MakeUseOf: “There’s a little thrill in seeing 100% glowing in the corner of your laptop screen. It feels like topping off the tank before a long drive or walking into the week with a perfectly clean desk. Older nickel-cadmium batteries led us to believe that reaching full charge was not just good but necessary. That idea stuck. The problem is that, with lithium-ion batteries, a pristine 100% charge actually puts the system under the most strain. This is one of the many reasons people wonder if it is bad to keep your laptop plugged in all the time. It helps to stop thinking of your battery as a passive container and start seeing it as a living chemical process. It inhales and exhales energy. And just like a runner can’t sprint at full tilt forever without breaking down, your laptop battery lasts longest when it’s kept at around 80% at maximum…”