Charging a laptop or leaving it on overnight is a concern for many people. Most of us have probably left our laptops charging overnight at least once. So, does this affect the durability and lifespan of the battery? This article will answer that question for you.
Should you keep your computer on or charge it overnight? (Illustration)
Is charging the laptop overnight bad?
Laptop batteries now have a good management system, which can automatically cut off the power when the battery is fully charged. This means that if you leave the battery charging overnight, the system will automatically break the current flow when the battery is fully charged. Therefore, in theory, charging the battery overnight does not affect the durability and lifespan of the battery.
However, continuous charging can cause the battery’s memory to misalign, leading to a reduced lifespan. Therefore, you should avoid charging when the battery still has enough power or charging too frequently to protect the battery’s lifespan.
In addition, charging the laptop battery overnight also affects the adapter. When you leave your laptop charging overnight, the adapter will continuously operate, leading to increased heat and faster wear and tear.
The charging capacity also decreases over time. This will increase the cost of replacing the adapter and affect energy savings.
However, the most dangerous aspect of charging a laptop battery overnight is the risk of explosion. The heated adapter can release electric sparks, which can easily ignite flammable materials such as paper and dry fabric, causing fire and accidents.
Therefore, if you decide to charge your laptop overnight, make sure there are no objects nearby and check.
Should you keep your computer on overnight?
Some people always make sure to turn off their computers, while others have the habit of leaving them on overnight.
If you belong to the first group, you are someone who cares about your computer. If you belong to the second group, let’s find out why you should turn off your computer every night.
Extend the lifespan of the device
The lifespan of your laptop battery decreases after 300 charge cycles. When you turn off your laptop computer, the battery will not be depleted, helping you delay reaching that number of charge cycles.
In addition, the operating computer will heat up, even when the fan is running, causing hardware wear and tear.
Even if you don’t plan to replace your computer, the hardware is not cheap. Therefore, turning off the computer or laptop can help you extend the lifespan of the device from a few months to several years, depending on how you operate it.
Improve device performance
If you have the habit of keeping your computer on for several days or even weeks, you may notice it running slower. This can be due to various reasons, such as random memory-consuming programs or fragmented files taking up additional processing power.
There are also reasons such as problems with the graphics card driver, printer driver, monitor driver, or other drivers…
If you turn off or restart your computer, it can stop running programs in the background and troubleshoot while restarting the driver properly, helping you improve device performance. Moreover, turning off your computer every night ensures that you don’t miss important updates and upgrades.
Save on electricity bills
For laptops, the power consumption is about 300 kWh per year, costing nearly 1 million VND per year. Depending on the number of computer devices you require for your work, your electricity costs will gradually increase as you leave them running for 24 hours.
Additionally, leaving your computer on can also cause damage to its components. Therefore, the repair costs will also add up. However, if you continue to operate as you currently do, the repair costs may be futile due to the reduced lifespan of the device.
Protect your privacy
Turning off your device can help protect important data as it prevents network attacks. If it’s not turned on, your computer cannot be hacked. In this way, you can save any sensitive information you have on your device, whether it’s your own information or that of customers or others.
According to VTC news