At one point or another, all laptop users have the same question: Is it bad to leave your laptop plugged in all the time?

It turns out that the answer is not entirely straightforward. So let’s see what it is.

Know the battery of your laptop

There are two main types of batteries used in laptops: lithium-ion and lithium-polymer. Although these are different technologies, they operate in broadly identical ways, producing energy through the movement of electrons.

This constant flow is also necessary to keep the battery healthy.

For both types of batteries, the following statements are true (at least when it comes to modern laptops ):

• A battery cannot be overcharged. There is no danger of overcharging a battery if you leave it plugged in all the time. As soon as it reaches 100%, it stops charging and only restarts when the voltage drops below a certain level.
• Completely discharging a battery will damage it. Allowing the battery to drain completely for an extended period of time can put it in a state of deep discharge. This can be fatal: you may never be able to charge it again. (You can try these methods to suddenly start a dead laptop battery).

So, based on this, should we conclude that you need to leave your laptop plugged in all the time? Not quite.

Things that damage lithium batteries

The truth about lithium-based batteries is that they are inherently unstable. They start to lose capacity as soon as they are produced and many factors accelerate their decline. Among these, we can mention:

• Charge / discharge cycles. Each battery has a limited number of times it can be charged and discharged.
• The voltage level. The higher the charge level (measured in volts per cell), the shorter the battery life.
• High temperature, over 30 degrees Celsius. It can cause irreparable damage.

The last two are the ones that interest us the most here. Comprehensive study shows how high voltage and high temperatures shorten the life of an isolated battery, and even more when combined.

Charge or voltage level

Lithium-ion batteries charge at 4.20 volts per cell, which is 100% of their capacity. At this level, the battery will have a lifespan of 300 to 500 discharge cycles.

Each reduction of 0.10 V / cell in the load doubles the number of discharge cycles, until the optimum level is reached: 3.90V / cell, with 2400-4000 discharge cycles.

Unfortunately, at this level, the battery is only about 60% charged. The autonomy will hardly exceed half of a fully charged battery.

Heat

And then there is the heat. High temperatures , generally classified as above 30 degrees Celsius, shorten the life of a battery, regardless of any other factor. Leaving your laptop in your car on a summer afternoon is a bad idea.

When you combine the stress of high temperature with that of high voltage, the effects are even worse.

The study shows that a battery stored with a 40% charge at 40 degrees would see its capacity drop to 85% after a year.

Fully charged, its capacity drops to 65% under the same conditions. For a fully charged battery at 60 degrees, the capacity drops to 60% in just three months.

The evidence seems clear. Keeping the battery permanently charged at 100% will slowly reduce its life. Keeping it at 100% and exposing it to high temperatures will reduce it much faster.

And remember, these high temperatures aren’t just environmental. Resource-intensive tasks, like gaming or video editing, greatly increase the heat level, and using the laptop on a pillow or in a poorly designed case can trap that heat as well.

For the sake of your battery, it’s always a good idea to fix an overheating laptop.

Should you remove the battery?

If heat is such a danger, it raises another question. Should you remove the battery completely when using your laptop on AC power?

Obviously, this is not possible on the growing number of laptops with sealed batteries.

When replaceable, the answer seems to vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Acer, for example, says you don’t need to remove the battery on AC power, but remove it if you won’t be using it for several days. When Apple produced laptops with removable batteries, it advised against removing them.

It all comes down to configuring the power management in the laptop. Some may reduce power when no battery is available, just as some do when the battery level is low. It could leave you with poor performance.

If you decide to remove the battery, be sure to store it properly. This usually means that it should be 40-80% charged and stored at room temperature.

Should you keep your laptop plugged in?

Does leaving your laptop plugged in damage the battery? Yes it is. But recharging it every day also damages it.

Oddly enough, the industry as a whole doesn’t seem to have come up with a single answer to the question of whether you should use your laptop on AC power or on battery power.

We have seen that Acer recommends removing the battery when not in use. According to Asus , you should drain the battery to at least 50% every two weeks. But Dell says it’s okay to leave the laptop plugged in all the time.

