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Using older laptops as secondary monitors instead of a tablet like iPad might have additional advantage of protection against potential battery problems as lapt

Using older laptops as secondary monitors instead of a tablet like iPad might have additional advantage of protection against potential battery problems as laptops are generally protected against constant charging issues and many older ones also function without a battery. My iPad got its battery bulged within a year after using it as secondary display[1]. I'm not going to trust devices with battery for applications involving constant charging anymore, at least not the ones without removable batteries or provide greater control over hardware (Pine Tab?). [1] https://twitter.com/heavyinfo/status/1302310594423345152 https://twitter.com/heavyinfo/status/1302310594423345152

swinglock 6y ago
No conclusion can be made from your sample size of one. Such battery issues may arise with any device, plugged in or not.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
vladvasiliu 6y ago
As the sibling says, I'm not sure you can conclude that battery management is faulty in the ipad (and in tablets / phones in general) while laptops are (generally) well protected. My own testing shows something different: * 4 yo MBP: got a battery bulge * 4 yo iPhone: No bulge * 5 yo Samsung tablet: No bulge * 3 yo Samsung GS5 phone: bulge All devices are plugged in practically all day long. I think that the actual factor is heat management. The MBP is my main computer. The bulge developed around the release of mac os high sierra when for some reason the external GPU was running full tilt and the computer would get pretty hot pretty often. Changed the battery after the heating situation subsided, no bulge since. That was 2.5 years ago. Ditto for the GS5 which I would often use for wifi connection sharing and would also heat up quite often. The tablet and phone both sit around doing nothing all they long so they basically never heat up.
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  If we're talking about laptops with heat issues, discussing macbooks seems pretty pointless. Most business-class laptops are clearly designed to survive being plugged in for a few years without getting a beer belly.
  - vladvasiliu 6y ago
    The point wasn't to discuss the macbook's heat issue, I think those are rather well known around these parts. My point was that the beer belly wasn't caused because the laptop was plugged-in but because it got hot. So barring issues with botched software as was the case of my macbook, I don't think some devices are better suited than others to be plugged in all the time. Especially for doing something as lightweight as being used as en external monitor. I've been using that mbp for 2.5 years all day every day, plugged in, for actual work (among which compiling stuff) and the "new" battery is still fine.
  - srtjstjsj 6y ago
    The point is they aren't. Mac batteries fail too. Batteries are consumables. The iPad Air 2 complaint was a 6 year old device. It needs a battery replacement. This is normal lithium battery longevity.
- Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
  Point taken, but now tell me which of those was easy to repair?
  - vladvasiliu 6y ago
    I'm not sure what the point of the question is. If it's that tablets and phones are harder to service, it's a fairly well known fact. Although some non-apple laptops are fairly hard to service, too. I'm thinking of some HP Elitebook models we have at work (not sure about the model number). However, my point was that the issue wasn't related to the devices being plugged in all day long but to the overheating. I don't think a device used as a display would be particularly taxing on the CPU to have it heat up. For example, I've used both the tablet and phone to watch videos for extended periods (>2h) and they got barely warm.

swinglock 6y ago

No conclusion can be made from your sample size of one. Such battery issues may arise with any device, plugged in or not.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

vladvasiliu 6y ago

As the sibling says, I'm not sure you can conclude that battery management is faulty in the ipad (and in tablets / phones in general) while laptops are (generally) well protected. My own testing shows something different: * 4 yo MBP: got a battery bulge * 4 yo iPhone: No bulge * 5 yo Samsung tablet: No bulge * 3 yo Samsung GS5 phone: bulge All devices are plugged in practically all day long. I think that the actual factor is heat management. The MBP is my main computer. The bulge developed around the release of mac os high sierra when for some reason the external GPU was running full tilt and the computer would get pretty hot pretty often. Changed the battery after the heating situation subsided, no bulge since. That was 2.5 years ago. Ditto for the GS5 which I would often use for wifi connection sharing and would also heat up quite often. The tablet and phone both sit around doing nothing all they long so they basically never heat up.

formerly_proven 6y ago
If we're talking about laptops with heat issues, discussing macbooks seems pretty pointless. Most business-class laptops are clearly designed to survive being plugged in for a few years without getting a beer belly.
- vladvasiliu 6y ago
  The point wasn't to discuss the macbook's heat issue, I think those are rather well known around these parts. My point was that the beer belly wasn't caused because the laptop was plugged-in but because it got hot. So barring issues with botched software as was the case of my macbook, I don't think some devices are better suited than others to be plugged in all the time. Especially for doing something as lightweight as being used as en external monitor. I've been using that mbp for 2.5 years all day every day, plugged in, for actual work (among which compiling stuff) and the "new" battery is still fine.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  The point is they aren't. Mac batteries fail too. Batteries are consumables. The iPad Air 2 complaint was a 6 year old device. It needs a battery replacement. This is normal lithium battery longevity.
Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
Point taken, but now tell me which of those was easy to repair?
- vladvasiliu 6y ago
  I'm not sure what the point of the question is. If it's that tablets and phones are harder to service, it's a fairly well known fact. Although some non-apple laptops are fairly hard to service, too. I'm thinking of some HP Elitebook models we have at work (not sure about the model number). However, my point was that the issue wasn't related to the devices being plugged in all day long but to the overheating. I don't think a device used as a display would be particularly taxing on the CPU to have it heat up. For example, I've used both the tablet and phone to watch videos for extended periods (>2h) and they got barely warm.