A long time ago (in computer years), we were told that the best way to extend laptop battery life was
- Always do a full, complete charge/discharge cycle; never do partial charges/discharges.
- Always charge the battery with the computer off.
- Take the battery out of the laptop when running on A/C power.
There must have been something valuable about this advice, because our IBM Thinkpad R31 battery is six years old, and only recently has shown signs of deteriorating—and that after we had begun being a little careless with the above procedure, though at that age it may have been coincidence. Searching around on the Internet I find that people even today seem to be happy with a three-year battery life.
However, I'm sure technology has changed, and I'm wondering if the recommendations have. The instructions that came with my new computer recommend the full charge/discharge cycle, but say nothing about keeping the machine off while charging. Although they don't deal with the issue directly, they seem to assume the battery will be in at all times, even when using A/C power. They do suggest removing the battery if the computer will be off "for an extended period of time" (whatever that is) when on the road, to prevent battery power from draining.
Looking online, I can find (as one might expect) every possible variation on (1) the original advice, above; (2) everything has changed and you don't need to do any of that anymore; and (3) some of it is still helpful, but not enough so to be worth the hassle. One piece of information I didn't know is that there is a power meter in the battery itself, which is calibrated by full charge—full discharge—full charge, which is why it's important to do that when the battery is new, and perhaps every 30 days thereafter.
With this new machine, I'm inclined to leave the battery in most of the time and not worry about it, after the initial calibration, but anyone else's experience, knowledge, and suggestions would be appreciated.jon would know better than me but AFAIK, the discharge fully advice applied to nickel cadmium batteries which aren't really used anymore. I believe we use Litium Ion now. If there are any rules for those, I believe it's to not discharge it too much. But ask Jon.
I actually defer to Porter on this one, as he has had a longer time with laptops than I have had. Mine is still going pretty strong following Porter's advice almost exclusively for somewhere around three years, I think. I am not sure it still lasts the 5 hours it used to.
There are a couple friends who don't follow Porter's advice at all, and their batteries die within a year or two, so it seems that though the typical advice for lithium-ion batteries says you don't need to worry about it, it does actually matter.
