Getting the most out of a laptop battery

[idlewords]

http://www.slate.com/id/2234009/

[jamesbritt]

'When your laptop is turned on and plugged in, you should pull the battery out of your computer. Yes, pull it out. "I know that's inconvenient," Buchmann says, "but keeping your laptop plugged in when the battery's fully charged—that combination is bad for your battery."'

Then, when you tug your laptop the wrong way, and the power cable pops out, the machine just shuts down instead of switching over to battery power.

That's beyond "inconvenient".

[bombs → jamesbritt]

I've ruined a battery by keeping it in my laptop, when it's plugged into the wall at my desk, letting it get very hot for several hours a day.

It's a small price to pay for the convenience of being able unplug my laptop and go elsewhere without fussing about.