Should I only plug in my laptop when I need it?

However, there are not many clear guidelines in this regard. Many laptop manufacturers don’t address the topic with a clear (or not at all) answer. Apple used to advise against plugging in MacBooks all the time, but their battery advice page no longer advises this.

If you dig through HP’s help files you’ll find a Q&A on laptop battery charging , where they acknowledge exactly what we’ve been talking about here – that constant charging you will deplete the life of the battery. Plugging in the charger only when necessary will significantly extend battery life. In general, HP’s advice is to charge the battery as little as possible. That’s technically correct advice..

You’ll find other manufacturers will either skip over discussing the fact that laptop battery life is finite or offer similar advice on the best charging use case. For example, Dell recommends unplugging the laptop when charging is complete and charging only when the battery drops below 50%.

Our advice to you is to charge your laptop as little as possible for the way you use your laptop.

For example, if you only use your laptop when working away from home (and otherwise use your desktop computer), you should charge the laptop to about 70-80% and then shutdown completely.

If you use your laptop without charging every day, it’s a good idea to charge your laptop daily to make sure it’s ready to go the next day. You can always choose to unplug your device from the charger after the time it takes to fully charge.

Finally, if you rarely take your laptop off the charger, you probably don’t need to stress about complicated charging habits and battery optimization strategies. At that point, it will be no different than a desktop computer that is constantly plugged in for power.