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I keep my Thinkpad T60 laptop plugged in all the time. Should I remove my battery or if not, should I drain it occassionally?

If it should be drained, how often?


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marked as duplicate by fretje, Ivo Flipse, Diago Jan 6 '10 at 9:42


Like you'll still be using it after two years, when this effect actually gets noticeable... –  Ivo Flipse Jan 6 '10 at 7:57
Possible duplicate, or some relevant thoughts superuser.com/questions/92011/should-i-remove-my-laptop-battery/… –  outsideblasts Jan 6 '10 at 8:05
Thank link from @outsideblasts should be: superuser.com/questions/12358/… –  Svish Jan 6 '10 at 8:36
Thanks, Svish. Don't know what happened to my pasting there. –  outsideblasts Jan 6 '10 at 9:06

3 Answers 3

up vote 7 down vote accepted

No - you can leave it in.

People who think it should be removed, or people who advise it are usually thinking about the "Memory Effect". NiCd (Nickel-cadmium) batteries were affected by this, however new Li-ion (Lithium-ion) are not affected.

On some laptops, (especially "green" laptops with specialised power chips) you will get poor performance with the battery removed as it under-performs. For example MacBook Performance Plunges When Battery Removed.

Any intelligent laptop from the past few years should be intelligent to discharge and rotate frequently meaning that you do not need to manually drain it. For example, my laptop is plugged in (usually) 24x7, and every 24-48 or so hours, it drops to 95% and recharges.

Lastly, One bonus of having a laptop is that you get a "free" UPS! of course, if you have a separate UPS, forget this point, but if there is a power cut, you may be happy that you left it in.

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That's not entirely true. Remember that the self-discharge of Li-Ion batteries increases as temperature rises. Keeping the battery in the laptop usually just gives it more opportunity to get warm or even hot which rapidly accelerates capacity loss. However, ThinkPads (or at least the R and T60 series) are engineered that the battery isn't near anything that gets warm. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this out. –  Joey Jan 6 '10 at 7:06
ThinkPads are solid laptops. Terrific Engineering. –  John T Jan 6 '10 at 7:46
+1 for free UPS –  Matthew Lock Jan 6 '10 at 7:50

A great tip for extending the life of a laptop battery is – don’t use it! No seriously, if your laptop is connected to the mains, then you should in general remove the battery to extend its life.

From 10 Tips to make your Laptop Battery last longer:

  2. Do not expose the battery to high heat or freezing temperatures. Hot batteries discharge very quickly, and cold ones can't create as much power.
  8. Use standby to save power when you will be away from the computer for a short time while working.
  9. Use hibernation to save power when you will be away from the computer for an extended time while working.
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This may perhaps be considered old school thinking. Each battery has a maximum charge and discharge cycle. Even with a smart battery, the battery will be subjected to this charge and discharge cycle when plugged in. What do you think will happen when this limit is achieved? Also, consider Johannes Rossel's point about capacity loss due to heat. Again, with newer designs, the high heat components are kept further away or more insulated from the battery portion, but even then there is an additional heat source for the battery.

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