Playing games when connected via power adapter or when the adapter is disconnected
Playing games when connected via power adapter or when the adapter is disconnected
Hello, how does the PC handle gaming when it's powered through a battery while connected? Should I use direct AC power during gaming or should I remove the laptop battery so the PC stays plugged in without it? This is because my HP Z Book 17 G3 has the bottom case secured and the battery connection is fixed, making removal slow. If I plan to play without the battery, could I risk draining it further even though it's still plugged in?
Avoid removing the battery. When connected, it should take power from the power brick. Usually, there are "plugged-in" and "battery" performance settings.
And when the battery reaches full charge while the PC remains connected, will it continue drawing power from the battery or the power brick? In this scenario, with the battery at 45% charge, does that imply the stored power is only within the battery and the PC doesn't take any power from it?
Some important points to keep in mind:
Charging speed varies significantly. It draws the highest current from 0% to roughly 50-60%, after which it drops gradually. At full capacity, the battery might only provide a small trickle charge, drawing no more than a few watts.
Most laptops include power adapters that support both high and moderate charging while still letting the device operate at its maximum performance. For example, my ASUS Zephyrus G14 came with a 180W adapter, but it actually draws around 120W during normal gaming.
Another case is my Dell XPS 13, which came with a 65W charger. However, according to Notebookcheck's review, it consumes far less power even when playing games (reporting an average of 38W). Even though it runs an i5 processor, the lower power consumption helps.