Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

If your using a laptop plugged in all the time to use as a desktop PC without the battery attached, is it safe?

It is perfectly safe, no worse than leaving a desktop plugged in all the time. The only thing you lose without having the battery is the bult-in UPS that the battery provides. That simply means that any power glitches or interruptions on the AC line may cause the system to crash, shuddown or restart, just like a typical desktop would do in the same situation. Scott.

Scott, would leaving a Laptop battery uncharged all the time ruin it? I advise my customers to use the battery once a week on Laptops always connected to the mains.

I agree that to preserve a battery it should be used and mostly if not entirely discharged and recharged periodically. Once a week is good but I'd say once a month at a minimum.

Leaving a battery out completely may or may not be as bad as just leaving it in all the time fully charged. However if I had a laptop with a battery that was near dead (meaning it would no longer charge properly or run the system on the battery alone) then I'd definitely remove it. Old failing batteries can be a fire hazard in some cases so in that case it would be better to run without. Scott.

Thanks Scott, I'll update my advice