iFixit says that heat is the biggest killer of batteries and therefore you should avoid placing your laptop on an insulator like a pillow. Why? Assume it’s only exposed to the 40 something Celsius of a laptop at heavy load and not extreme heat that can melt off the casing or something, what about heating it up causes it to fail sooner?
Plugging the device in all the time can also reduce battery lifespan. Why is *that*? I’d have imagined that once on wall power, the device can afford to either use the battery sparingly or not at all, depending on if the charger is powerful enough.
What are the chemical processes that take place to make these two things the biggest reasons batteries fail?
In: Technology
Placing a laptop on a pillow or other insulating type surface stops the fans from being able to vent that heat. If it gets hot enough, the computer will shut down to avoid damage to the processor more than the battery.
That said the processor’s heat can cause thermal runaway, in which high temperatures release energy that makes the temperature even higher until it’s enough to cause damage to the battery.
40 C will probably not hurt your battery, but a laptop that cannot vent its heat will get much hotter than that.
*That* said, modern devices are smarter about battery management, as you said. The degradation isn’t so severe anymore.
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