Apple’s advice is no longer on its website, but you can still read it online. The company recommends that you don’t leave a laptop plugged in all the time.

Leaving your laptop plugged in won’t cause any short-term damage, but if you only ever use it on AC power, you will almost certainly find that after a year the battery capacity has been significantly reduced. . Likewise, if you only use it on battery power, you will go through battery drain cycles more quickly.

The best solution is therefore a kind of compromise between the two: use it on battery some days, and keep it plugged in other days. And whatever you do, be careful that it doesn’t get too hot.

There are often multiple factors why you think that your power provide is broken, and except within the case that the computer doesn’t activate in any approach, generally, it’s demanding to find it. Next, we tend area unit reaching to provide you with some tips so that you’ll be able to verify if your power provide has diminished and it’s time to alter it for a brand new one.

A broken power provide could still work, and indeed, this case is a lot dangerous as a result of it might harm a number of the opposite parts of the computer since, remember, it’s the part responsible for supply power to all or any the others. Therefore, it’s vital not solely to form certain that it’s not broken however conjointly that it works in fitness.

Next, we tend to area unit reaching to list the symptoms by that you’ll suspect (or ensure in some cases) that the font has been broken which it’s time to interchange it with a brand new one, however, detain mind that the very fact that your font has any of they are doing not essentially mean that it’s to be modified. as an example, solely your fan could have diminished, and replacement it with a brand new one can keep the ability provide running commonly.

Symptoms That The Fountain Is Broken:

Let’s see what symptoms we will simply find to understand if the ability to provide has broken and desires replacement. As you’ll see, the symptoms are often numerous however it’s going to not essentially mean that the supply has been broken which you ought to modification it, thus we are going to indicate it in every case to avoid confusion.

PC Shuts Down Or Restarts For No Reason:

This is one of the foremost common symptoms, though take care as a result of it may also be created by the processor in some cases (especially because of excess temperature in it). In any case, if you’re in a very scenario wherever your laptop shuts down or restarts for no apparent reason, the ability to provide is also unhealthiness. This can happen as a result of the ability provide isn’t capable of maintaining the continual power that the instrumentality has to operate, or that it’s had an oversized overvoltage and also the protection system against them has diminished.

Blue Screenshots (BSOD) Will Mean That The Font Is Broken:

When the ability provides isn’t operating properly and isn’t supply the parts with the ability they have, blue screens could begin to occur. Of course, these BSODs are often caused by several things, however, if we tend to begin to own them once more for no apparent reason, it might be thanks to the ability provide, particularly if the error message we tend to receive must do with the graphics card simply after we begin a game as a result of it’s the instant once the graphics need a lot of energy.

Fountain Fan Makes Strange Noises:

When the ability provide fan starts to form strange noises, like one thing rubbing, it may also be a signal that it is time to alter the ability provide. Fan bearings create an awfully distinctive noise once the area unit setting out to fail, and it’s simply identifiable. If this happens to you, you ought to at a minimum modification the fountain fan to forestall it from falling and also the fountain from warming.

The Smell Of Burning Or Maybe Smoke Is Synonymous With A Broken Supply:

This is the worst case, however, it’s conjointly the foremost obvious symptom that the supply is dying (or has already died). If you’re victimizing your laptop commonly and every one of a sudden you hear a “POP!” Sound, the pc shuts down and starts to smell burning or maybe smoke, this typically means one amongst the ability capacitors the fountain has passed on to the great beyond and should inevitably get replaced by a brand new one. As a bonus now, if you open the ability provide and see that some capacitors area unit swelled on prime, with rust or traces of dried acid (image above), you ought to modification that power provides at once. you’ll typically realize this to own happened once the supply starts to alternately coil whine (instead of a relentless beep, this area unit long beeps however stop every few seconds).

Why Is That The Power Provide Broken?

