Always charging the battery at 100% is a bad thing you are doing to your laptop

A laptop is a necessary item for many people because it can help us entertain and work anywhere, therefore, many laptop users still like to always plug in the device to charge it to have a full battery at all times , according to a researcher. Research, this is a misconception that can seriously affect the quality of laptop batteries. After the device is fully charged, you need to unplug it, otherwise there will be a day when you need to plug it in all the time to be able to use it.

Many laptops are charged throughout the work day and throughout the night. We don't even think much about this, we just need a place to plug in the charger; Whether it's at work, at home, at a coffee shop, most people want their laptops to always have 100% battery. There's nothing more annoying than a laptop that can't charge, but overcharging will quickly cause it to do so.

According to Kent Griffith, researcher and assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, keeping the battery at 100% all the time is the worst thing you can do for your laptop. He studies battery degradation and says this state of full charge causes many negative effects on your laptop battery.

This fully charged state causes many negative effects on your laptop battery.

" When your laptop battery is in its worst condition – 100% charged – for weeks or months, that can take quite a toll on the battery ," says Griffith. " So when you remove the charger and Expecting the battery to last 8 or 10 hours, it may only give you half of what you expect because it has degraded so much in that time."

According to Griffith, the optimal state for your battery is somewhere between 20% and 80% . Griffith recommends that you fully charge your laptop and then unplug it to use. You should leave the battery in this "mid-range" zone for most of its use to prolong battery performance.

The reason the laptop is under a lot of pressure at 100% is the lithium-ion battery. The battery consists of two layers, one made from graphite and the other from lithium cobalt oxide, with lithium ions passing between them. A fully charged battery means most of the lithium ions will be in the graphite layer, releasing energy to your computer when transferred to the lithium cobalt oxide layer.

When there are too many lithium ions on one side, the battery will be under great pressure . It works best when there are roughly equal numbers of lithium ions throughout the battery - that is, 50%. Griffith also notes that high-speed charging cables can damage the integrity of the battery by transferring these lithium ions too quickly.

Myths about battery charging

You don't have to look too far to understand where this misconception comes from. Many of us have come to believe that laptops should always be plugged in, and that may be due to the familiar experience from desktop computers. Macs, PCs, and all desktops are permanently plugged in.

Laptops get power from the battery.

Griffith said this is the wrong idea. Laptops do not draw power from a wall outlet, like desktop computers do . Rather, it draws power from the battery. Meanwhile, the battery is kept in this highly stressed state, performing many small charges between 99% and 100%.

Another reason why people like to keep their laptops plugged in is so that their device never runs out of battery. Although letting the laptop battery run out and recharging is better for the battery, it is not convenient, with a laptop that is always charging, you will be able to move quickly with the device reporting 100% battery charge.

But in the long run, this doesn't work either . For an old laptop that is permanently charging, you may have fully charged the battery but that full charge will not last you long . According to Gizmodo, Apple's latest MacBook M3 has a battery life of 18 hours, but continuously charging it for many years can reduce the battery life in half.

Keeping your laptop plugged in is not a way to optimize performance, it's actually quite the opposite.

Why do users like to charge their laptops all day?

For some people, they want to get the most out of their computer , so hooking it up directly to a power source might seem like the best way to go, but that's not really what's going on.

Another reason is that most people rarely use computers outside of their desks . It's easier to keep your laptop plugged in, just like you would with a desktop computer.

The problem starts when you leave your desk. You start a trip, on the train, to a cafe with few sockets. Suddenly, low battery is the most noticeable "feature" on your laptop.

Some people like to keep their laptops charged all day because they want to get the most out of their computer.

There are similar discussions about smartphone battery life, but this is not too much of an issue due to their optimized charging features. iPhone will learn your charging pattern, slowing down the charging rate overnight so your phone has at least 100% time, or some Android smartphones have a feature that charges up to 80% and stops to protect the battery. . These features are extremely useful for smartphone users, who often only charge their phones when they sleep and almost no one keeps them plugged in for a week or month at a time.

New Windows and Apple laptops have similar optimizations, but they're still not the perfect solution if your laptop charges 24/7. Optimizer only slows down battery charging to 100%, it doesn't help you once the battery reaches that level. A good solution is to simply leave your laptop plugged in overnight with optimized battery charging, but remember, you must unplug it when you wake up and not charge it continuously all day while in use.