The real killer for laptop batteries is the fact that they are kept at 100% charge plugged in while under extreme thermal stress. Temperature + full charge kills li-ion batteries. Do your laptop a favor and never charge to 100% unless you really need to.
Really? If this was the case, I would expect laptop providers to allow you to set a top charge rate for those like me who have their laptop plugged in 90% of the time.
My Toshiba has the option of only charging it to 80% while plugged in, called Cell-Saver. Just feels better not having to worry about cell degradation.
I mentioned this to a colleague lately who looked at me like a strange animal for having:"worry about cell degradation" even on my list.
>That's completely false. It was true though with NiMH batteries
No, it's not. NiMH have practically no degradation from cycling, which is why Toyota still uses them in the Prius. The tradeoff is in energy density.
Li-Ion batteries are not meant to be held at 100% State of Charge (SoC). There is a non-linear relationship between average SoC over the life of the cell and the rate of degradation. Optimal charge for extended life in a typical 4.2v cell is around 3.9v, or 65% of available stored energy. Keeping an average SoC near 100% can cause up to a 5x loss in battery lifetime. See the link below [0]. Specifically "Table 4: Discharge cycles and capacity as a function of charge voltage limit."
