Excellent battery life is a hallmark of Chromebooks, which can regularly outlast the majority of Windows laptops. When the system indicates a low battery level, you must still charge them.
Now the question is: Should your Chromebook always be plugged in? We must admit, this is a worrying thought to consider.
It makes perfect sense that some users would leave their Chromebooks plugged in overnight for a variety of reasons, including the ability to start working right away the next day with no interruptions.
In a variety of circumstances, the chance of the device’s battery dying while we’re travelling forces us to leave the charger at home while we’re using it.
In this article, we’ll examine whether it’s okay to plug a charger into your Chromebook and then forget about it or whether there is undiscovered harm that the general public is not aware of.
Bonus: Does your Chromebook overheat while charging? Here’s how to fix it.
In This Article
Is it a good idea to keep your Chromebook plugged in all the time?
Simply put, we no longer live in a time when batteries would disintegrate and explode after charging past a certain point. Modern electronics are now powered by lithium-ion batteries that have a switch built in to prevent overcharging. Well done, technology!
In light of what you’ve read above, keeping your Chromebook plugged in isn’t as bad as it was 10–20 years ago because the device is likely to stop receiving charge thanks to the Li-ion built into its battery. But is this behaviour entirely beneficial for Chromebooks? It’s a resounding no.
You see, equal amounts of charging and discharging are necessary for laptop or smartphone batteries to operate at their best. However, if you leave a specific item plugged in all the time, the battery temperature will rise over normal.
It’s not as though the temperature will go beyond the acceptable range after a specific period; rather, the battery’s general condition will start to deteriorate gradually.
The battery’s performance will keep declining due to the steady increase in temperature. If this continues for a while, your Chromebook’s battery will eventually need to be replaced. Now, reaching a definitive decision is simple.
Make sure to give your Chromebook the necessary charging and discharging cycles if you want to keep it with you until the end of its useful life or even longer.
The best ways to charge your Chromebook
Now that you know whether you should always keep your Chromebook plugged in or not, let’s speak about some crucial advice for charging your dependable gadget. In this manner, you will be able to maintain the Chromebook’s battery health for many years to come.
One of the first best practices is to connect a charger to your Chromebook just before it is going to go dead rather than when it is already dead.
Anywhere between 5% and 15% battery remaining should alert you to act right away. Also, if you stopped charging the Chromebook between 85% and 95%, it would be beneficial.
This will prevent undesirable temperature build-up in your battery and the annoyance of having your work interrupted by an unintentional shutdown.
Use functioning wall outlets to charge your Chromebook as well. Ignore the ones with obvious warning signals of a problem or get them addressed before connecting in.
Last but not least, Chromebooks must be charged using the chargers that came with them. Use the genuine charger that came with your Chromebook, otherwise, you should be very careful.
It is not advised to charge Chromebooks using lower-wattage chargers often used for charging cellphones.
Purchase an original charger made specifically for your Chromebook’s model if you’ve misplaced or accidentally damaged the standard part. It could be a good idea to get in touch with the device’s maker for more detailed information on this.
DON’T MISS: WHAT HARD DRIVE SIZE DO I NEED FOR MY CHROMEBOOK? (BEST GUIDE)
How to check your Chromebook’s battery health
The battery health % of your Chromebook can be easily checked. Although it won’t be as easy as on an iPhone, ChromeOS has its special system accessibility.
To launch Crosh—the ChromeOS developer shell—open the Chrome browser and press the “Ctrl,” “Alt,” and “T” keys simultaneously. Once you’ve finished the preparatory step, enter the following command into the terminal by typing it in and pressing Enter.
battery_test
The results should start to accumulate in little more than a split second.
About the battery test in Crosh, that is all there is to know. Nothing but a piece of cake, is it not? We would want you to draw attention to another program that Chromebooks come with by default, called Diagnostics.
Given its capability to report back to Google with system information, this system utility is meant to be the operating system’s very own troubleshooter.
On your Chromebook, click “Search” to open the Launcher, then enter “Diagnostics.”
You’ll see three separate sections concerning the device’s battery, CPU, and RAM after starting the app.
You can check your Chromebook’s battery’s general health, cycle count, and the current rate of draining or charging in the battery section, which is at the top of the screen.
Even a discharge rate test to see whether the battery of the smartphone passes muster can be performed using the app.
DON’T MISS: HOW TO CHECK IF CHROMEBOOK NEEDS A NEW BATTERY
Conclusion
In the broad scope of things, Chromebooks are low-maintenance computers, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them some attention. One of a networked device’s most crucial parts is the battery, so try to do your best whenever you can.
Regarding charging, it is strongly advised that you don’t overload your Chromebook if you want it to last as long as possible. This shouldn’t be an issue on your end since a few best practices can be followed.