Harmful to leave laptop plugged in overnight?

[Jayems]

Is it safe to leave your laptop plugged in over night?

I want to charge my dead battery for school tomorrow, but have heard mixed reviews about leaving it plugged in over night.

Its a new macbook if that helps.

I usually just charge it when i use it, or, leave it, and when i notice its charged, i take it off.

Is it really harmful to the battery to leave it charging all night?

Cheers.

(I'm an newbie laptop owner )

[Looger]

i know the older ones would actively charge the battery (ie. put a higher voltage at the battery terminals) even when it's full, which is not good.

the newer ones, like my toshiba satellite, when plugged in 24/7, will actually cut out the charger until the battery drops below a certain level.

i checked into this very thing while shopping for laptops, as i'm usually near an outlet.

[kipperfan]

I have a Macbook(had for about 4months) and leave it plugged in every night, no problems thus far.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Looger

i know the older ones would actively charge the battery (ie. put a higher voltage at the battery terminals) even when it's full, which is not good.

the newer ones, like my toshiba satellite, when plugged in 24/7, will actually cut out the charger until the battery drops below a certain level.

i checked into this very thing while shopping for laptops, as i'm usually near an outlet.

Yeah, any recent laptop should do this.

Theoretically speaking, Lithium Ion batteries don't get a memory so you don't need to charge the to 100% every time, and they don't like deep discharging, so once they get below 40% plug them in again.

However, you should use it the way that best suits you. Li-Ion batteries are a lot better than the older NiMH. They still wear out, but aren't as suceptible to abuse. So just don't stray too far from what your manual tells you and you'll be fine.

[fanforever1986]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

I have a Macbook(had for about 4months) and leave it plugged in every night, no problems thus far.

diddo.

ps mac's rule.

[flames_fan13]

If you do plug it in during the night make sure you leave space besides the fan. A couple months ago close to where i live caught on fire. The reason was that the laptop got to hot since the fan was blocked and started the fire.

[Table 5]

man, my mactop has been plugged in pretty much 24 hours a day for the last 4 years.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

I have a Macbook(had for about 4months) and leave it plugged in every night, no problems thus far.

Same here.

PS. Macbook users run the latest firmware update. It fixes a lot of hardware gremlins.

[ericschand]

On older batteries it was bad to leave them plugged in all the time.
Eventually the battery wouldn't hold any charge. But we're talking
pretty old.

Now days, most units will regulate the charge, turn it on and off.

It never hurts to use the laptop for a few hours till it complains, and
then leave it plugged in, every once in a while, just to cycle the battery.

ers

[fanforever1986]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Same here.

PS. Macbook users run the latest firmware update. It fixes a lot of hardware gremlins.

is a firmware update something other than clicking on the apple in the top left and going to software update?

[Winsor_Pilates]

I plug my mac in pretty much every night. No problems. Did't even know this could be an issue.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Table 5

man, my mactop has been plugged in pretty much 24 hours a day for the last 4 years.

Then you wouldn't really know if your battery sucks, now would you?

[Top Shelf]

Originally Posted by Jayems

Is it safe to leave your laptop plugged in over night?

I want to charge my dead battery for school tomorrow, but have heard mixed reviews about leaving it plugged in over night.

Its a new macbook if that helps.

I usually just charge it when i use it, or, leave it, and when i notice its charged, i take it off.

Is it really harmful to the battery to leave it charging all night?

Cheers.

(I'm an newbie laptop owner )

Have a peek at the following article, this came out about a month ago. I know at work, we had some IBM T43 that were affected by this.

"Lenovo, which purchased IBM's PC group in May 2005, obtained the LAX ThinkPad, and the early stages of an investigation by its engineers in Yamato, Japan, have determined that the pack contained Sony battery cells of the same type that have been involved in overheating incidents and fires reported by Dell and Apple, Ray Gorman, a Lenovo spokesperson, told eWEEK."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2019306,00.asp

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by fanforever1986

is a firmware update something other than clicking on the apple in the top left and going to software update?

It gets downloaded from software update but not run. Close all applications and go to Applications>Utilities and look for the SMC firmware updater and run it.

The Apple battery recall affected older notebooks. Macbooks and pros are not affected.

[Jayems]

thanks for the info guys and gals.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Then you wouldn't really know if your battery sucks, now would you?

oh at this point my battery manages to both suck and blow at the same time.