Originally Posted by
cavuman1
Thank you all for your informative answers! I think I shall comply with the manufacturer's recommendation - three deep discharge/recharge cycles, then I'll keep the computer plugged in, though the latter goes against Acer's instructions.
Now for my second question: Should a computer be left on 24/7, or should the device be de-energized on occasion?
I look forward to your replies!
- Ed
I'm quite old school.
At the end of the day I log out and shutdown the laptop and pull the power lead out of the laptop.
I don't think pulling out the lead serves any useful purpose but I would recommend logging out. A few years ago I would have recommended shutting down as well but Windows has improved a lot since then and seems to run happily for months on end without needing a reboot, so letting it go to 'sleep' is probably fine. As I said, I do shutdown though.
Note that, if you do not disable Windows 'Fast Start' then shutting down the computer will not log you out, even though it warns you that it's going to. This means that if the computer is used by multiple people who don't log out then after a while they will all be logged in all the time. I think this is a bad thing. It means when you're using the computer it can be running other user's background tasks, and it's a bigger risk if one of the accounts gets compromised by some unfriendly software.
Regarding battery life - I've enabled my laptop's 'always on mains' feature which means the battery only charges to 80% full, and once or twice a week I leave the power lead out for a few hours while I'm using it so it discharges down to 30% or so (unless I forgot to plug it in again it which case it goes down to 0% and turns off).
Those instructions you quoted are for NiCad or NiMh rechargeable cells which suffer from a 'Memory' effect if they don't go through a full discharge cycle every now and then. A few years ago it was quite common to find that a laptop that had been run entirely on mains for a couple of years would then only run for a few minutes on its battery. I would hope that things have improved a bit now.
I would follow the instructions as best you can without inconveniencing yourself. I think if you do 20% of what they say you'll get 80% of the benefit.
HTH
N