Laptop battery life

[GunsForBucks]

Got a new laptop and am using it at home.

Is it better to unplug it and use the battery? I don't want to ruin battery life by keeping it plugged in constantly if that is an issue.

Thanks for any replies!

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Having the charging stop at around 80% would be fine. Anything less would just be down-right stupid.

Especially since many cheaper Laptops come with extremely terrible 4-Cell 90wh batteries which won't provide much run-time if the Laptop uses above 90 watts anyways.

If the Laptop is capable of playing most games offered on platforms such as Steam that would require a half decent dedicated GPU, then such a Laptop usually would be pulling 150 watts or more under high loads, to which is to say, then don't waste your time trying to run games while running off the battery, or you'll be lucky to have it last 1-2 hours at most even when it is fully charged to 100%

Now one of my older work Laptops for example has 4-Cell 90wh battery; but it also does not have a dedicated GPU. Only has 10th Gen Intel Core i5 + Intel UHD 600 series GPU. Even when put on Balanced Power Profile can easily last me around 5-6 hours runtime doing web-browser, watching YouTube, Amazon or VLC Media Player w/ 1080p videos.

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Publicado originalmente por r.linder:

I'm not making things up

Actually you are. That is EXACTLY what you are doing. And you have done it for months in many different threads. You make up random nonsense that doesn't even answer questions and often is completely wrong ON PURPOSE just to mislead people. I have no idea why. I'm guessing you think this is a game and it's fun to do that to people. I bet you're laughing every time you post something.

Publicado originalmente por r.linder:

I linked multiple sources involving qualified experts

No. You googled to find random articles that support your argument then tried to pass it off as fact. Anyone can find anything in google that claims what they say is correct if they google long enough. That doesn't mean they are correct. Just that they're good at googling. Which you demonstrated to all of us: Yes you can search in google to find something that supports your claim. Good job. You can google. I could find something in google that claims the sky is purple. That doesn't mean it is purple.

Publicado originalmente por r.linder:

fighting with us

No one is fighting with you. I certainly would never help you in a fight. What I am doing is correcting your complete nonsense "tech advice" that you try to peddle to everyone as if it's true.

Publicado originalmente por r.linder:

Neither of you are qualified to make any determinations

I actually am fairly qualified. I likely have more qualifications than you and I've probably worked in IT and technology longer than you've been alive.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Publicado originalmente por r.linder:

You're wrong, many people still do use 10+ year old hardware because they can't afford to get better systems, that was literally part of the argument against Windows 7 being axed from Steam because the people here that were and still are using 7 are using older machines mainly and don't like the newer versions of Windows.

So now on top of actively lying to everyone you're trying to change this into another Windows 7 thread.

Publicado originalmente por r.linder:

There's no reason for you to even be here fighting about this, you weren't even interested until you saw a battle to fight.

You're right. There's nothing to fight about. Charging mobile devices to 100% battery doesn't harm anything. We already established that. There's nothing else to discuss on the topic. Why are you still trying to argue with everyone for no reason? You're the one doing all of this.

[GunsForBucks]

Just to put it out there.... I am using the machine at home all the time, it was a cost and need factor that made me get the laptop.

I will be unplugging it regularly just to avoid the always at 100 issues.

Thank you all for an informative discussion on the subject.
At some point I will need to get into the HP crap and set up a limit, then I can just leave it plugged in I guess. I think I would still rather have it go full and unplug it as needed. Old habits I suppose ha ha

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Publicado originalmente por GunsForBucks:

I will be unplugging it regularly just to avoid the always at 100 issues.

That is not necessary. There is no need to ever unplug a laptop if you only use it at home like that. Leaving it at 100% always while plugged in will never harm anything.

Those comments by other people are just trying to mislead folks on purpose. There is no need to unplug and replug a laptop repeatedly like that.

[CJM]

Publicado originalmente por 🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊:

That is not necessary. There is no need to ever unplug a laptop if you only use it at home like that.

The further away you get from the intended use case for a device, the more likely you are to run into issues with the usage of the device.

Using the battery causes "wear and tear". Leaving the battery plugged in and at 100% charge all of the time, causes "wear and tear".

Lithium Batteries can be stored at about 50% to preserve their capacity. They are not being used, they last longer.

