IF a shoddy laptop battery life seems to follow you around – then it’s safe to say its not the gadget that’s the problem, but you.
Fortunately, this isn’t a unique issue and has been a lifelong burden for many.
It’s a result of a long-standing myth that perma-charging is actually good for its overall performance[/caption]
There’s loads of people out there who make a battery-fatal mistake when it comes to their laptops.
The same pitfall exists even with your iPhone or Android.
The mistake? Perma-charging.
While the clue is in the name, perma-charging is when you leave your laptop plugged in almost permanently.
We’ve all been guilty of it in one point in our lives.
It’s a result of a long-standing myth that perma-charging is actually good for its overall performance.
Plus, it’s easily done when laptops can sit attached to a charger throughout the workday and overnight.
But it’s not healthy for your laptop’s battery to be topped up to be 100 per cent all the time.
Myth Busted
The myth that keeping your laptop permanently charged to 100 per cent is a good thing, is based on a common misconception.
When it’s plugged in, your laptop is not drawing energy from the wall socket, like your desktop computer.
Instead, it draws power from its battery.
Perma-charging means the battery is under a lot of stress, as it does lots of little charges from 99 per cent to 100 per cent all day and night.
Kent Griffith, assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, and a researcher of battery degradation, says this is the worst thing you can do for your computer.
“When your laptop battery is sitting in this worst condition – 100 per cent charge – for weeks or months at a time, that can be pretty damaging to it,” Griffith told Gizmodo.
“So when you take it off and expect it to last for eight or 10 hours, it might only give you half of what you expect because it degraded a lot during that time.”
Battery percentage ‘sweet spot’
The so-called ‘sweet spot’ for your laptop battery lies somewhere between 20 per cent and 80 per cent, according to Griffith.
Sitting in this “mid-range” zone for as long as possible does wonders for prolonging your battery lifespan.
There is no need to plug in your laptop during this time, unless you’re charging it up for when you’re away from a power supply.
But if you’re sat at your desk all day – detach the cable!
Griffith recommends charging your laptop fully and then unplugging it to let it run down throughout the day.
