Unplug your laptop now or it will stay plugged in forever
Many of us keep our laptops plugged in all the time, but it's a productivity myth that shortens the life of our computer. Once your laptop is charged, you need to unplug it, otherwise you may be "tethered" to the outlet forever.
Many laptops are on charge during the work day and all night. We don't even think about it. We just plug in everywhere. We charge at work, at home, at the coffee shop - a collective addiction to a laptop with a 100% battery charge. There's nothing more annoying than a laptop that can't hold a charge, but your dependence on charging can accelerate this problem.
Constantly finding your battery at 100 per cent is the worst thing you can do for your laptop battery, according to Kent Griffith, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego. He studies battery degradation and says a fully charged state does a huge amount of damage to a laptop.
According to Griffith, a laptop doesn't draw energy from an outlet like a desktop computer. Rather, it draws power from its battery. Meanwhile, your battery is under high stress, doing many small recharges from 99% to 100%. And if you unplug your laptop after using it for a long time and expect the battery life claimed by the manufacturer, that time will be cut in half or more through the battery's long stressed state.
New Windows and Apple laptops now have battery optimisation features, but they're still not the ideal solution if your laptop is charging 24/7. Optimisers just slow the battery down to 100% and it won't help you once the battery is fully charged. A good solution is to just plug your laptop in overnight with optimised battery charging, but remember that you have to unplug it during the day.
The optimal state for a laptop battery, according to Griffith, is somewhere between 20% and 80%. He recommends fully charging your laptop and then switching it off to let it drain throughout the day. You should let your battery stay in this "middle" zone for most of its life to prolong your battery's performance.
Source: Gizmodo
