Best way to keep my MBP battery good for as long as possible?

[AintDutchNotMuch]

Hi guys, I have bought my first Mac today, after having used Windows for all my life. I was thinking about jumping ships for years and finally did it. I couldn't be happier with it! I went for the MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch variant with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM. Enough for me, because I only use it for browsing, listening to music, and using Word and Excel.

I am so happy with it that I plan to keep this laptop for at least 5 years, hopefully 6 or 7. But I have a question. What is the best way to make sure the battery will keep it's full performance for as long as possible? I will only use it at home as my main computer. Am I better off just keeping the charger on my MBP at all times, and only discharge and fully charge it for like once a week? To keep the memory of the battery? Or should I just discharge the battery every time to a certain percentage, then fully charge it and then plug out the charger every time?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Atomic Walrus]

The best way to keep a modern battery "healthy" is to avoid putting cycles on it. This means only drawing power from the battery when you need to. Every time the battery is discharged and recharged it loses a very small amount of capacity. Other "memory" effects aren't really a concern with these batteries.

For maintenance Apple used to recommend one full cycle per month, but this does NOT mean you need to drain the battery to zero (that may help calibrate the battery meter, but it's not good for the actual chemistry). It just means that, optimally, the battery would have a total usage in 30 days equal to one charge (10% 10 times, 20% 5 times, etc).

I would personally say that even this type of battery management is probably no longer required. Modern charging system tend to perform a constant cycle of slight drain and slow charge which is probably enough to maintain battery health.

You can expect the battery to decline in capacity over time whether you add cycles or not. More cycles will speed the process up, but once the computer is 5 years old I would say that ~85% design capacity would be a good result.

 

[T5BRICK]

Just use the computer. Run it off of the battery when you need to and charge it when you can. Most people over complicate this and there is no magic usage.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Just use the computer. Run it off of the battery when you need to and charge it when you can. Most people over complicate this and there is no magic usage.

Couldn't agree more with this statement. Batteries are consumable items. They'll always deplete naturally, regardless of usage, due to the limitations of lithium technology. OP, use the darn thing how you would normally use it. If it fails, it fails. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

Actually the reason why I asked this is that I want to use it without having to plug it on the charger all the time and having cables on the floor where I walk by. I like to use my laptop without any cable plugged in. I guess i will just use the 'darn thing' the way that suits me best, like said above haha. So that will be charge and discharge without having the adapter on it all the time. Thanks guys for replying!

 

[snaky69]

1. What is the best way to make sure the battery will keep it's full performance for as long as possible? 2. I will only use it at home as my main computer. Am I better off just keeping the charger on my MBP at all times, and only discharge and fully charge it for like once a week? 3. To keep the memory of the battery? 4. Or should I just discharge the battery every time to a certain percentage, then fully charge it and then plug out the charger every time?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Numbered for ease of answering.

1. By not caring about it at all. I'm dead serious too. LiPo batteries do not give a crap how they're used. No matter how much or how little you baby it, you'll get 4 to 5 years (or 6 if you're lucky) of use before it dies. There's nothing you can do to prevent that.

2. You don't need any special care nor any charging/discharging schedule/ritual/what have you.

3. Battery memory is not present in Lithium based batteries. This isn't 1999.

4. You'd simply be putting needless cycles on your battery, likely shortening its life.

The gist of it is: It doesn't matter. Your cell phone uses the same type of battery, and I'm quite certain you didn't even give it a second thought. Avoid extreme storage and usage temperatures such as leaving it on the dashboard of a car in scorching summer heat, or leaving it below freezing for extended periods of time. Avoid deep discharges (i.e. letting the computer run out of juice, then leaving it like that for a few days). That's about as much care as you should give your battery.

Use the computer, it's a tool, not a work of art. It's meant to be used, not babied.

 

[glenthompson]

My MBP is 4 years old and shows the battery at 95% of design capacity. When at home it stays plugged in with an external monitor. When traveling my use varies but most of the time it is plugged in unless I only plan to use it for a half hour or so.

I would avoid stressing it by draining and charging it continuously.

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

Numbered for ease of answering.

1. By not caring about it at all. I'm dead serious too. LiPo batteries do not give a crap how they're used. No matter how much or how little you baby it, you'll get 4 to 5 years (or 6 if you're lucky) of use before it dies. There's nothing you can do to prevent that.

2. You don't need any special care nor any charging/discharging schedule/ritual/what have you.

3. Battery memory is not present in Lithium based batteries. This isn't 1999.

4. You'd simply be putting needless cycles on your battery, likely shortening its life.

The gist of it is: It doesn't matter. Your cell phone uses the same type of battery, and I'm quite certain you didn't even give it a second thought. Avoid extreme storage and usage temperatures such as leaving it on the dashboard of a car in scorching summer heat, or leaving it below freezing for extended periods of time. Avoid deep discharges (i.e. letting the computer run out of juice, then leaving it like that for a few days). That's about as much care as you should give your battery.

Use the computer, it's a tool, not a work of art. It's meant to be used, not babied.

My MBP is 4 years old and shows the battery at 95% of design capacity. When at home it stays plugged in with an external monitor. When traveling my use varies but most of the time it is plugged in unless I only plan to use it for a half hour or so.

I would avoid stressing it by draining and charging it continuously.

Thanks for these replies, really appreciate it! I will think about what's best for me.

 

[ajay96]

I got mine about 2 weeks ago almost, and i've been averaging one cycle per day. Honestly though I am not caring about it too much. If i get 2 years out of the battery i'd be pretty satisfied xD

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks for these replies, really appreciate it! I will think about what's best for me.

