way -- I will personally monitor my battery's charge percentage (it shows in my system tray) & keep it between 68-80%. THANKS for linking the article. However, it applies to Windows 10/11 whereas I am using Linux as my OS (& loving it!).
You are right my Samsung came with that option in the bios, but there was a program as well to switch it back to full charge if needed. The Dell machine, I had to download it from the Dell website, it works similarly to Hadron's explanations. The odd thing is that manufacturers often refrain to inform you, so you can use the laptop as long as possible on battery power. My Samsung machine still works for 5 hours after 10 years, it used to be 13 hours. I keep the charge on the Dell to 57% most of the time, plugged in.
I read that I should not charge my laptop battery over 80%, but on personal laptop I never followed that advice. It is almost always plugged im and fully charged. My personal laptop is 10 yo and its battery is still quite good. I belive there must be some nuance to that 80% advice. Maybe it only applies to people that really use laptop on battery quite often that results in many discharge-charge cycles? It may also be helpful for people with external monitors that are main source of power, because screen lock and subsequent screen power off may result in external monitor going into sleep mode and not providing power anymore - thus resulting in discharge-charge cycle.
Apple offers a feature in macOS to stop charging at a certain point to enhance the lifetime of your battery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211094 Still, working from home during COVID, with the MacBook plugged in most of the time, ruined my battery…
What it mean most of the time? 70%? It would still be a lot of charging cycles. In my example it was like 99% of the time. And I have quite big, replaceable battery branded by Sony. Charger has around 89 Watts power output
My last laptop that was plugged in 99% of the time I just removed the battery and used it like a pc. Every month or so I just put in the battery pack to reload it and afterwards put the battery back in my storage. No clue if that's still possible with today's laptops.
Modern laptops usually have internal batteries these days, so regularly removing them is not a viable option for most people.
There is so much MISinformation out there. It is really sad. There is no "one size fits all" policy for this so, RTFM!!! What does the user manual say? Just be sure to cull out any nonsensical legalese put in their by the company shysters... err... lawyers - the verbiage they put in there to relieve them of any liability just in the 1-in-a-billion chance your battery explodes and burns down Chicago or London again. Contrary to what some people think, these device makers know how to properly manage battery charging. The charging circuits are not going to over-charge a battery. At the same time, the device battery monitoring circuits are not going to allow the device to keep running down the battery to the point it damages the battery. This is for a couple of reasons but primarily, the company does not want to pay for replacing your battery. And no properly functioning battery is going to allow itself to be overcharged if the charger is left plugged in. Even the most basic batteries don't work that way - it is just part of the Laws of Physics (assuming the charger outputs the correct voltage for that battery). I left my Toshiba laptop plugged in 24/7 for weeks at time. And that battery lasted over 12 years and still worked when I retired that laptop for something newer. NiCad (nickel cadmium) batteries had a big problem with "memory effect". And that is where most of these myths and articles of misinformation stem from. The lithium-ion batteries used in today's laptops, cell phones, tablets, and other rechargeable devices don't suffer from that problem. Do Lithium ion batteries have memory? Take note of the exception stated in Point #3 in this TechRepublic article. It is not about care of the battery, or extending the life of the battery. It is about ensuring the battery status monitoring circuits being calibrated to the battery's actual status. So in the case of my Toshiba and my current laptops and other devices, every month or so (or when I think about it) I will allow my device to run down until the battery monitoring circuit shuts down the device. Then I will charge it up again. This calibrates the monitoring circuits to the battery so when my battery is at 35% charge, the gauge says 35%. If still in doubt, I go back to my original advice: RTFM!
Ah yes, my favorite contrarian has arrived. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contrary to the contrary, I have learned much from this thread. Several posts on this thread convinced me of the *fact* that management of (a) when to charge-battery, and (b) how much to charge-battery, can prolong battery health. I further substantiated that *fact* by reviewing several online tech articles that deal with this same issue, not the least of which was THIS article by Microsoft (MS). Here is a partial quote therefrom... Per unquoted statements in the MS article, some devices will have Smart Charging (or a similar app) on-board and operational -- and some won't. Mine doesn't. However, based on this thread and other online guidance, I know what to do, & I shall do it. No problem.
BatteryCare is a great source of laptop battery information. An application has also been developed for laptop batteries.
Just wanted to add my experience. I always keep my laptop plugged in. The only time it gets disconnected is when I am moving from one room to another, or from my table to my bed. Usually between 1-3 minutes each time. But it mostly stays connected otherwise. In 2022, in its 4th year, my battery's rated capacity has gone from 45,507 mWh to 43,070 mWh. So I lost only 2,430 mWh in one year, which is perfectly acceptable for a battery in its 4th year of use. The original design capacity of my battery was 74,074 mWh, and I started using the laptop in November 2018.
I keep charged to 100%. Even though I'm plugged in 99% of the time. I can buy an used OEM 80%+ capacity battery for $14. So in case there's an emergency I'd rather be at 100%.
I am well aware that batteries are not going to overcharged and that there is no memory effect. But there are some people who claim that you can extend the life of a battery by not charging to 100%. Due to this, some Samsung laptops, phones and tablets, have the option to limit charging to 85%. Some other manufacturers offer equivalent features. I have no idea how much benefit, if any, this provides, but I can only presume that manufacturers would only provide this feature if they thought it had some benefit. Having said that, I have a friend who has a Galaxy Note 2, which he's been letting fully charge every night for the last ten years or so and he's not ready for a new battery yet.
I have no rule for charging my devices, I just charge whenever, sometimes at around 20% left, sometimes around 40% , charge to 100%. More important things to worry about.
