Who uses their laptop mostly as a desktop?

Is this bad for the battery? I probably have my laptop docked 99% of the time. It's on for 12+ hrs a day, is turned off at night, and I have it sitting up to allow airflow, and I can turn on the dock fans to cool it down when it's running hot.

But again, does this drain battery or wear it down having it plugged in all the time?

Most new battery based devices are smart enough not to constantly charge the battery to avoid issues..but having a laptop docked all the time (I do this at work) means that the battery does get the workout that it really needs..and thus it tends to get larthargic..after a few years (yes, usually a few years), the battery will be unable to hold a decent charge when not plugged in.

My previous laptop was used in this manner for about 3 years and when I was finally due for an upgrade I could take my fully charged laptop reporting 100% battery life off the docking station and it would go from 2+ hours of battery life to 15 mins in about 10 mins of use and then shutdown shortly after.

So you are probably better of using your laptop as a laptop, even if you keep it docked all the time. Unplug the charger, allow it to run off the battery and when OS X says it's time for charging, do so and allow it to fully charge up before unplugging and so on..

So every now and then you are saying to unplug it and let the battery drain?

Baderup99 said:

So every now and then you are saying to unplug it and let the battery drain?

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Yes, it's good to run charge/discharge cycles on lithium based batteries. i think the rule of thumb is once per month. Run it down to 0%, then charge to a full 100%.

Baderup99 said:

So every now and then you are saying to unplug it and let the battery drain?

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That's correct..you want to exercise the battery, so pretend you are actually mobile with the laptop even though your aren't and you'll be able enjoy the battery for a while..