Exploding Laptop Batteries

Here's a question I've been meaning to ask for a while: can the battery be completely removed from a laptop if only run on AC? Or, as is the case with other applications is the battery needed to "smooth out" the DC fed to the computer? If the battery is removed, does this affect the computer's memory? The battery in my laptop doesn't hold a charge too long and if I can do without it I will. Thanks in advance....