Like any alternative part, it will fail at any time. however specifically, power provides area units a lot of vulnerable to failure than alternative parts as a result of they’re wherever energy enters from the start. several causes will finish in a very broken font:

• Age: though the sources have up to ten years of guarantee in some cases, there comes a time once they now not provide for a lot of since within the finish, the interior parts have some wear with the utilization and also the passage of your time.
• Electrical Interference – Interference will find yourself inflicting the supply to malfunction, tripping protection systems, and rendering it unusable. Careful with this.
• Voltage spikes: this is often the foremost common cause. The sources have surge suppression systems, however, generally, they’re not 100 percent effective and cause internal parts to be broken, particularly if the home’s electrical installation is in poor condition.
• Heat: like all electrical parts, the sources don’t work well at high temperatures. If there’s not adequate ventilation within the case or the fan has failed, it might cause premature part death.

How To Extend The Life Of The Power Supply?

There is no magic formula that guarantees that the font will last longer, but there are some things you can do to help prevent it from spoiling:

• Make sure it has adequate power: even if your system consumes 450W at most, do not install a 500W source because you will almost always have it at maximum performance and, in the end, this shortens its useful life. Better to go through excess than the default.
• Don’t buy OEM fonts – little to add here. We will always recommend a good quality, branded fonts. OEM fonts are easily damaged and do not have the same protection systems. Cheap is expensive.
• Keep it clean: like the rest of the PC components, you should try to keep it clean by performing periodic cleaning to prevent dust from accumulating inside.
• Watch out for temperatures: don’t let the source get too hot. Try to be well ventilated to avoid high temperatures.
• In all cases, if you think that your power supply is damaged, do not try to repair them yourself unless you have high knowledge of electronics and soldering. It is better to invest some money and change it for a new one to avoid problems.

If you want to know what graphics card your computer has and if it is used to play the latest titles to hit the market, don’t miss this report because we explain several methods to find out.
If you are PC users but you have a computer that is already a few years old, you may have ever wondered if your compatible will be able to move the most modern games that reach the market.

To do this, one of the most important things to take into account, but not the only one, is the graphics card and you can check which one is yours and if it is used to play in many ways. To help you verify it, we have created this report in which we explain how to know what graphics you have and if it is useful to play.

How Do I Know What Graphics Card I Have?

When it comes to finding out which graphics card your computer has, there are several options. Below we explain the best ones so that you can choose the one that suits you best according to your needs and your tastes.

Unmounting The PC:

If you have a desktop computer, one of the easiest ways to check what your graphics card is is by removing it. Open the top of your tower and see where the PCI slot of your PC is located. There you will see your graphics card, check its numbering and then go to Google to find its characteristics and discover its performance.

With Display Controller:

Open the Control Panel of your computer and enter Devices and then Device Controller. Now, open the “Display Adapters” menu and you will discover your graphics card.

With Device Manager:

To know what graphics card you have through the device manager you have to open the start menu of your PC and then right-click on “Computer” to go to “Properties”. Once there, you can open the device manager. Within this window, open “Display adapters” and your graph will appear in the list under the “Display adapters” option. Right-click on it and click on properties to see its characteristics.

Using DirectX:

From the main screen of your computer, go to “Start” and click on “Run”. Then write “dxdiag” and this will take you to a screen where you will see the characteristics of your DirectX. Entering there, you can check what graphics card your PC has and the memory it has.

With CPU-Z:

CPU-Z is a program capable of finding out everything about your PC. If you install it from the official website (you can do it by clicking here ), you will be able to know the characteristics of your PC and what its graphics card is, as well as many other things about your computer.

With Everest Ultimate:

This other program can also find out what your graphics card is, your sound and network card, and your motherboard. You can download Everest Ultimate from its website and with the free version, it will be useful to know what your graph is.

With Other Free Programs:

If you search the internet, you will find several pages for downloading free programs that can check which graphics card your PC has.

When your graphics card is too old or has serious cooling problems, it is advisable to completely disassemble it and clean its interior. In this article, we will teach you how to clean the graphics card of your PC step by step.

When Should I Clean My Graphics Card?

