Reference for video (?) that talked about how you can't truly get full performance off a laptop until the battery is 100%

[TangledEarphones]

Hello folks, I remember reading or watching very recently something that went like this:

• When on battery power, most manufacturers limit the power to the CPU to extend battery life
• When charging, part of the power is diverted to charge the battery; and the act of charging the battery also heats up the chassis, causing less performance.
• After a laptop is fully charged, and on AC power, then the CPU has both the wattage and the thermal headroom to shine.

I want to write more about this and also send the citation to some friends, but I have completely forgotten which video / which channel / which article it was. Does anyone have a reference for me, please?

[Freakwise]

1 hour ago, TangledEarphones said:

and the act of charging the battery also heats up the chassis, causing less performance.

That's kinda misleading, battery do heat up when charged but it was no where near the temp that allows cpu to throttle also, the battery itself is not connected anywhere near the heatsink that cool the cpu and gpu

 

1 hour ago, TangledEarphones said:

After a laptop is fully charged, and on AC power, then the CPU has both the wattage and the thermal headroom to shine.

The thermal headroom also kinda misleading since when gets charged your laptop is not suddenly getting bigger heatsink and if the laptop has function to control the fan you can change it but most budget laptop don't have this feature, the laptop cooling performance isn't based by the charger is plugged or not

 

And some tips, if you planning to use the laptop when plugged in to the wall for long periods of time while gaming or doing heavy workload o suggest to turn on battery saver features that limit how much it can charge (usually 60% to 80%) 

[akio123008]

2 hours ago, TangledEarphones said:

When charging, part of the power is diverted to charge the battery

As far as I know, the power adapter usually has enough capacity to charge at full speed and power the machine at the same time. 

 

2 hours ago, TangledEarphones said:

thermal headroom

The battery doesn't just heat up when you charge it. It also heats up when you discharge it. Exactly how much depends on the charge rate vs the discharge rate, but assuming for a second you discharge it at the same speed, you get just as much heat as charging it.

[Loote]

3 hours ago, akio123008 said:

As far as I know, the power adapter usually has enough capacity to charge at full speed and power the machine at the same time. 

Some laptops can even discharge while being connected, though I'd call that a fuckup on the manufacturer's side.

[Mark Kaine]

On 5/28/2021 at 3:55 PM, Loote said:

Some laptops can even discharge while being connected, though I'd call that a fuckup on the manufacturer's side.

Actually thats on purpose because its bad for the battery to be charged constantly so newer laptops dont do this anymore and let it drain a bit while in use. Not a fuck up, just the physical reality of how batteries work .

 

 

On 5/28/2021 at 10:19 AM, TangledEarphones said:

I want to write more about this and also send the citation to some friends, but I have completely forgotten which video / which channel / which article it was. Does anyone have a reference for me, please?

I mean you can write whatever you want, but just because theres a video doesnt make it any less wrong, the only thing that seems universally true is that a laptop will throttle while on battery, which is why you arent supposed to do any heavy tasks while on battery  - of course you can but dont be surprised when its kinda "slow".

 

[Loote]

4 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Actually thats on purpose because its bad for the battery to be charged constantly so newer laptops dont do this anymore and let it drain a bit while in use. Not a fuck up, just the physical reality of how batteries work .

No no, I didn't mean when they stop charging, I meant 150W charger with 170W usage.

[whm1974]

You should be able to set the Power Settings using the OS. Personally I think that High Performance Tasks should be only done plugged in.