27/11/2023
"Tosin, your laptop is always plugged in. Won't it spoil your battery?"
Myth 1: Leaving your devices plugged will "overcharge" them.
False.
This simply isn't true. Most smartphones, laptops are smart enough to momentarily stop charging once the device is fully charged. It does this long enough for the device to drain two or three percent, then it will climb back up to 100 percent.
Myth 2: You should always let the battery drain completely.
False.
Today, most batteries never truly fully discharge. If you allow your battery-powered devices to go to "dead" each and every day, it will reduce the battery’s effectiveness over time.
Smartphones today have lithium-ion batteries, which don’t suffer from the memory problems of older nickel-cadmium batteries. Similarly, lithium-ion batteries count charges differently than older batteries, so you don’t need to worry about discharging it completely.
Myth 3: Using your laptop while charging it will diminish your battery’s capacity.
False.
Keeping your laptop plugged in isn’t actually a problem; once your battery is full, the power management features in your laptop will stop charging it, and draw any power the laptop needs from the charger alone.
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But I know something that will damage your battery, whether laptop or phone.
Heat!
Your laptop’s electronic guts can get quite hot, especially during prolonged high-workload usage. Continuous exposure to that heat can diminish your battery’s ability to hold a charge.
That's why some of us have coolers for our laptops and have them on stands while working. And why working inside AC rooms can be beneficial for your devices.
But know this: batteries will die and degrade over time no matter what you do, so don’t think too much about them.
Fact