Connect AC while on battery?

Hey all,
Getting to know my new Vostro 1510. My first laptop.

Can you safely connect to AC "while" the laptop is running on battery? Or do you need to shut down first?

Thanks.

 

Yes, it's quite safe. I don't know of any laptop that you have to turn off first.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I have 9 cell battery, and like now, it's showing 21% left. Is there a point percentage-wise at which I need to be concerned about the unit shutting down or a minimum point at which I should connect to AC?

 

It might shut down at a certain percentage left depending on you Windows settings. Don't know if you XP or Vista, but on XP it's under Control Panel > Power Options > Alarms tab. Then take a look at these settings (Low battery alarm and Critical battery alarm) and the Alarm Action they are set to.

There is actually things you can do to "train" your battery to get maximum life out of it, so for now I would take it down to 1 percent and then shut it down. I'll get back to you... lunch time now.

Feel free to chime in, anyone else!

 

wikipedia has a nice article on laptop (li-ion) batteys http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery if you are interested.

Basically its perfectly safe to have your laptop plugged and unplugged when using the battery without shutting down the computer.

About 5% is critical battery and windows will automatically shutdown to save the battery.

Dont leave the battery with no power, always store it at around 40% when not using it for a while (preferably in the fridge)

And if you want the battery to last longer, dont leave it plugged in when its fully charged.

 

Wow, 1%, really. I'm running Vista Home.

Along the lines of training the battery for max life, I think I'd read that charging the battery to 100% and then taking it down to near 0, then recharging and doing that a few times initially on a new battery helped max life.

I could be wrong. I've read so much stuff lately trying to be prepared for running this thing.

Thanks for the link and info.

 

Yeah, that's kinda what I've heard, Trail. And I should have said, plug it in at 1%, not shut it down. And what about Vista Home? I don't get it? And which version? Basic or Premium?

 

Oops, sorry, Vista Home basic.

 

This is not necessary as Lithium ion doesn't suffer from recharge memory.

 

Hmmm... either you're right, or it suffers less so than, say, NiCad. But it suffers from something. Battery Status reports 31% wear on my battery. You can also check this with Everest Home, I think. Check out the attached screenshot.