Obviously, there is no set period in which it is ‘mandatory’ to clean it. Rather, it depends on the user, the specific model, and the conditions in which said graph has been. Anyway, we leave you with some signs that could indicate that it is time to do it, or rather to check if everything is going well with the temperatures of your GPU :

1. The temperature of the graphics in games is higher than normal. For example, if your graph used to be 70 or 75 degrees at maximum load, and now it is much hotter than normal. Theirs is that from time to time you check that everything is going well in the temperatures. Nor is it a matter of obsessing over it.
2. Taking a look at the graphics card or even the interior of your PC in general, you notice a large accumulation of dust that suggests that the graphics would have serious problems cooling properly.
3. It could also be a cause of crashes, reboots, or performance drops in games or other programs. Although there are a million causes of this type of problem, the temperature of the graph is a factor to consider. The next point teaches you to know the temperature of your graph.

How To Disassemble And Clean The Graphics Card?

If you have decided to clean your graphics card, let’s go with it.

There is a wide variety of assemblers and models on the market, each one is different and has its own way of opening the graphics card. We have done it with a Sapphire R9 380X Nitro, and we are going to show you a process that is usually similar in most graphics cards, but there are differences between many models. For example, the most recent ones usually provide facilities to remove the fans and clean them. We recommend that you support yourself with a disassembly video for your exact model.

We will start by removing the rear screws of the graphics card, in our case we have a backplate. The question is should we withdraw it or not, the truth is that it is not necessary in our case. Although there may be dust in there, the hassle is not necessary. We have withdrawn it but, we insist, it is not necessary.

The first thing we are going to do is to extract exclusively the screws that are supporting the case of the graphics card that has the fans. They differ from those that support the heatsink because they are the ones that would have to be removed to remove the backplate, while in the case of the screws corresponding to the heatsink they have nothing to do with the backplate. On other graphics cards, it would all come together.

Once those screws are removed, we carefully extract the case with the fans, remembering to disconnect its connector before anything else.

Once this is done, we find ourselves with a dilemma that we will have to solve. It is a question of whether or not it is worth continuing to disassemble the graph. We explain ourselves: To remove the dust from the heatsinks it is not necessary to remove them, it can be done without taking them outside. The fact of removing them will make cleaning more comfortable but if we remove it it would be mainly to be able to replace the thermal paste of our graphics card. Then it’s time for you to consider whether to replace it or not, something you probably shouldn’t do if the graph isn’t very old.

Well, if you are going to clean only the heatsink, everything is correct. There are several methods to clean the dust: the use of compressed air ( remember to use it in the correct orientation without spilling liquid, and immobilize the fans while we remove the dust ), a brush, or a vacuum cleaner … For heatsinks like this, it would probably come with a brush, although canisters of compressed air are cheap and can be used to clean the entire PC, or maybe you already have a compressor at home.

Let’s take a look at what it takes to run two 144Hz gaming monitors, from GPU power to DisplayPort or HDMI through the different configurations of Windows, NVIDIA, and AMD interfaces.

Multiple displays offer a large desk space to use for multitasking and, of course, gaming. Doubling the size means double the satisfaction for many people and good reason. The high-speed 144Hz, thin-bezel gaming monitors nest beautifully next to each other to create an oversized window that is almost perfect for both gaming and other entertainment applications such as streaming. And besides, as we have said before, we also get a great desktop for use beyond mere leisure. If we are interested in multitasking, having multiple screens makes sense.

In this article, we’ll focus more on gaming and how to make sure both displays are running at their native 144Hz because it’s that cool dual-screen high-frame-rate action we’re craving after all. However, we must always bear in mind that by choosing the dual-screen path we may have to sacrifice pixels for frames. For example, if we opt for two QHD / 2K displays at 144 Hz, we will put our graphics card in difficulties and we may have to reduce the resolution to Full HD and, even then, we will need a powerful and top-of-the-line GPU.

