Laptop batteries

[Tom Marshall]

> My aunts new Compaq says to remove the battery if your not going to ever 
> unplug it. My new ThinkPad says to allow the battery to run down to 10% 
> or less before recharging, because it will ruin the battery. It also 
> says if the battery doesnt ever run down, it wont recharge after some time.

I don't know about recharging, but the battery will fail to hold a charge if
left plugged in for a long time.  A couple years ago, I had a laptop (with a
Li-Ion battery of course) and left it plugged in for about a year straight. 
After that, the battery went directly from 96% to 3% charge -- it only
lasted for 15 minutes or so.

I would recommend finding a used or discarded battery for this purpose to
act as a UPS in case the AC power goes out unexpectedly and leave your good
battery in your laptop travel bag.  Or you could just use your current
battery as your UPS and buy another battery for travel if/when the current
one fails to hold a charge.