Can always being on hurt the laoptop/battery?

Just bought a new T60 from Lenovo to replace my current desktop computer. As of right now I just leave my desktop on all the time so I don't have to wait for it to boot up and run all of my startup programs, but would this be a viable option for my laptop? Should I maybe take the battery out of the laptop if I'm not going to be moving away from external power? Any thoughts or experiences in this area would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'd leave the battery in - It acts as an uninterruptible power supply if you ever have a power cut.

What I do when I'm leaving the laptop for any length of time is Fn-F12 to hibernate. It boots up fairly quickly out of that.

 

Leaving the battery in will wear down it's life. Your best bet is to get a separate uninterruptible power supply and plug in the computer without the battery in. Store the battery in a cool, dry place.

 

Leaving the battery on when the computer is plugged in for a long period of time will reduce battery lifespan. See the battery guide for details.

 

I did that for several years on my T30 and it didn't seem to affect the battery too much. It was down from 2-2.5 hours to 1-1.5 hours after a few years of use, which seems pretty normal.

What killed it was using a 3rd party 12v adapter that didn't have enough wattage to run the computer reliably.

That said, your battery will indeed last longer if you remove it from the computer and store it in the refrigerator if you're going to leave the laptop plugged in all the time.

 

I guess maybe it's different from laptop to laptop but I know the laptop doesn't USE the battery at ALL when plugged into a wall outlet with the exception of if the AC power browns or blacks out.

The one exception to this rule is that it will occasionally recharge the battery once it falls below a certain level. A stupid charging algorithm will charged the battery every time it hits 99% to get it back up to 100%. A smart algorithm or a smart user will set his variables to where it won't begin cycling back up until it gets lower, and even when it does so, it will trickle charge the last few percent (a much milder, but longer type of charge).

On the flip side, leaving the battery out alleviates this concern altogether as to whether you have a stupid charging algorithm in place or not, but it creates the hassle of taking it out and remembering to put it back in all the time (assuming you are on the go with your laptop a lot), and also, if you let your battery sit out too long it will discharge too much, potentially becoming completely discharged, which is hard on lithium ion chemistry batteries (unlike NiCad and NiMH batteries of years ago)... they prefer not to be deep cycled, especially for those last few percentage points, and they prefer not to be overcharged or charged too quickly (especially when they're near capacity).

The thinkpad I've got now I've analyzed its charging settings and default and am very impressed with it. I'm of the opinion that you can leave a thinkpad left plugged in all you want and not noticably detract from your battery's lifespan or capacity... heck, you may even help it by not letting it sit unused for ages.

 

My t30 would charge once it got down to 95%.

Given a decently smart charging algorithm that won't cycle the battery over and over pointlessly, your biggest enemy is heat, which significantly accelerates the deterioration of the Li-Ion chemistry.