Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I looked through those pages, but they don't seem to mention anything about whether being plugged in often can damage the battery. Do either of you know anything about that? If I just leave my MacBook plugged in all the time is that going to hurt the battery life? Thanks!
I think you need to read the info more carefully. Keeping the battery installed while running on the AC adapter will not damage the battery. I wish I knew where such a silly idea arose.
The PC laptop that I owned before I switched to this Mac had lost literally all of its battery life. A technician told me that I had ruined the battery by having it plugged in even when the battery was fully charged. Based on that information (which apparently was grossly incorrect) I had some concerns about my new laptop. So I don’t really think my desire to be thorough in asking this question is unreasonable or silly. Thank you for helping to answer my question, I appreciate it.
I wasn't saying your question was silly. I was saying I didn't know where such silly ideas came from. Apparently whomever told you that information was indeed grossly misinformed.
Older NiCad batteries had what was called a "memory effect." If the battery wasn't allowed to fully discharge before being recharged it would develop a "memory" of the level at which it was recharged and treat that as the discharged level. Consequently recharging the battery before it was fully discharged would eventually cause the battery to show a zero charge after a very short time. However, the batteries could be re-conditioned. Lithium-Ion/Polymer batteries do not exhibit "memory effects."