Laptop as server, how to best manage battery?

submitted by mgrimace to selfhosted 56 points | 26 comments Hello folks, What do folks recommend as good practices to use a laptop as an always on, always plugged-in server? Specifically, how to manage the battery and some of the potential cautions/dangers of keeping it plugged in. I have a spare Dell workstation laptop that I’d like to use as a Proxmox node. I’ve seen a number of posts where folks will mention that using a spare laptop works well because it has a built in ‘UPS’, but then in the comments there’s caution about the battery being plugged in all the time. I’m curious what folks do in terms of battery management, assuming I want to keep this as hands-off/low maintenance (but fireproof) as possible. Thank you all so much, ~M Update: thank you all so much for the great advice. This is a Dell Workstation and it does have a ‘Primarily AC use’ power setting in the BIOS, as well as custom charge levels available. Appreciate it and I hope this discussion helps other folks looking to do the same!