New macbook coming...is it better to run the battery out and then charge or just charge whenever? I know so many things have changed since I last had a pc laptop, but just curious as I am going to dive right in and figure out the Mac.
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battery charging
- Thread starter scooterguitar
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Father Jack
macrumors 68020
Ok, but after the inital use...should I always practice draining it before charging or can I charge halfway through without ill effect to the life of the battery itself?
forafireescape
macrumors 6502a
actually there is a problem with that. continuously draining and charging the battery will decrease the lifespan of it, so it's best to adopt a habit of randomly charging the battery to simulate "normal" use. just read the following links for more info:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
Just follow the Mac guide of recalibrating it once a month and you should be able to do what ever you want to with it...some people prefer to stay plugged, some don't.
forafireescape
macrumors 6502a
It seemed to me that they were asking if they ALWAYS had to wait for it to drain all the way before plugging it back in, which is false.
CalBoy
macrumors 604
The current breed of notebook batteries is really very easy to manage and easy to maintain.
As long as you calibrate every so often (Apple recommends once per month, but if accuracy down to the exact percentage isn't important to you, you don't have to do this rigidly).
Otherwise, feel free to leave the notebook plugged in, charge it up when it's at 20%, 40%, 80%, whatever. There are no rules in that regard.
If you want more info about general maintenance, visit the guide and/or Apple's page (you have to be careful and calibrate the new way; the instructions at the top are for iBooks and older Powerbooks). 🙂
As long as you calibrate every so often (Apple recommends once per month, but if accuracy down to the exact percentage isn't important to you, you don't have to do this rigidly).
Otherwise, feel free to leave the notebook plugged in, charge it up when it's at 20%, 40%, 80%, whatever. There are no rules in that regard.
If you want more info about general maintenance, visit the guide and/or Apple's page (you have to be careful and calibrate the new way; the instructions at the top are for iBooks and older Powerbooks). 🙂