Notebook computers and charging

 Litium battieries don't last forever, and you might be shortening their life!  Turns out that if you use a notebook as your daily driver and have it plugged into the most of the time that battery is constantly being charged.  Charging a notebook creates heat, that heat and constant charging shortens the life of the battery.  Remember the exploding Samsung cell phones a few years ago?  

This one is from a 5th generation i5 Dell sub compact notebook that is now on it's 2nd battery.



Machines made with in the past few years started implenting an optional change that helps that battery life.  Basically the machine no longer charges to 100%.  It charges to a lesser amount and hovers there.  In the case of Microsoft Surface note when this option is turned on, the machine charges to a maximum of 50%.  The obvious downside is that if one then needs to run off of battery one doesn't get the benifit of a full chager.  I have noticed that the machine is notiable cooler.  

Instructions for Microsoft Surfaces can be found here.  Many normal machines: go into the BIOS, Power Management, and change the setting to "Primarily A/C Use".

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