Possible silly question about plugging and unplugging laptop into AC power

[janeydoll]

I just got a new laptop from Christmas and I was wondering if it matters how you plug and unplug it from the AC power?

I know in the little manual card it says to plug it into the laptop then into the wall, but what is the proper way to unplug it? do you have to unplug the adapter from the wall and then from the laptop or does it matter?

I know for Ipods it matters how you plug and unplug from a computer and from the AC power, so I just want to be safe than sorry.

thanks so much.

Happy New Year

[redwudz]

The way they mention, laptop first, wall plug second is probably the best, but I usually just unplug it from the laptop and leave the line cord plugged in. I suppose they are thinking of the battery charging current arcing a little as you plug the cable in, which could be bad for the plug and socket after a while.

A good compromise might be to use a power strip and turn off the switch on it before you plug and unplug from the laptop. Adding a power strip with a surge protector is a good idea besides.

Do be careful not to stress the laptop power receptacle. It's very expensive to fix if you break it.

[Capmaster]

It used to be critical with many laptops back in the early to mid-90s how you plugged/unplugged the adapters, because of limitations with the on-board current regulators starting under load, partly because laptops back then used constant-current chargers because of the battery chemistry (Ni-Cd and Ni-MH).

Modern laptops use constant-voltage chargers because they all use Lithium-Ion batteries. There are no concerns about starting those under load.

The reason it appears in your manual is probably because it's a carryover from the old days and hasn't yet been updated, or the vendor doesn't feel it's worth changing the manual. And they have to put one or the other sequence to provide a step-by-step instruction for the owner, so why not leave the old one in there?

Plug/unplug it any way you want

[ahhaa]

just fyi- there is also the full charge Q... the proprietary laptop battery can cost you $200 to replace, if the laptop is used as a desktop replacement (most of the time plugged in) it can be an issue.