I comprehend turning down the contrast/lighting will help slow-down battery drainage.

But will removing the battery from the laptop, when I know it'll be plugged to the desk for days at a time help any?

Now, I don't mean, leave it powered-up on all the time. I'll still turn it off when I'm done, but just plugged in. I just feel I've heard somewhere that even if the laptop powers from the cord, it'll slowly drain/”shorten the life” of the battery.

Thoughts/Opinions/Ideas? Thanks!

Answer:
yes it will help but you need to discharge and recharge the battery every couple of weeks.

If your battery is easy to take out then charge it take it out and put it back when you require it.

Answer:
when laptop is switched off it does not use the battery power it uses the watch battery inside to keep settings. you're talking about hibernation and standby those yeah they use it whilst its off. not much of it but still.

rememeber that on vista to switch off its not like xp, you’ve to click on the small triangle next to the switch off button and click switch off.

Answer:
Battery technologies have less innovations comparing to other components like CPU, mem, HD… That's why it's a kind of large roadblock especially for notebook producers..

Not only down contrast/lighting things.. Connection through wireless or GPRS also consumes a lot, even you don't download massive files…