just a thought, If you just removed the battery while you were using it at you desk (plugged in of course!), and plugged it back in when you wanted to move, wouldn't that solve the problem all together?
anyways, I've always kept all my laptops plugged in while using them, and have never had a problem
The article is partially correct. Lithium-ion batteries live longest when kept charged to 40-50% of capacity. The author didn't look hard enough for Windows apps that will advise of battery levels. I have a battery meter program on my Lenovo notebook that shows the charge state of the battery in the taskbar. The notebook came with a power management program that can be set to maintain the battery at 40-50% to ensure longer life. Leaving it plugged in has no effect on the battery other than to allow the notebook to run on AC and not draw from the battery.
That's not at all harsh; it's based on actual experience. I've owned two Acer Netbooks and an Acer desktop that came with an Acer keyboard and mouse. The first netbook died one month out of warranty. The only reason I got the second netbook was it was the only one with XP I could find (I didn't like Vista, which was the OS du jour at the time) and it died a few months after I got it. I was so disgusted with Acer by then, instead of getting it fixed or replaced under warranty, I just salvaged the HDD and PSU from it and got an ASUS which was still working two years later when I replaced it last summer with a notebook. I've since learned that the Acer netbooks had a reputation for early failure.
I got the desktop shortly after I got the first netbook. I immediately replaced the keyboard and mouse with the seven year old ones from my old Gateway. The keyboard just never felt right and ate up a precious rear USB port (it had only four USB ports on the back, yet it also had four on the front; how many people need that many front USB ports?). The mouse was designed in such a way (mostly cheap) that just the weight of my palm on it would click it; it also ate up another rear USB port (the gateway mouse and keyboard used PS/2 ports, which the Acer had). The desktop itself ate the Ram installed in it (just out of warranty, of course). I had three HDDs (two Seagates and a WD) fail in it; I've never had a HDD fail in any other machine I've owned, including the Gateway I had for seven years. Except for the IDE HDD that was in the Gateway and the HDDs from the Acer desktop, I still have, and occasionally use, all the HDDs I had in my previous machines.
Keep mine plugged in 24/7 during the winter/off season with no notable degradation (3 to 6 months depending on my route for the year.) Going on 2 years now.
I have had 3 Acers laptops and 1 desktop and never had 1 problem with them, all still running.
Only have replaced 1 battery in 4 years and I leave them plugged in 24/7
My Sager I use now is plugged in 24/7.
To me it's a good backup if you lose power you have a lot of time to turn it off.
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