Question: Will AC power affect battery life?

Guys, I have a brand new notebook (2 days old) and I absolutely love it. It's an Acer Aspire 5742G:

CPU: Intel Core i5 480M (2.67Ghz, 2.93Ghz on Turbo Mode)
RAM: 2x2GB DDR3 (1066mhz)
HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Blue (640GB, 5400rpm)
Video 1: Intel HD
Video 2: Nvidia GeForce GT540M (1GB, 128bit, DX11, Shader 5.0)

I am currently using it to play StarCraft 2 at home and its connected on AC power to my home UPS system (so if there is a power outage, the UPS will keep it powered). I am not going to travel with the laptop often, so I won't be needing the supplied battery.

I haven't plugged the battery in since I bought the notebook, its staying in its package right now. The question is this - if I will be using the laptop on AC Power 80% of the time, will it harm the battery if the battery stays connected while on AC power?

I've heard that leaving the battery connected to the laptop while on AC power is harmful for the battery itself. Is that true? I won't risk plugging my battery in until I clear this thing up first....so, can you guys shed some light on that topic?

 

Hi,

a laptop battery will die sooner or later anyways. So you can leave it installed when you run your laptop on AC.
Some laptops are even designed to throttle if the battery is not inserted.

Michael

 

Since you have a UPS, a battery isn't necessary to have in the laptop (unless it affects the balance like in the old Dell XPS models). You just need to make sure the cooling system doesn't transfer any heat to the battery (which it shouldn't, so that will not affect the life of the battery). That being said, the battery will lose life over time and if you want maximal battery life, you might as well store it in a zip loc bag with drying agents, stored around 40% charge in the fridge. Check out this link for more info:

Battery information from Battery University

 

Laptop batteries deteriorate from day of manufacture.

The whole point of a laptop is that it is portable at a moments notice, not to mention the huge safety factor of what is in essence a UPS.

My Aspire 9301 is over 4 years old now and tbh I can not really say the battery has noticeably deteriorated. I keep it permanently installed and use it at least every couple of weeks or so on battery whether needed or not.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys! I am going to insert the battery.

Nothing lasts forever and now I know I will change the laptop in a year so the battery wont be a problem then.

 

Download battery bar and calibrate your battery every month or so, to see how your battery wear is.