two mac questions?

Question

ok, 1. i have my macbook charger plugged into an extension cord and it's way hot, is that normal/ok?
2. This is my first laptop, is it ok to run it off the wall power when available or should i use the battery till it runs down and than plug it in? i dont want to break it. what should i do?

Answer 1

1- yes, this is normal. it takes energy to charge a battery. unfortunately, we cannot do this with creating heat.
2- For best battery performance, try this:
every month, let the battery drain completely by waiting for the Mac to fall asleep (it does this automatically when the battery goes down, which does not hurt it). Now plug it in and let it charge overnight.
Although keeping the laptop plugged in all the time is OK, its better if you unplug after and full charge and plug it in after you reach about 5%

Answer 2

Those are really not Mac-specific question but really general laptop questions:

1. Getting hot is normal, although not sure what is "way hot" for you, so I skip the answer on this one.

2. Not OK, memory effect could kick in few months down the road when you really need a usable battery for hours. Myself would drain the battery and run the laptop without it until it is needed; a fitness regime of one charge-drain cycle in few weeks period would not hurt.

Answer 3

It's normal for my Mac to get hotter than usual when the battery is charging.
Just calibrate the battery once in a while and it should be fine.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284