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Charging my Macbook Air
- Thread starter imjoee
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Of course that's fine. A lot of us leave our Airs plugged in for days or weeks in a row.
I "heard" that it is not good to leave it on the charger...but that's just what I heard, I don't know if that's necessarily true or not.
I only charge my MBA when I'm awake and able to unplug it. The battery life on this thing is phenomenal though so I really haven't had to charge it all that much. When I do charge it though it charges super fast
I "heard" that it is not good to leave it on the charger...but that's just what I heard, I don't know if that's necessarily true or not.
I only charge my MBA when I'm awake and able to unplug it. The battery life on this thing is phenomenal though so I really haven't had to charge it all that much. When I do charge it though it charges super fast
You are hearing bad advice.
Just wondering how the charge cycles work? Do you use up 1 charge cycle every time you plug in? There are limited charge cycles so would this be a bad idea?
It's a full charge/recharge. So if you went down to 5% and refilled to 100% that would be a charge cycle, or if you went down to 50% and recharged to 100% TWICE, those would both be one full charge cycle.
So if I understood that correctly, it is better to recharge your phone or macbook at around 50% battery life to preserve the charge/recharge cycles?
This is correct.
Also charging overnight, or for prolonged periods does not harm the battery. The Mac controls the charging process and draws power from the charger. When the Mac's battery is full it stops drawing a charge. There is a natural discharge of the battery over time and at some point, depending on how long it is plugged in, the Mac will draw some more power to top itself off. This cycle will repeat over and over.
ASAIK, it's possible to leave a Mac charging all the time and take it off the charger and find that it's not fully topped off. It's just at that point in the cycle where there has been some natural discharging that's just occurred.
Why do you want to 'preserve' the charge/recharge cycles?
GGJstudios has posted the following link dozens of times. Too bad more people don't search the Apple site for battery information, or even search here.
Click Here
You're putting too much thought into this. If you're near a power outlet, use it. If you're not, don't.
You use a charge cycle when it does a complete charge - no matter if that's one charge from 0%, or four times letting it down to 75%, ten times letting it down to 90%, etc. (And no, I didn't bother doing the math on this to figure out if I counted right)
Two things to keep in mind - don't ALWAYS use it plugged in, but it's fine to use it MOSTLY plugged in. And let it fully discharge once a month or so.
I rarely ever plug it in. Only If i'm at my station at home... which is usually at the end of the day, after work, when it needs its daily charge. I dont take the charger anywhere else.
I'm at 10 Cycles in 2 weeks. Doesn't matter. Why? Because I bought a portable machine. Leaving it plugged in kinds of defeats the purpose imo.
Even if I work on it in bed for hours I don't plug it in.
Make the most of the battery. Don't feel constrained. After 2-3 years of battery abuse, it will cost you only about $100 to get a replacement.
tl,dr: I use it like a phone.
I'm at 10 Cycles in 2 weeks. Doesn't matter. Why? Because I bought a portable machine. Leaving it plugged in kinds of defeats the purpose imo.
Even if I work on it in bed for hours I don't plug it in.
Make the most of the battery. Don't feel constrained. After 2-3 years of battery abuse, it will cost you only about $100 to get a replacement.
tl,dr: I use it like a phone.
Good luck finding clear recommendations.
There's plenty of indirect advice supporting leaving it plugged in frequently, and
advice recommending against that, if your willing to search for it.
There's plenty of indirect advice supporting leaving it plugged in frequently, and
advice recommending against that, if your willing to search for it.
Simplest answer I can give: Don't worry about it. Ignore anyone who says that it will kill your battery, it won't.
ONLY $100?
(i kid)----------
I "heard" that it is not good to leave it on the charger...but that's just what I heard, I don't know if that's necessarily true or not.
I only charge my MBA when I'm awake and able to unplug it. The battery life on this thing is phenomenal though so I really haven't had to charge it all that much. When I do charge it though it charges super fast
http://www.apple.com/batteries/
Anyone else want to repeatedly smash their head against a wall when they read posts like this?
