[metta]

I have just bought an Toshiba satellite notebook, and i was wondering if leaving my laptop plugged in all day decrease the battery life?

Thanks in advance

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Batteries get to their peak performance by being regularly charged and discharged.
While running it on AC power with a full battery shouldn't hurt it, if you're going to do this it may be an idea to take the battery out if you're concerned about it.

[Neil Jones]

Batteries get to their peak performance by being regularly charged and discharged.
While running it on AC power with a full battery shouldn't hurt it, if you're going to do this it may be an idea to take the battery out if you're concerned about it.

[gmak41]

If I'm reading your question right...
Anything that you use, is used (read; consumed) so yes life is reduced. The biggest problem is that heat is a killer and so; any unit left running produces heat (the battery and all other components incl.) but left in a cooled environment vs a hot one things will have unequal life foe otherwise equil factors.

[SRX660]

Just like the batteries in my power tools, you need to completely discharge the battery to dead flat then recharge it for best performance. I also try not to run batteries that have just been charged. I try to let them cool down for an hour or so before using, Thats why i have 6 batteries for my power tool set. Batteries left discharged can take a set to where they only partially charge and will not charge any more. This is usually caused by overheating the battery. I have a toshiba Portage 660 laptop with 3 batteries that are very good simply because i always run the laptop down until it is ready to shut off before charging the batteries back up. I have also abused a Toshibe 8000 laptop to where the battery will only hold a 40 % charge no matter how long i charge it. I did run the 8000 laptop on the charger all the time, and the battery still went bad.

SRX660

[metta]

Thanks to all for the reply,
Though, My question is not really answered yet...
Is there a significant difference between leaving the laptop plugged in all day with battery, and without battery?

[SRX660]

Most newer laptops will not run a bright screen when on battery alone. Its called power saver mode. While on a charger the screen will be bright. Will it decrease battery life? Yes, i think it will simply because the chargers on laptops are pretty simple devices they will always slightly charge the battery, so that after a year or two you notice that you do not have the 2 to 2.5 hours ypou can run on the battery. All of a sudden you can only get 1.5 hours. And it always seems to get worse quickly after a couple of years. Remember when the battery is fully charges but still plugged in to the charger it still gets a trickle charge. Depending on the make of laptop some will get hot when fully charged and on a charger. That is what kills the battery. Feel the charger , if its warm when plugged in you must think the battery will be the same.

As long as your laptop will run without a battery in it, i can see only two things wrong with running it this way. One, the laptop itself could overheat or kill any fans to keep it cool. Some laptops do have hotspots you can feel thru the casing that tells you constant running could cause problems. Two, if you are plugged in without a battery in the laptop, a lightning strike could jump the charger and fry the laptop. Think it cant happen? I have 3 such laptops at my shop that just that did happen. One was without a battery in it, but all three are deader than door knobs. One laptop caught on fire because i could even smell the burnt plastic when the customer brought it to my shop.

SRX660

[shard92]

Just like the batteries in my power tools, you need to completely discharge the battery to dead flat then recharge it for best performance. I also try not to run batteries that have just been charged. I try to let them cool down for an hour or so before using, Thats why i have 6 batteries for my power tool set. Batteries left discharged can take a set to where they only partially charge and will not charge any more. This is usually caused by overheating the battery. I have a toshiba Portage 660 laptop with 3 batteries that are very good simply because i always run the laptop down until it is ready to shut off before charging the batteries back up. I have also abused a Toshibe 8000 laptop to where the battery will only hold a 40 % charge no matter how long i charge it. I did run the 8000 laptop on the charger all the time, and the battery still went bad.

SRX660

I have to disagree here... that is a common thing that I have heard so I looked it up.... while this is true for NIMH batteries it is NOT true for Lithium-ion batteries... Draining a lithium-ion battery is actually not good.... if it gets too low it will no longer take a charge... With L-I batteries the thing that makes the big difference is temperature... I heard the talke so much about discharging that I looked it up on google and found the above info...