Laptop trivial maitenance questions

1. Should I leave the battery in my laptop even when it's fully charged and plugged in? Does doing so have any effect on the life span of the battery?

2. I use my laptop for 10+ hours a day, with a lot of breaks in between, only turning it off before bedtime. Should I keep leaving it on during those breaks, or should I do a standby of some sort?

 

1. I leave in the battery all the time in my ThinkPads. I did however use Power Manager to setup loading threshold such, that it only charges when the battery level drops below 50%.

This way, I can even unplug the notebook, use it on battery for a little while, then plug it in, and still the battery is not constantly charging. Constant charging is what wears the battery down the most.

When plugged in and fully charged, the battery is not being actually used. It very slowly will loose its charge even in this state, but not actively. It only serves as a backup, in case power goes away.

You should still use the battery at least once every few weeks (month at most), just to keep it fresh.

Some people might recommend to take it out completely, because heat from the computer will wear the battery down more. I have a Thinkpad T500 that was used mostly plugged in for 3 years, I never took out the battery, and the battery is still in very good shape.

2. If you want to conserve power, then of course make your computer standby. I usually put all comuters to sleep when I am not using them, no need to use power all the time. If you just leave your computer on all the time, it will still consume much more power than just being idle.

 

I suggest leaving your battery in. When I bought my x230, i read somewhere on this forums that taking our your battery hurts your laptop performance. After trying both leaving the battery in and taking it out, I do spot a noticable difference in performance. so ya, i advise leaving it in.

With regards to your second qs, I am also interested to find out. Can I just sleep my laptop all the time, or should I off it whenever I am not using it.

 

I have been using a HP laptop from 2 years with battery in all the time for downloads and regular use and there is not much decrease in battery life.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

Does not really matter.

However, switching on and off stresses electronic components a bit. A laptop consuming 10W in idle, turned on 24/7, eats about $15 worth of electricity per year (counting $0.15/kWh). So may as well never switch it off at all

 

Is hibernate a better alternative than shutdown if I ever need to just turn it off completely for an extended time of prolonged no-use?