laptop battery care ?

sillysi

hi , i will be getting a new laptop next week . I have never owned a laptop before and was wondering if there was anything special you needed to do to the battery to make it last longer .
Ive been told in the past that you should only attach the battery when not using the mains and not leave attached to laptop when fully charged and using the mains power ? Is this correct ? or do you just leave the battery in the laptop all the time and not worry about it .
Sorry if its a bit of a daft question but dont want to trash the battery straight away .

fwor

It depends on what battery technology is used and also on the design of the charger circuit.

The battery will probably be LiIon based, which typically have a life that's limited by the number of charge/discharge cycles they have been through. Unlike previous types, they don't need to be fully discharged regularly.

Generally you can get longest life out of them by not discharging them deeply if you can help it, and by keeping them cool - possibly by raising the back of the laptop off the desk slightly.

Some chargers (such as in my Compaq) don't try to charge the battery when the mains is connected until they are more than a few per cent discharged. This type are battery-friendly, so the battery can be left in.

Other types (such as in my old Dell) will try to charge the battery all the time, and don't seem to be good for batteries. If you can run it on the mains without the battery in, that is best - just top up the battery every couple of months if unused (and obviously after you've used it on battery power).