# Is it bad to leave my laptop on 24/7?



## bubbagumper6 (May 25, 2011)

Just wondering, I mean, I know all electronics have a certain number of hours of life but I'm wondering if that number is so high that it doesn't really matter.  So will leaving my laptop on all the time shorten it's life or anything?


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## salvage-this (May 25, 2011)

You will loose battery life a lot faster if you constantly have it on and plugged in.  If it is not overheating I don't see a reason that it would damage the hardware too bad.  

I would turn it off and unplug it at night.  That will save the battery a bit.  If you have a windows machine, leaving it on all the time will cause it to slow down the longer you have it on.  Shutting it down each night will keep it a bit faster.


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## bubbagumper6 (May 25, 2011)

Care to explain why this would shorten my battery life?


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## salvage-this (May 25, 2011)

Well from some of the reading that I have done It looks like batteries can be harmed if they stay fully charged for long periods of time or if they go below 5% power.  It can also be hurt be heat (mostly in extreme situations) but still I would think that having it on and not doing anything at night might not be the best idea.  It is only about a min to get it up and running in the morning I don'e really see the need for it to be on and charging all the time.


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## speedyink (May 25, 2011)

Just take the battery out to save it from unnecessary wear and you'll be fine.   Also you can purchase a cooling pad for your laptop to keep it cool and you'll be golden.


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## flanker (May 25, 2011)

salvage-this said:


> Well from some of the reading that I have done It looks like batteries can be harmed if they stay fully charged for long periods of time or if they go below 5% power.  It can also be hurt be heat (mostly in extreme situations) but still I would think that having it on and not doing anything at night might not be the best idea.  It is only about a min to get it up and running in the morning I don'e really see the need for it to be on and charging all the time.



If it is not charging the battery, and mine at around 98% to 100% charged it says not charging.
I don't see any problem leaving it plugged in  in service or out of service.


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## tlarkin (May 25, 2011)

batteries degrade over usage, they are always going to fail you eventually.  Batteries are also a non consistent part.  You can take 10 laptops of the same company, with the same specs and parts and use them in the exact same manner and get different battery life out of them.

The harder you use a battery the more prone it is to fail.  However, my current laptop is a 3 year old Macbook Pro, which I have shut down maybe a dozen of times. I let it sleep and charge it up, but I gotta charge it every day, or every 2-3 days max depending on usage.    If you let your battery drain too much it may drain the back up cell, which will in return kill the battery.

So, don't be afraid to sleep your laptop often, but if you aren't going to use it for an extended period of time, turn it off.  Like if you don't plan on using it over a weekend, or a vacation, etc.  If it must run 24/7 pull out the battery and let it run off the AC power only.


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## bubbagumper6 (May 26, 2011)

I was hoping for an actual technical explanation.  I'm a 4th year electrical engineering student and think it would be harder on a battery to be constantly discharging/recharging.

However I do recall reading somewhere that the optimal environment was the occasional discharge/recharge.


Also I leave my computer on all the time for seeding torrents.  I left that bit out earlier because I thought it might distract some from the actual question and compel them to lecture me on copyright laws and whatnot, but I got my answer so thanks guys


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## fbappfreak (May 26, 2011)

I had a laptop that I left on in a docking station 24/7 for many years at work... Yes, the battery did wear down (I didn't take it down) ; however, at that point in time I wasn't as concerned about it...


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## scbjmshpv (May 26, 2011)

if you are not moving your laptop at all and using it as total mean of desktop than don't worry about it, as you'll never need battery and when you need you'r gonna need to buy new one so i suggest charge it remove it and put it in antistatic bag for safety. after that you can leave it plugged in 24/7.

Cooling pad for your laptop is good idea.

leaving it on 24/7 won't make any damage it'll give you best money spent in two/three years in terms of technology evolving, so leave it on. though restart it once in a while.


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## speedyink (May 26, 2011)

bubbagumper6 said:


> I was hoping for an actual technical explanation.  I'm a 4th year electrical engineering student and think it would be harder on a battery to be constantly discharging/recharging.
> 
> However I do recall reading somewhere that the optimal environment was the occasional discharge/recharge.
> 
> ...



Batteries have a limited amount of charge cycles, if your constantly charging and discharging the battery it wears it out quicker.

You are right, it is a good idea to occasionally put the battery back in and use it, discharging it most of the way, then doing a full charge.


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## FXB (May 26, 2011)

it also good to wear out the battery completely and then charge it fully as some batteries conserve memory of how many cycles they have done


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## bubbagumper6 (May 26, 2011)

Yeah I remember I did the same thing with my previous laptop.  That one was an Alienware with dual graphics cards so the battery was crap to begin with and I never used it (computer was a power hog).  My new Asus has an LED screen and the Optimus technology which supposedly allows the computer to turn the graphics card off and use the motherboard onboard graphics to save power so I was hoping I could get better battery life with this one.  However I've owned it for a few months now and still yet to need to run it off the battery.


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