Laptop-Leave the battery in or take out?

[smudwhisk]

It supposedly causes the battery to loose capacity (ie over time the amount of charge it holds will decrease). I don't know the hows and whys but this is what a friend who works in IT advised me so I've always done it.

Not heard that one before and I've worked in IT Support for many years.   I've often shut it down just after the battery has completed charging and not noticed any obvious loss of capacity, no more than you would expect from continuous usage anyway.

[Billyblue]

It supposedly causes the battery to loose capacity (ie over time the amount of charge it holds will decrease). I don't know the hows and whys but this is what a friend who works in IT advised me so I've always done it.

Not heard that one before and I've worked in IT Support for many years.   I've often shut it down just after the battery has completed charging and not noticed any obvious loss of capacity, no more than you would expect from continuous usage anyway.

Ditto all that except I've not worked in IT support for many years        only used IT for many years.  My first battery lasted 5 years without being fully discharged, too, as nobody had told me that wrinkle, till I picked it up on RC           

Dawn M

[Guy Etchells]

This thread has brought up different scenarios with regards battery life, some are confused some are dependant of the type of battery and some depend on the laptop or charger.

1 : Nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) and Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) the earlier types of batteries used in laptops.
These require fully discharging and fully recharging for optimal battery life. If they are not fully discharge or fully charge the battery life will suffer.
If your Laptop uses these batteries you should remove the battery when running on mains voltage unless the battery requires charging.

2 : Lithium ion (Li-ion) battery the type used in most modern laptops. These do not need the above complete discharge/charge cycles and contain circuitry to prevent overcharging.
If you don't plan to use your laptop for long period of time, you can extend the life of the Li-ion laptop battery by storing it with a 50 to 80 percent charge.
Fully charged batteries discharge when they are left unused, which is why it is recommended to partially discharge the battery before storage.
A fully discharged battery left for a long period of time will lose its charging capacity.
If your Laptop uses these batteries you should keep the battery in place when running on mains voltage as this allows the inbuilt circuitry to keep the battery charged for optimum efficiency.

3 : Heat is the enemy of all rechargeable battery types, keep them cool if possible.

Cheers
Guy