Best way to use a laptop?

[hogpen]

Okay, so I don't have a mac, might be getting one when I'm older, but I thought I'd ask you guys about my laptop. I have a normal HP laptop and was wondering what the best way to use it was. I use it everyday and normally shut it off every night and then turn it back on in the afternoon.
Should I be keeping it on at night?
Should I keep it plugged in when I'm using it if I can?

I just want to keep it as long as possible and run it until it dies.

Thanks in advance. Hope this is the right forum.

 

[misterredman]

About the turning off or not I would say it all depends on what is better for you. Surely that laptop also has a hibernate/standby mode you could use to have a faster startup. Anyway I think you can safely turn it off for the night.

The only thing that need a bit more attention is the battery. Check here what they suggest:

http://h20239.www2.hp.com/techcenter/battery/Battery_max.htm

 

[CarlsonCustoms]

On my macbook I pretty much never shut it off.. always just sleep, then again the mac's sleep and wake pretty much trouble free.