Should I remove my laptop battery when plugged in to lengthen its life span?

By Jeandre de Beer

Many users have their laptops plugged into the power outlet when working at the office.

Can you improve your battery life if you remove the battery when you are connected to the power outlet?

It’s one of those questions that have no right or wrong answer. For every answer out there, there are arguments for and against it.

I remove my laptop’s battery when I am connected to the power outlet and I only insert it when I am travelling.

It’s always better for batteries to discharge to about 20% before recharging them.

If they are kept near full charge most of the time they do not tend to hold their charge as long as when they were new. Technology has improved in the last couple of years and the problem of batteries building up a memory has been greatly reduced. The fact remains that a battery has a certain life span.

The more it’s used and discharged the shorter the battery life gets.

If you purchase a new laptop the battery can last 3 or 4 hours (depending on the type of laptop and the screen size). After two to three years that same battery will only hold its charge for about an hour. By taking out the battery of your laptop when it’s connected to the power outlet you can slow down the degradation.

An advantage of leaving the battery in

all the time is that you add some protection for power dips or outages.  If there is a thunderstorm outside and the power dips – your laptop will stay on and give you time to save your work before shutting down.

For more tips and tricks – read our other blog posts