So... no laptop on lap/bed?

Having the battery plugged in when on power does damage batteries; I have learnt this the hard way. I now remove my battery when running on power.

So long as you laptop does not overheat, do not worry about it being on the bed, however you will need to clean the air vents a lot more regular.

Do not use your notebook on softsurfaces. Get a cutting board from Ikea or Walmart and put it under the laptop if you have to use it on your bed. The battery can be damaged but I have never had it happen to me. I use my laptop at work 9 hours a day plugged in with the battery still in it, and when I use the battery I still get the full life out of it. This is the third laptop that I have used this way and none of them have had battery problems. Yes you can use a laptop plugged in with out the battery in it, just be careful that the plug doesnt get pulled out of the wall or laptop.

Some laptops have another feature on the vent which allows you to put laptop on soft surface, once the vent on botton is blocked the air will flow from another vent on the side. My Compaq laptop have this feature but is poorly designed. Other then that i always use my laptop on a desk and clean the vent 2 times a week. If i use it on my lap i put a book below it. Otherwise my laps are BURNING!

For the battery, is really depends on the manufacture's design. Some laptop have fault design which leads the battery overheat while using AC. But some smarter design like the Dell i have here doesn't generate heat to the battery and even on gaming the battery does not have contact with the system heat which won't decrease the battery life. When using Li-lon battery is always important to keep the battery cool and have it charged. If the battery reduced to 0% and have not charged that damages the battery's life by alot.

My friend and i have the Dell running with battery and AC, no problem occured. On my recommendation i say don't plug battery with AC for older laptops and Compaq brand. I don't know about other brands so i can't tell.

How hot your notebook gets depends on the type and if it has underside ventilation or not. Most notebooks dissipate heat through the bottom and sit on small rubber feet to allow airflow underneath and often have vents and fans on the bottom. If you don't have vents or fans on the bottom the notebook still relies on some static airflow and convection to cool the laptop but it probably doesn't get very hot to begin with so you may get away with it as long as you aren't stressing the notebook like encoding videos or playing 3D games. Watching DVDs, playing MP3s, checking email, or surfing the web doesn't generate much heat but watching encoded and compressed video like DiVx or AVI files can use some more CPU power and generate more heat. Low powered less expensive notebooks usually don't get as hot as larger, more expensive, and higher powered notebooks.

If you'd like a more objective test, download a program called HWMonitor.exe from cpuid.com and run it while your notebook is sitting on a smooth desktop surface. Note the temperatures you get on the various components while the computer is idle and while heavily loaded, then place it on a soft surface and try it again under normal use. If the temperatures don't exceed the maximum they get when loaded you should be fine.

There are a lot of misconceptions about batteries in notebooks and other modern lithium battery powered devices like mobile phones, cameras, and iPods. Don't worry so much about leaving your notebook plugged in with the battery in. It's less stressful on the battery to do that than to cycle it constantly. Removing it and storing it may make it last longer but unless you store it at a constant temperature and about 40% charge it won't make much of a difference and it's somewhat inconvenient. The battery also acts as an uninterrupted power supply and may come in handy when you least expect it, like during a power failure.

These batteries have a shelf life regardless of if they're used or not so storing it may put less stress on it but it will still wear out and show a noticeable drop in charge after a couple years. Three to four years they will need to be replaced to get any useful charge out of them regardless of how well you care for them.

There is no "memory" like in ni-cad batteries that actually should be deep cycled about once a month or so. It is harmful to a lithium battery to deep cycle it and you can destroy it that way. Although the battery has on board protection to show it as dead when it gets very low it's not a good idea to completely drain your battery. They may rarely need to be reset in accordance with the battery manufacturer. About once a year is the most you may need to do this. When a battery charge indication on the computer doesn't seem to match what the battery is doing (like it shuts down at 50% charge or otherwise doesn't do what it says it's doing) it's a good indication you need to reset the battery. On Apple notebooks this typically involves allowing it to drain all the way down and then recharging it all the way back up but I don't think this technique works with all systems.

Again, don't worry about keeping your notebook plugged in. This shouldn't hurt the battery unless there is something wrong with your charging system which is unlikely. Heat, cycles, and time is what will eventually kill your lithium battery, mostly time.

Actually watching movies uses GPU resouces especially blue-ray uses alot. If only compressed AVI and MP3 uses abit CPU.

For the battery storing, says to have better 50% of charge but in that case suggesting have it fully charged and put it in freezer can actually extend the life for the battery for many years of not using. But that's rather too crazy do to.

