Battery article: thoughts?

[NikkiJayne]

I just came across this article on Digg, and I know from asking people here that many believe that leaving your laptop constantly plugged in isn't actually a bad thing. So what are your thoughts on this article?
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/09/laptop-battery/

 

[Mariana00]

I seriously couldn't be bothered to pay attention to these things. I have a cMBP, replaced the battery once and it didn't cost more than £40 if I remember correctly. So it's really not worth it to stress over.

It might be a different story once I get my Haswell rMBP, but I probably still wouldn't want to bother. Plus it seems to me like doing the 80-40 thing will vastly increase your numbre of charge cycles, so the numbers that the article gives are a bit misleading perhaps.

 

[TonyHoyle]

Lenovo's do something like suggested.. they have two modes and in the normal state only charge to 80% whilst plugged in. You can make them charge to 100% if you're going to be away from power for a while.

OTOH my 2008 macbook was plugged in for its entire life, until 2012.. it was only when it was unplugged for a week the battery self destructed.

 

[cirus]

Lenovo's do something like suggested.. they have two modes and in the normal state only charge to 80% whilst plugged in. You can make them charge to 100% if you're going to be away from power for a while.

OTOH my 2008 macbook was plugged in for its entire life, until 2012.. it was only when it was unplugged for a week the battery self destructed.

I have a lenovo and can attest to that. "Battery protection mode" is amazing. generally speaking I can get 2-4 productive hours out of my laptop with 60% charge. For me that's enough for the whole day. The best part is after a year the battery is still at 100% health and if I am going to need a full change I just click the setting and it charges fully.