Some questions about Battery

[Watabou]

Hi, got some questions I want to ask.

Is it better to put it plugged in or use it from the battery? Which one is better? And do I shut down or sleep my macbook pro?

My iStat pro tells me my Battery health is at 98% at just 5 cycles! SHould I take it to the Genius Bar or what?

[cmm26red]

Hi, got some questions I want to ask.

Is it better to put it plugged in or use it from the battery? Which one is better? And do I shut down or sleep my macbook pro?

My iStat pro tells me my Battery health is at 98% at just 5 cycles! SHould I take it to the Genius Bar or what?

I run the menu bar version of istat which does not track battery info. for my battery, I use Minibattery logger ver 1.8.1. in my opinion, this is the best program for monitoring your battery and it also allows you to compare your info with others. Check it out, see how you compare, and hopefully you will have piece of mind that all is fine!

http://www.emeraldion.it/software/macosx/minibatterylogger.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=5107280

p.s. istat menus (2.6mb) > istat pro (856kb)

[RichL]

98% don't matter, buddy ^_^

Not many computers come at 100%. Mine said 99% or 98% when I got it. It's now 8 months old according to Coconut Battery (nice program) and I'm at like 85% max charge but I need to calibrate. Calibration always helps to make sure it's performing correctly. Look it up on the Apple site or these forums. You basically just drain your battery and charge up again.

And definitely get the iStat bars. I love them. Not the widgets though..unless you like that and don't mind clicking the dashboard button. It's nice to see your fan speed, temps, RAM, and available HD space at all times.

So, you're fine. Don't worry.

-Rich L.

[Watabou]

Alright, I wasn't too worried about that. I still have t calibrate the battery and I guess I will start now.

Oh and should I keep my mbp plugged in all the time? Would that be better?
When I plug it in? it doesn't use the battery when the battery is full right?

[RichL]

To the best of my knowledge it doesn't use the battery when you are fully charged and plugged in. I'm always plugged in. Why put load cycles on your battery if you don't need to? My battery is about 8 months old and has only had like 7-8 cycles.

-Rich L.

[Watabou]

To the best of my knowledge it doesn't use the battery when you are fully charged and plugged in. I'm always plugged in. Why put load cycles on your battery if you don't need to? My battery is about 8 months old and has only had like 7-8 cycles.

-Rich L.

Alright thanks!:D

Loving my Macbook pro.

[alphaod]

Mine came at 98%. After a couple cycles it went up to 100%.

[alphaod]

I don't mean to hijack, but I don't think another thread is necessary.

So so far in a week, I've used 20 charge cycles.

My older computer (non-Apple) had bad reliability issues with the battery after only 40 cycles, so is my extensive usage (~2.5 cycles a day) going to kill my battery?

[forafireescape]

Oh and should I keep my mbp plugged in all the time? Would that be better?
When I plug it in? it doesn't use the battery when the battery is full right?

There are a billion threads on here about this that you could search, but I'll sum it up for you: it's better not to leave your MBP plugged in all the time, just like anything that runs on a battery. And also, you should let it run all the way down to zero at least once a month.

Hope that helps :)

[billmister]

98% don't matter, buddy ^_^

Not many computers come at 100%. Mine said 99% or 98% when I got it. It's now 8 months old according to Coconut Battery (nice program) and I'm at like 85% max charge but I need to calibrate. Calibration always helps to make sure it's performing correctly. Look it up on the Apple site or these forums. You basically just drain your battery and charge up again.

And definitely get the iStat bars. I love them. Not the widgets though..unless you like that and don't mind clicking the dashboard button. It's nice to see your fan speed, temps, RAM, and available HD space at all times.

So, you're fine. Don't worry.

-Rich L.

I'm Calibrating my MBP as we speak. To tell you the truth yesterday after it was completely charged, i unplugged and ran it on Best Performance and it lasted a lontime time.. well it drained all under 1% life, and i shut down.. now i brought it to work and it's been charging since 8:30am and it's been charging 4 hours and i believe it should be almost done.

Anyway regarding the iStat, i heard it's a great app to have.. I was debating weather i should download it for my iMac or not... But then i figured i didn't want to because having to much info on your computers heat, speed, etc... can make anyone paranoid. Which leads to threads about "my iStat says my computer is running 2 degrees hotter... is something wrong???"

My computers run great and i don't feel heat at all from either. Can't wait till my MBP is fully charged to use that bad boy.

[amusiccale]

I don't mean to hijack, but I don't think another thread is necessary.

So so far in a week, I've used 20 charge cycles.

My older computer (non-Apple) had bad reliability issues with the battery after only 40 cycles, so is my extensive usage (~2.5 cycles a day) going to kill my battery?

Well, the way I see it, the answer is "yes" but you're clearly using the battery...and that's what it's there for. You can get another battery.