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MattZani

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 20, 2008
2,554
103
UK
Now that Apple is fitting MacBook Airs with intelligent batteries (Unsure how long they have but this is my first) can the charger be left in most of the time? Just wondering if now when the battery is at 100% that the MBA runs straight off the charger skipping the battery all together?
 

MattZani

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 20, 2008
2,554
103
UK
Aaaand to quote your link...

When it reaches a full charge, the light on your MagSafe adapter will turn green. This indicates that it has stopped charging your battery and you are now running on A/C power with a fully charged battery. It will not overcharge your battery. It's also perfectly safe to let your Mac notebook sleep with A/C plugged in.

Guess thats my answer, my 08 MBP would discharge 3% and recharge that 3% to keep the battery active, but it was a different battery.
 

johnkey

macrumors newbie
Jul 24, 2011
12
0
Aaaand to quote your link...



Guess thats my answer, my 08 MBP would discharge 3% and recharge that 3% to keep the battery active, but it was a different battery.

From Apple's website:

To allow the adapter to recharge the battery to 100%, simply allow the charge to drop below 93%. The adapter will automatically recharge the battery to 100%.

Isn't there some sort of application, or some option to force the MBA to run on A/C power?
 

TheEmpty

macrumors member
Jul 11, 2011
88
0
NYC
Please read the part about "AC Power". Apple says to deplete the battery once every other two days or something.
 

MattZani

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 20, 2008
2,554
103
UK
Yeah thats fine, its just I had my MBP on charge probably all evening, then once every few days I would move away from the charger until it died, then it would stay plugged in again. As the Air is a lot more portable it will probably be unplugged most evenings for an hour or two, just wondered if me sitting here typing this at 100% with the charger plugged in is bad? Or should I be letting it run down?
 

TheEmpty

macrumors member
Jul 11, 2011
88
0
NYC
Yeah thats fine, its just I had my MBP on charge probably all evening, then once every few days I would move away from the charger until it died, then it would stay plugged in again. As the Air is a lot more portable it will probably be unplugged most evenings for an hour or two, just wondered if me sitting here typing this at 100% with the charger plugged in is bad? Or should I be letting it run down?
Shouldn't be a problem no.
 

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
Yeah thats fine, its just I had my MBP on charge probably all evening, then once every few days I would move away from the charger until it died, then it would stay plugged in again. As the Air is a lot more portable it will probably be unplugged most evenings for an hour or two, just wondered if me sitting here typing this at 100% with the charger plugged in is bad? Or should I be letting it run down?

You can leave it plugged in like that, it's not going to hurt anything. My 08 MacBook stays plugged in most of the time and after 220 cycles, it's still at 92% health, with Apple only saying it was supposed to last 300 cycles. I believe all the new ones are supposed to be good for 1000 cycles.
 

sdugoten

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2010
147
72
You can leave it plugged in like that, it's not going to hurt anything. My 08 MacBook stays plugged in most of the time and after 220 cycles, it's still at 92% health, with Apple only saying it was supposed to last 300 cycles. I believe all the new ones are supposed to be good for 1000 cycles.

Not for my Macbook Pro 2009. I killed 2 of the batteries on my macbook pro because I leave it plugged in 24 x 7. The battery die in around 1 year. After 100% charge, the battery will last for.....5 mins.
 
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