Modern laptops typically have internal batteries that are more difficult to "store" when not in use. Thus, the modern equivalent to storing those batteries is keeping them at about 80% charge.

Publicado originalmente por 🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊:

Leaving it at 100% always while plugged in will never harm anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF2O4l1JprI&t=4s

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Publicado originalmente por CJM:

Leaving the battery plugged in and at 100% charge all of the time, causes "wear and tear".

That's not true at all and completely false information. Batteries only cause "Wear and tear" if they are discharged. If they stay at 100% always then they don't wear because they aren't discharging.

Also that video is laughable. No one links to LTT as any source of actually factual tech information.

The bottom line everyone reading this thread should know: Just charge your phone or laptop to 100%, be happy, enjoy using your device all day and go on about life. Nothing bad will happen. No need to worry about battery health or charging cycles or any of that crap. Just plug it in, light turns green when it's done charging, go use it.

[CJM]

Publicado originalmente por Shaggin'Wagon:

Just charge your phone or laptop to 100%, be happy,

That is standard use case. The OP is not a standard use case.

Publicado originalmente por Shaggin'Wagon:

Just plug it in, light turns green when it's done charging, go use it.

The OP has said they will almost never "go use it".

[GunsForBucks]

Publicado originalmente por CJM:

Publicado originalmente por Shaggin'Wagon:

Just charge your phone or laptop to 100%, be happy,

That is standard use case. The OP is not a standard use case.

Publicado originalmente por Shaggin'Wagon:

Just plug it in, light turns green when it's done charging, go use it.

The OP has said they will almost never "go use it".

Correct. I use it where it sits. I didn't need a mobile device, it was just the cheapest option for my purposes.

[CJM]

The battery is probably replace-able. They are normally pretty inexpensive and are frequently easy enough to replace if you have ever opened a computer before.

[GunsForBucks]

Publicado originalmente por CJM:

The battery is probably replace-able. They are normally pretty inexpensive and are frequently easy enough to replace if you have ever opened a computer before.

I used to build my own desktops until my eyes got bad enough to not read small print on circuit boards anymore.

Never really messed with laptops though. Have a chrome book as a deck media server but hardly use that.

Not too worried.. even if the battery goes totally out I hope it would still run off the AC

Also brand new so it should be good for a while anyway

[Nabster]

Some manufacturers have software that you can set the charge level to 80% or 60% max charge, this meam you can plug in all the time and still stay in the optimal charge zone for longevity.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Publicado originalmente por Nabster:

Some manufacturers have software that you can set the charge level to 80% or 60% max charge, this meam you can plug in all the time and still stay in the optimal charge zone for longevity.

I imagine you would have a difficult time trying to convince someone to have their cell phone only last 10 hours on battery instead of the possible 16 for example. It's worse for laptops. Laptops that have a possible 12 hours on battery would only last 7 hours if we only charged them to 60% instead of 100%. The very idea is laughable.

[Crawl]

Publicado originalmente por 🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊:

Publicado originalmente por Nabster:

Some manufacturers have software that you can set the charge level to 80% or 60% max charge, this meam you can plug in all the time and still stay in the optimal charge zone for longevity.

I imagine you would have a difficult time trying to convince someone to have their cell phone only last 10 hours on battery instead of the possible 16 for example. It's worse for laptops. Laptops that have a possible 12 hours on battery would only last 7 hours if we only charged them to 60% instead of 100%. The very idea is laughable.

It's there for users who leave their systems plugged in most of the time. I use it and I'm sure plenty of others do as well. If you are going to be running off the battery it takes 2 seconds to remove the limit so it will charge to 100%.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Publicado originalmente por Crawl:

It's there for users who leave their systems plugged in most of the time. I use it and I'm sure plenty of others do as well. If you are going to be running off the battery it takes 2 seconds to remove the limit so it will charge to 100%.

There's no need to constantly cycle the battery while it's on AC power between 60% <-> 100% often. That will actually significantly reduce battery life because it would be constantly discharging and recharging all the time. Lithium ion batteries have a fixed number of discharge+recharge cycles. It's much better to just charge it up to 100% once, leave it plugged in and then never discharge it again so it won't cycle.