Laptops plugged in or not

[Andy Hamilton]

Probably a silly question but if I plug in my laptop let it charge up and then turn off the power until the battery drains am I using less electricity than if I just left it plugged in?

I am assuming that left plugged in is the way forward but not 100% certain.

[Cheezy]

Don't know about the 'leccy usage, however I believe it is better for the battery to charge then completly discarge rather than continually being topped up. It's life (so I am lead to believe) should be longer.

[wulf]

I think it depends on the type of battery. Mine is plugged in most of the time and on a lot and the battery still seems to be okay about 3.5 years in.

Wulf

[revdode]

I'm with Wulf. AFAIK only older laptop batteries really suffer from being run charged all the time. I tend to keep my laptop connected to the mains when in use most of the time. The battery life is as good if not very slightly better than it was when I first bought it nearly two years ago.
I could probably save a small amount of power running the battery down as the charger / power supply usage seems to be pretty much the same when running the laptop whether the battery is empty or fully charged.

[Muddypause]

I believe it is better for the battery to charge then completly discarge

I think that was an issue with NiCad batteries - they had to be completely discharged or they wouldn't charge properly. But with newer NiMH and LIon batteries, it doesn't seem to b a problem.

But to answer the original question I don't really know which way would use least electricity. Charging a battery is not a particularly efficient use of electricity in the first place - better to use the laptop directly plugged in if possible. But if you run it from the battery - I dunno. So, no help there at all, then.

I seem to recall that I posted links to a couple of battery FAQs in a post a while ago; if you do a search you might find them, and they may have some better answers.