Everything (or almost) depends on the GPU:

It goes without saying that the best way to connect two 144 Hz displays to our PC is to do it directly. Any modern GPU will have multiple video outputs, so you just need to connect both monitors directly to the graphics card. But beware: we will need a fairly powerful GPU to handle two 144Hz monitors. Despite efforts to mirror displays through the operating system or GPU drivers without all the computational cost of a separate display, the general rule of thumb still applies that If we have two 144 Hz monitors with a resolution of 2560 x 1440, our GPU should be able to offer a true resolution of 5120 x 2880, which is more than 4K. Non-3D desktop modes shouldn’t be a problem as the GPU will treat both monitors as a 2560 x 1440 display but,

One “fix” for this is to accept the sacrifice of speed for resolution, as we said earlier. If we set both monitors to 1920 x 1080, suddenly our GPU will “only” need to handle a theoretical maximum of 3840 x 2160, ie 4K. If we want to keep 144 Hz, then 4K at those frame rates requires the most powerful GPU currently available. Options like NVIDIA Surround and AMD Eyefinity technologies try to replicate displays without an exponential increase in GPU demand, but they may not always work with all games and in all situations. The best advice is to have a graphics card that can handle two monitors in the resolution and frame rates that we want.

One Monitor, One Card:

NVIDIA and AMD no longer encourage multi-GPU configurations for consumers, although they both support this practice to some extent. The GeForce 20 series offers SLI support to varying degrees, and AMD’s Navi 10 cards (like the 5700XT) also make it possible with a few tweaks to the configuration. If we can have two graphics cards on our PC, then the performance problem is basically solved. Achieving QHD at 144Hz is quite doable even for mid-range gaming GPUs, so two 2070s will do. Obviously, this comes at an additional cost, but it is what the dual-screen entails at such high frame rates without other sacrifices.

What Cables To Use?

The best option is DisplayPort. Your graphics card likely has two DisplayPort outputs, so just connect the cables from the graphics card ports to the monitor inputs. In general, DisplayPort tends to offer better optimization for PC use than HDMI. As we are talking about a dual 144Hz display, HDMI may not be ideal as it is not designed for such high frame rates, unless we want to limit the resolution to 1080p. HDMI 2.0b can offer 144Hz at 1440p, but it depends a lot on the cable, the monitor, and the graphics card. In contrast, DisplayPort 1.2 or higher almost universally supports 144Hz at 1440p.

With DisplayPort, we also have the option of daisy chaining monitors. That means that, instead of connecting both screens with two cables to the graphics card, we will use one cable from the card to the first monitor and another from this to the second monitor. However, we do not recommend this setting for games as it has higher latency. Again, the best option is to connect both monitors directly to the graphics card via DisplayPort.

How To Configure The Monitors?

For desktop use, just go to Start, Settings, Display, and look for the Multiple screens section. Both monitors should be there; otherwise, you have to click Detect to find them manually. Now we can choose to duplicate the screen (have two identical desktops on both monitors) or expand it (a giant desktop that covers the two monitors).

However, this applies to normal use, without games or 3D. If we just configure dual-screen in Windows, it may work for games, as many modern titles detect this setting and will go into full-screen windowed mode. This will be a relief for the GPU, as it will not count as two separate displays. However, it is almost certain that we will not get 144 Hz, but 60 Hz at most.

To ensure a true full-screen gaming experience, the most important part of the setup focuses on the graphics card panel. For NVIDIA, right-click anywhere on the Windows desktop, access the NVIDIA control panel, and then go to Display and Configure Multiple Displays. We can assign the main screen and detect screens just to make sure the correct ones are displayed.

With AMD, you furthermore might right-click anyplace on the Windows desktop, access the AMD Radeon computer code, then show.

Sometimes It’s Sensible To Ascertain Double:

All this cite performance and configuration should not place the United States of America off. Having 2 screens is wondrous and provides the United States of America several joys, and for that alone it’s worthwhile. With ever-increasing GPU powers and forward resolution is not everything, we’ll be glad. consecutive generation of GPUs (as of the writing of this article) can don’t have any drawback handling QHD at 144Hz, even within the reasonable section, that the future is bright for twin displays.