Never using battery power in a laptop

I have a brand new laptop and I run it on mains power all the time (constantly plugged in) does this degrade the battery in any way as I have no way of taking the battery out because it is housed inside the machine.
I have Googled this and have a number of different thoughts on the matter so any thoughts on what I should do ie occasionally use it on battery power?

Am asking because it was quite expensive to buy this device - an Asus X721A Vivo notebook.

Hello John,

With today's lithium ion batteries, it's really not much of an issue anymore.

You should be able to remove and replace the battery when needed though. It usually involve removing a few micro screws on the bottom of the laptop to remove the bottom cover plate. Some screws may be located under the rubber strip.

OK thanks for the heads up I don't want to mess with the battery for the time being as the machine is brand new and to start taking out the battery might affect the warranty. Also I find the screen brightness goes really quite dim when on the battery alone so I am going to leave it as plugged in and let it go unplugged overnight which I know may not be the thing to do because it is doing nothing although I suppose the charging circuit would still be in situ and working.
But thanks to you all for your input

ICIT2LOL said:

OK thanks for the heads up I don't want to mess with the battery for the time being as the machine is brand new and to start taking out the battery might affect the warranty. Also I find the screen brightness goes really quite dim when on the battery alone so I am going to leave it as plugged in and let it go unplugged overnight which I know may not be the thing to do because it is doing nothing although I suppose the charging circuit would still be in situ and working.
But thanks to you all for your input

I've changed a couple of those batteries in Windows Notebooks and one in a MacBook, do require a bit of disassembly to get to them. The physical symptom of needing changing was their bulging and cause a resultant bulge of the case such as in the Touchpad area or separating of the bottom cover from the frame holding the keyboard, but they were still working up until then.

Sorry Navy I took on board what you said I wasn't ignoring you and Berton like I said I will wait until I have problems before I take out any battery because of the warranty period and I recon that it should last a good while yet. My old G750JM ROG is still on its original battery so hopefully Asus have put a decent one in this new machine .

FreeBooter said:

While in the past it was unwise and even dangerous to leave your laptop plugged into an external power source all the time, new laptops are mostly using either lithium-polymer or lithium-ion batteries that won't take more charge than they can handle.

If your laptop already has a hard time keeping cool, leaving it plugged in and at 100 percent charge is probably a bad idea.

Lithium-ion battery packs are expensive, so if you want to make yours to last longer, here are some things to keep in mind:

• A lithium-ion battery pack loses only about 5 percent of its charge per month, compared to a 20 percent loss per month for NiMH batteries.
• They have no memory effect, which means that you do not have to completely discharge them before recharging, as with some other battery chemistries.
• Lithium-ion batteries can handle hundreds of charge/discharge cycles.
• They start degrading as soon as they leave the factory. They will only last two or three years from the date of manufacture whether you use them or not.
• They are extremely sensitive to high temperatures. Heat causes lithium-ion battery packs to degrade much faster than they normally would.
• The lithium-ion batteries lose 5 percent of their power every month when sitting idle.
• Lithium ion chemistry prefers partial discharge to full discharge, so it's best to avoid taking the battery all the way down to zero. Since lithium-ion chemistry does not have a "memory", you do not harm the battery pack with a partial discharge.
• Manufacturing dates are important. If you are buying a new battery pack, you want to make sure it really is new. If it has been sitting on a shelf in the store for a year, it won't last very long.
• After month of non discharge usage of lithium-ion battery, should be partially discharge, i recommend 25% percent discharge before recharging the battery.

Kepping the laptop plugged in all the time wont cause any battery issues but partially discharge is recommended every month to help your batteries last longer.

I question the above. My 6 year old Dell laptop is recharged frequently and still has 75% of its maximum battery capacity.

ICIT2LOL said:

I have a brand new laptop and I run it on mains power all the time (constantly plugged in) does this degrade the battery in any way as I have no way of taking the battery out because it is housed inside the machine.
I have Googled this and have a number of different thoughts on the matter so any thoughts on what I should do ie occasionally use it on battery power?

Am asking because it was quite expensive to buy this device - an Asus X721A Vivo notebook.

My HP ProBook has a BIOS option to charge the battery to a maximum of 80% which is claimed to improve battery life. You might want to check if you have a similar option.