batteries and good habits

Hello, I have an Inspiron 6400, my battery is the 6 cells, 53 WHr (i don't know what those are though) model.
It's been a couple of hours out of the box and I was wandering if I should leave it plugged to the wall for some time before using it with the battery alone (like it's usually recommended for new cell phones).
On the other hand I wanted to ask if somebody knows if it's better to let the battery go powerless once it is unplugged. Or if you could basically plug, unplug and plug again no matter when and how you want.

In a nutshell, what are the good habits to have in regards to your battery?

 

Have you read Chris's battery guide?

 

damn, sorry, no I hadn't seen it. I'm on it though, but it might take a bit of time to get to this particular.

in the process I'll learn a lot anyway.

thanks dude.

 

Leave the battery on charge until it gets to 100% capacity, and begin using it normally. Newr Litium Ion batteries, like the one in your notebook, have many benefits over the older Ni-Cd batteries, which required you to discharge them completely, and then charge for a long time. With Lithium Ion batteries, if you let them run down too much, the internal battery circuit, will turn the battery totally off. For more information, have a loook at the Battery Guide.