The best way to keep the all types of Li-ion battery's life is to have it charged every 2 weeks if not using. And keep it somewhere not humid and cool.

Also Woody you mentioned on the last (like it shuts down at 50% charge...) is actually required collebrating. That can be done by user themself like how they do with the Apple laptop, but actually the procedures is slight more complex then that. Can takes a whole day doing it.

What you're describing is also called battery calibration and can be done with any notebook battery. However, keep in mind that if your battery is losing charge, that could also be a buildup of irreversible battery wear. If this is the case, calibrating it will just make it worse.

I explained that before you Djem :P But not only laptop batteries but any Li-ion batteries like mobile phones, iPod, PSP, PDA, just about anything even normal AA, AAA size Li-ion batteries.

But good to know about the irreversible battery wear with calibrating will make it worse.

I would put the battery in but if i notice the battery is warm then i'd take it out, good for cooling the laptop and the battery last longer without staying warm.

just want to DE-bunk this rumour


dont know exactly what happened in your case

but plugging in AC power while battery is in DOES NOT damage the battery


IT DOES HOWEVER take away the cycles the battery has......so if its in 24/7/365 expcet to lose a cycle, or lose 10-20 mins of life when you finaly unplug it


it will not make it explode, or die, or go dead.....it will just ruin its cycles and lessen battery life


google if you wish

On my old laptop, the original battery gave around 1.5 hours life. But I left it plugged in and every now and again, when I would use it on battery (every few months) I noticed the charge was becoming 5 - 10 minutes less each time. Within 12 months it was down to around 20 minutes life. Nowadays, although it has not been used on battery with the original one for some time, when we had a power outage, it struggled to get 15 minutes lol.

I got a battery on eBay and started removing it and putting the old one in as a UPS, keeping the new one charged at about 80% and then leaving it in a cupboard. And guess what, it didnt seem to suffer from rapid degredation like the original one (even though this was a non-OEM cheap eBay battery).

In fact, it is just over 3 years old the second battery and still gives over 40 minutes life. It has only been used on battery approx 50 times and has been stored away from the laptop. The original one had degraded to around 20 minutes life in under a year and had only been used on battery around 10 - 15 times.

So on my new laptop I keep the battery removed and in a cupboard. I charge it to about 80% before I remove it. I run on power 99% of the time you see.

ive yet to take out any battery of the 20+ laptops ive owned, ive only had about 3 that ive owned more than a year

yet to have a problem with lower battery life, ive yet to own a laptop with max settings to get less than 2 hours

also, if you get a power outtage, and you dont have your battery in, afaik, you may lose data or whatever it is youre doing

not so with a battery in

and batteries are not so super pricy that its beyond your means to replace it in a few years when it only holds 1-2 hours vs 3 hours brand new

I understand what you are saying and I have no problem replacing the batteries every 2 - 3 years. But I do expect a battery to last longer than 12 months (I know they only ship with a 6 month warranty) after only running it down to near-empty approx 5 - 10 times.

Btw the reason the battery life was so lame on my old laptop to begin with, was it was a full Pentium 4 3Ghz (non mobile version ouch!).

I got near 2 hours with the replacement battery; the original one was 4400mAh and the eBay one was 6600mAh. Makes me laugh when I consider my new laptop gets a whopping 2hr 40m from a tiny 2200mAh battery lmao!

If you want it to last more then 12 months you need to have it charged every 2 weeks of not using. And store it somewhere cool. That's the only way to extend the life. If you want something extreme you fully charge it and warp it up and place it in a freezer. Sounds crazy? Slightly, but works.

If you fully charged it and leave it for a month it lose capacity and you'll end up having the battery die eventually.

EDIT: Forgot to say, when using Li-ion batteries is best not to deplet the battery then charge, make sure you have it more then 50% before leave it. Also Li-ion batteries loses power from time to time, a fully charged li-ion battery on PSP last for 2 weeks before it gone to 0%. And when it reached 0% the battery is badly killed. It would still charge and hold capacity but will die out way sooner

You guys can make this way too complicated. Some batteries are better than others, some are just lemons. Sometimes a manufacturer will give you a battery that's already had a shelf life. If it goes bad early check with your warranty before it expires and see what's covered.

I just don't think you should worry too much about it.

Ah I'm not a Laptop Guru, But My laptop i had plugged in all the time and and i've had it for a year or so and it now lasts less than a minute being unplugged now. Now having it plugged in all the time has to have something to do with it

^^ battery does lose life afer some times - some quick, some lasts better (as in post#17 above). Being "plugged" with battery installed has "nothing" to do with it (my personal experiences, others might have it differently)

cheers ...