FOR THOSE WORKING FROM HOME:-Is it okay if my laptop is always plugged in so that my battery is charged 100%? Must I allow it to drain periodically by unplugging to increase battery life?

Before I mention what I do and what I’d recommend you to do, I’m gonna lay down some facts about the working of a laptop battery.

• Every laptop today uses a Li-ion battery. These batteries cannot be overcharged. As soon as your laptop reaches 100%, the laptop starts running directly on AC power if it is still plugged in.
• The problem with Li-ion batteries is that they self discharge. So if you keep your laptop plugged in, the battery will charge up to 100%, stop charging, self discharge to 99%, start charging, charge up to 100% and this cycle will repeat every couple hours.Newer laptops have ways to tackle this but in general, keeping your laptop at 100% at all times, is not good for your battery
• It is also not advisable to store your laptop at full charge. If you keep your laptop plugged in, chances are when you’re not using it i.e. it is shut down, it is at full charge as well. Fully charged batteries deteriorate faster than partially charged batteries even when not in use.
• You also don’t wanna let the battery drain out and store a battery at 0% charge. Stored batteries also keep losing energy, and if your battery has no charge, you’re risking harming it.

So what should you do?

Change the maximum percentage your laptop charges to around 55–60%. This eliminates all of the issues stated above. This is how I use my laptop and it stays plugged in 10–12 hours everyday. There is no need to completely discharge your battery.

The only downside to this is that when you’re not plugged in, the laptop cannot accurately judge how much time your battery would last but I’m guessing that shouldn’t be a problem for the OP.

Replied thru Quora by

Prabhdeep Singh