Do you remove your laptop battery when on AC?

Do you think removing your battery while on AC is a wise decision? Look at the pros and cons and decide. I have been walking on eggshells regarding this matter and I finally decided to do my homework. 

1)    Your notebook battery will deteriorate in time whether you like it or not, its just made that way – Face it! It wasn’t made to last a lifetime 

2)    An average laptop battery lasts about 2 – 3 years, Do the math. If you’ve had your battery longer than that,

Congratulations. If it’s less than that then you need you calibrate your battery to help you maintain its performance and check if there’s a problem. You can check this on how to calibrate your battery

3)    To keep your battery in good shape, it needs to work out too. Zero movement on the battery’s cell when stored away slowly destroys it. If you choose to remove it when on power cord, you still need to use it once in a while. Going back to step 2, calibrate.

4)    Pros and Cons of REMOVING the battery on power adapter:

PROS:

-       it can extend your battery life about a month to two months

-       preserves charging cycles

-       keeps battery temperature low (and hopefully not explode, see this for laptop batteries recalled in 2006 if you’ve had your laptop for more than 3 years now) http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dell-battery-fire.htm

CONS:

-       you lose the battery as back up in case of outage or sudden disconnection of the plug

-       unsaved work may be lost or corrupted w/o back up power

-       UPS is needed to serve as back up (this is so 90’s)

5)    Pros and Cons of LEAVING THE BATTERY ATTACHED even on power adapter:

PROS:

-       battery is used as back up, no sudden shut down that can cause big problems, even worse than Hard reset

-       move convenient for grab and go use, no need to worry if its charged or not

-       battery doesn’t require warming time compared to those stored away

CONS:

-       loss of charge cycles

-       laptop is more susceptible to heat (that’s why it is recommended that we use cooling fans!)

I will keep my laptop battery attached. Yup, I might save some charging cycles if I put it away, but I think I’d rather have that than risk my lappy to always go on an instant death without back up. Buying a new battery is cheaper that maintaining the laptop itself or losing important information/corrupting your system.  Also, I’d rather buy a new battery knowing I’ve used up every inch of my old one, than buy a new one coz my battery was in the shelf for so long it refused to serve its purpose (battery gone lazy ;P).  That’s just me.

PS – I’ll just make sure I always use a cooling fan and calibrate my battery :p