I get asked all the time about laptop batteries, and being an inquisitive person, I’m prone to long periods of reading to satisfy people’s curiosity about the most overlooked piece of their computer. In going through every single link Wikipedia provides about lithium ion batteries, I can give the following advice on some myths, and also some very bad habits to have.

#1 If I don’t use the battery, it will never fail: False
Lithium ion batteries will fail over time without being used, even if used lightly.

#2 If I keep the battery fully charged, it will last longer: False
Most lithium ion batteries last longer if you keep them at or below 40% charge, which almost never happens.  Worse, is that if you have a laptop fully charged, then leave it in a car, you will destroy the battery in just one year according to many experts.

#3 If you drain the power in your laptop you’ve ruined the battery: False
Lithium ion batteries have a circuit that is designed to keep you from doing this, it’s not fully discharged. Furthermore, most batteries will last for a least 3 months ‘fully discharged’ so to speak, which is when the batteries finally are ‘really discharged’ due to the self monitoring circuit having used all the juice left.

Now, for a few tips that I’ve found to be suggested.

Never leave your laptop in a car.

If you are using a laptop as a desktop, remove the battery and put it back once every 3 months to keep it topped off and at an average of 80% charge.

Every 6 months, take your laptop to someone who has an air compressor, or buy a can of air and blow it in the air outlet. (You’re looking to reverse the flow of air and blow out all the gunk out the holes it came in on.)

Above all, remember these things:

Batteries will fail eventually, they don’t last forever. Lithium ions will last 1-3 years depending on the quality and the amount of time you use it. All indications are that if the battery spends all it’s time in a car, you’ll get less than a year out of it. (This is true for cell phones too.)

Some laptops run way hotter than others, so that cooling pad may just prolong the life of the battery if you are running it as a desktop. The hottest part in your computer, the CPU, will normally run cooler than the interior of a car.