The battery might swell as it ages. But it probably won't. Then the question is: do you want or need more battery life? Is it worth the $50 or so that a new battery costs? If yes, then do it. If it's always just plugged in anyways, then maybe pass.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2026
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Do you need the battery or do you always run it off the lead?
Depends. Do you want more battery life?
I don’t think any Nitro laptop ever has gotten good battery life. So as long as it’s not 100% toast I’d just leave it plugged in 24/7 like probably most nitro users do.
can confirm, as an acer nitro owner i do this
Is there a chance it will expand into an exploding pillow though? I don't trust old batteries
There’s a higher chance of an eBay replacement battery swelling. Ask me how I know.
I removed the battery form an old laptop that wouldn’t hold a charge for more than a few minutes and it’s instantly half the weight. It always has to be plugged in though
They don't always swell. I've procured several hundred dells and lenovos over the last decade, maybe 5% swell and it's usually ones in the same batch when they do it.
Can you set a battery charge limit? If so then cap it at 80%. The less charged they are the less likely they are to expand.
A cheap knockoff battery is FAR more likely to expand than a legit official one.
sure, but that chance exists with any lithium ion battery. if you don't want to just toss the battery and keep it plugged in when you use it, then limit the charge to 50%. that will prolong whatever life the battery has left in it.
My laptop battery is at 66% after only three years, but it also charges and discharges a lot because it's my daily driver for university. I've also thought about replacing it soon, a few years I bookmarked the replacement battery on the company website in advance. My plan is to keep this laptop for eight years.
I would say its worth it to get the battery for now. Hard to say where the PC market is going and honestly things don't look great, but if its still working then I would say the battery should hold you over in case things do get better for the PC market.
While you're in there you can also clean it out and reapply thermal paste so that it helps the CPU and GPU (if it has one) last a bit longer as well. Might even boost performance a bit.
It has a GPU! This old baby can run Baldurs Gate 3 fine! It's such a trooper. I love it.
if you cant afford a better laptop, get the battery. but try and find a good battery. i feel like replacement batteries tend to suck more than the original. keep the old one if it's not swollen just in case the new battery is bad.
wait until there is a problem to solve it
If you hadn't upgraded it I would say it'd definitely be better to keep on chugging until you can afford a replacement, but investing money into parts for what you have kinda changes it
I know you're attached to it, but maybe look into trade-in value or how much you could sell it for? That might close the gap a little on an upgrade or at least equivalent but new replacement, especially so if the newer parts increase its value enough