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Do you keep the charger plugged in all the time?

Do you keep the charger plugged in?

  • Yes. (I want the constant power supply.)

    Votes: 65 69.9%

  • No. (Fully charged? Let the countdown begin.)

    Votes: 17 18.3%

  • No preference, really.

    Votes: 11 11.8%
  • Total voters
    93
  • Poll closed .
X

X5-599

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 28, 2012
110
15
Do you prefer to charge your Macbook and then use its battery or do you keep the charger plugged in?
 
Since my MacBook is brand new I was wondering how you guys handle this issue.
 
If I'm at my desk it is plugged in. If I'm on the move it'll be on battery.
 
Last edited:
I have mine plugged in whenever it's possible to do so. So yeah, almost all of the time.
 
bRADYPUS said:
I nvr move my rmbp, so yes!
I remember we are suppose to run a cycle once a month right?
Click to expand...

It would make sense to run a cycle at least once in a while, wouldn't it? I haven't come across any official recommendation yet, though.
I recently ran one just to see if I could get the percentage to say 100% again. Every day it would "lose" a percent whilst being plugged in. At 96% I just thought: "Eh, I'll give it a go. Can't hurt."
 
Some good advice here: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html particularly:

For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her notebook on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.
Click to expand...
 
Mmmh - i'm not close to my Macbook right now, but i seem to remember that the battery tooltip would change to something like "Battery fully loaded, working directly on power supply" once it's fully loaded.

My understanding is that the charging electronic Apple puts into their 'books recognizes a full battery, stops charging autonomously (unlike cheap PC notebooks, where your battery is pretty much done after a relatively short time working "plugged in") and switches to bypassing the battery to power the notebook directly from the charger.
 
I don't move my laptop so it is always plugged in. Unless it accidentally gets disconnected when the dog runs to the sliding glass door to bark at something.
 
bRADYPUS said:
I nvr move my rmbp, so yes!
I remember we are suppose to run a cycle once a month right?
Click to expand...

I think it's just important to let the computer be powered off of its battery every once in a while. For example, I only really run the computer off battery when I take it to class to where the battery only depletes about 5-10%. So my Macbook Pro's battery goes through a full cycle in about a month, but usually a little more than a month I'd say 6 weeks. I want my cycle count low :cool:
 
I leave my MBA 2011 11" plug in all the time I don't really use it as a portable much I usually leave it in my room in one spot.
 
Mine basically gets moved between 3 locations. Most often I'll be running on the mains. I don't consider my macbook pro to be a portable computer, but rather a transportable workstation. Still use the battery occasionally though.
 
No need to solicit personal opinions.

Apple has a complete write-up on best practices for your notebook.
 
Every laptop I've had that wound up with a dud battery was left plugged in almost all the time. After long periods I'd try to run them off battery and they would run out of juice almost immediately. This happened to a few HPs and a Sager.

The last two - my current 15 rMBP and former Dell XPS Studio 16 - I used much more off battery, figuring they wouldn't fare any worse. Well even after three years the Dell still holds basically a full charge. The rMBP is only five months old but battery run 9-10 hours if I turn the brightness down and backlighting off under light use, i.e. web surfing, so it is still full capacity too. At work I leave it plugged in, at home I use it on battery until it falls to at least 50%.

So I would recommend not keeping it plugged in all the time and not to worry about too many recharging cycles, these modern batteries seem to hold up very well to use. If you keep you notebook at a desk where there is always Ac power, I would run down the battery once a week - just unplug the Magsafe and plug it back in when you get a lower battery warning.
 
fully charged, let it run down once a month to keep the battery working itself.

I'm not on the go very often.
 
X5-599 said:
Do you prefer to charge your Macbook and then use its battery or do you keep the charger plugged in?
Click to expand...
Run on battery whenever you need to and plug it in whenever you can. You can plug or unplug any time you need to, regardless of the charged percentage, and you never need to completely drain your battery. Just make sure you don't run on AC power exclusively, as your battery needs to be used regularly to stay healthy. The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
 
GGJstudios said:
Run on battery whenever you need to and plug it in whenever you can. You can plug or unplug any time you need to, regardless of the charged percentage, and you never need to completely drain your battery. Just make sure you don't run on AC power exclusively, as your battery needs to be used regularly to stay healthy. The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was just checking the official sources that were linked here. Gonna give that one a look, also.
 
I plug it in as needed.....so it's pretty much, unplugged all day...by the time I'm done it's usually under 10%......so, I plug it in over night and repeat......:cool:
 
Now that you have read some of these replies, you probably know that your poll should also include something along the lines of a little of both--as per the excellent recommendation from GGJstudios. :)
 
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