Usually it has been seen that people who use laptops actually plug the laptop to the power supply. However this cobalt ontario is the wrong way of charging the battery. You should charge a battery once or twice a month. The battery should be charge fully at least 30 minutes before you start using it. In case you are going to use direct power supply, then it is best to remove the battery. This will ensure two things -- first, the battery since it is charged already will not discharge uselessly and second, it will ensure that the battery life is extended.
So from the points I have raised above we can see that we no longer need to condition the battery in the way we did with the older Ni-MH cells. Having said all of that you should always check your lithium facts manual for battery advice and especially initial charge times.
There are some concerns when it comes to these high powered batteries and how good they are for the environment. But all hybrid batteries are set to be recycled (Toyota has a $200 bounty on each battery pack), and so unlike some lead batteries from conventional cars, they shouldn't end up in landfills.
But that means that laptops need to have bigger batteries and bigger batteries mean bigger size. Laptops won't be portable and convenient to carry in this case. That's the reason why laptops have compact batteries that gives it a sleek look. But these batteries don't lithium bettery stock have good battery-life.
Briefly relating back to overall size... many lithium 18650's will differ ever so slightly in length (measured in millimeters). This is mainly due to an added protection circuit. The circuit helps to prevent the battery from over-discharging, since Li-ion cells can easily become damaged if their power is drained below a particular voltage. The protection circuit also prevents the cell from being over-CHARGED as well. These cells are very sensitive. They must be handled carefully, gently, and as described above, must never run-down too far, or be charged over and above their threshold. They can actually explode if severely mistreated!
There are a couple of more considerations about choosing your cell phone battery which we cover with a later post. And don't forget the holidays are coming up so make sure you take a look at various face plates and extra batteries to enhance your gifts!