You got some good advice here already... just use it however you want and don't sweat the battery.

Here are couple official links from Apple on batteries that might help you.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

You got some good advice here already... just use it however you want and don't sweat the battery.

Here are couple official links from Apple on batteries that might help you.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

Thanks for the links. I've read it and it's useful info.

I'm very VERY impressed with the battery life by the way.
Around 9% goes off per hour, while browsing and watching youtube videos and brightness set around 50%.

Impressive how Apple made such a compact, thin, yet powerful laptop with a bright and high res display, and is still able to provide around 10 hours of usage with one charge.

Money well spent

 

[sw1tcher]

As others have said, don't worry too much about it. Just use it and enjoy it.

If you got or will be getting AppleCare, Apple will replace the battery for free if capacity falls below 80% of original capacity.

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/29/applecare-mac-batteries-80-percent/

And if you do have AppleCare and it is getting close to expiration (e.g. less than 4 months remaining) and the battery is close to but not under 80% of original capacity yet, use that battery as much as possible. Burn through those cycles to get that capacity below 80%

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

As others have said, don't worry too much about it. Just use it and enjoy it.

If you got or will be getting AppleCare, Apple will replace the battery for free if capacity falls below 80% of original capacity.

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/29/applecare-mac-batteries-80-percent/

And if you do have AppleCare and it is getting close to expiration (e.g. less than 4 months remaining) and the battery is close to but not under 80% of original capacity yet, use that battery as much as possible. Burn through those cycles to get that capacity below 80%

I don't have Apple Care and don't plan to get it. It's not for me, however I can understand why people have it. If the battery life of my Macbook would ever become so bad that it would bother me, I would just replace it at the Apple Store and pay for it. Good tip though for people who are close to expiration of Apple Care, to burn through the charge cycles. Playing a lot of YouTube videos with 4K resolution and with full brightness would quicken that process for sure

 

[glenthompson]

Thanks for the links. I've read it and it's useful info.

I'm very VERY impressed with the battery life by the way.
Around 9% goes off per hour, while browsing and watching youtube videos and brightness set around 50%.

Impressive how Apple made such a compact, thin, yet powerful laptop with a bright and high res display, and is still able to provide around 10 hours of usage with one charge.

Money well spent

One way to have lots of battery life is to not install/get rid of Flash. It is a battery killer. I finally decided it was too much of a security risk and too many hassles so I deleted it off my system. In the rare event I have to use it I can load Chrome and use its sandboxed version.

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

One way to have lots of battery life is to not install/get rid of Flash. It is a battery killer. I finally decided it was too much of a security risk and too many hassles so I deleted it off my system. In the rare event I have to use it I can load Chrome and use its sandboxed version.

I got the MBP yesterday and one of the first things I did was install Flash Player haha. I wanted to do a speedtest and couldn't do that without Flash. As of now I don't notice it being a battery killer. I have a strange thing for not wanting more than one browser on my computer, also in the past with Windows laptops I only used IE. I know, I'm kinda weird

 

[T5BRICK]

I got the MBP yesterday and one of the first things I did was install Flash Player haha. I wanted to do a speedtest and couldn't do that without Flash. As of now I don't notice it being a battery killer. I have a strange thing for not wanting more than one browser on my computer, also in the past with Windows laptops I only used IE. I know, I'm kinda weird

I have flash installed for Safari on my rMBP, but I also have flash blocker installed. Flash will only load for the content that I select. It works pretty well most of the time.

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

I have flash installed for Safari on my rMBP, but I also have flash blocker installed. Flash will only load for the content that I select. It works pretty well most of the time.

That's actually a smart solution. I will have a look at it. Thanks!

 

[krishmk]

I got the MBP yesterday and one of the first things I did was install Flash Player haha. I wanted to do a speedtest and couldn't do that without Flash. As of now I don't notice it being a battery killer. I have a strange thing for not wanting more than one browser on my computer, also in the past with Windows laptops I only used IE. I know, I'm kinda weird

I disabled Flash completely. I use speedof.me and it does not need Flash.

 

[glenthompson]

I have flash installed for Safari on my rMBP, but I also have flash blocker installed. Flash will only load for the content that I select. It works pretty well most of the time.

I have the click2flash extension in Safari which works well. I just got tired of the weekly Flash upgrades. Was a real pain when traveling with limited internet connectivity. It still works well with HTML5.

One magazine did a test with a laptop. Did their battery life test with no flash then loaded flash and tried again. Flash cut the battery life in half. Just one of the reasons it's not on iOS.

 

[CE3]

I won't be installing flash on my MacBook Pro (I do still have it on my Windows desktop, though). I've only run into a couple sites where it's been required to view content, and it's never been worth it to install. Flash played an important role in the evolution of the web, but those days are gone and it has too many security issues now.

@AintDutchNotMuch beta.speedtest.net

^ No flash required for that speed test.

 

[AintDutchNotMuch]

I won't be installing flash on my MacBook Pro (I do still have it on my Windows desktop, though). I've only run into a couple sites where it's been required to view content, and it's never been worth it to install. Flash played an important role in the evolution of the web, but those days are gone and it has too many security issues now.

@AintDutchNotMuch beta.speedtest.net

^ No flash required for that speed test.

Thanks for the link to the speedtest. I've done it and it works perfect. I might get rid of the Flash player if it'll affect battery life or performance. But, so far so good

 

[maxsix]

just use it however you want and don't sweat the battery.

I'm picky... And careful. I also read all the appropriate Apple info.

That said, after a few decades of exceptional performance, reliability and enjoyment from each of my MBP's, I found the highly scientific approach above is ideal ...



(If all my Apple gear was as good as my MBP's have been ... )