Battery Life Question

I am worried about my new powerbook (12") battery. People have told me that if you leave your notebook plugged in all the time that it will severly affect the battery and eventually the battery will have a life of like 7 minutes. What can do to make sure my battery doesn't go down the tubes?

Use it!

Use the the battery often, thats why you have a laptop.

Then, every month or so, drain your battery down to zero until your PowerBook goes to sleep. Then, plug it in and let it charge up. Your battery will recalibrate and extend its life.

So if I am just sitting around the house should I plug it in or use battery? Does having it plugged in a lot hurt the battery?

To note, I mean like battery life as in the long run, not as in "my battery can go 6 hours before a charge" I want my battery to be able to go for hours a few years from now.

Steel02001 said:

So if I am just sitting around the house should I plug it in or use battery? Does having it plugged in a lot hurt the battery?

Click to expand...

Really, just do whatever you like. The battery is more impervious than you think, but all batteries have a finite lifespan. I use battery power once a day or day and a half until the battery is about half drained, then I plug it back in (or running it down to recalibrate it.) But, that's just me. I like sitting in the backyard (when it's not raining or freezing) listening to the birds chirp and watching the fighters fly around my head.

Be sure to also dim your screen a bit and enable power-saving settings to maximize your battery life (otherwise you'll get a bit less than 3 hours or so per charge, but your mileage may vary.)

Thanks for the help.