Is it okay if my laptop is always plugged in so that my battery is charged 100%?

David Darlington

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Chief Programmer of Wondershare Oct 13

Is it okay if my laptop is always plugged in so that my battery is charged 100%? Must I allow it to drain periodically by unplugging to increase battery life?

Battery life continues to be one of the biggest complaints of laptop users, so understanding what you can do to help prolong the life is important. Technically speaking, keeping any relatively current laptop plugged in and charged at 100% for extended periods of time shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s best not to do so for a number of reasons.

This is a question that comes up a lot with laptop owners. And the answer is a quite simple “No.” For optimum battery use, and to get the most life out of your laptop battery, keeping it charged between 40% and 80% has been seen as optimum.

Most late-generation laptop batteries are either lithium-ion or lithium polymer, and as such, they are designed to be able to withstand many charge cycles. When you keep it charged at 100%, the charging circuit continuously checks the battery charging process and, so it stops charging once it is at its optimum point and goes into trickle mode, in which it only supplies what is necessary to prevent the charge level from failing.

Also to note: overcharging can lead to overheating, which can lead to catastrophic chemical reactions inside the battery.

Allowing your battery to completely discharge will take away from its originally-intended lifespan. You should ideally keep its battery between 40% and 60%. Don’t let the battery discharge completely to increase its life.

Here are some tips to extend your laptop battery life:

• Avoid discharging your laptop completely after charging it.
• Make sure that your laptop doesn’t get too hot and your cooling fan is working properly.
• Overheating can reduce battery life, check the laptop's cooling system is functioning correctly and use it on a flat surface to allow for proper airflow.
• Customize your laptop's power plan settings to favor battery life over performance when running on battery.
• If you're not using your laptop on battery power for an extended period, store it with the battery at around 50-80% charge to reduce long-term stress on the battery.

I suggest maintaining your laptop's battery level within the range of 40% to 80% charge. By doing so, you can effectively double the number of recharge cycles, increasing them from 300-500 to a substantial 1,000-2,000, ultimately extending the overall lifespan of your laptop.