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Dumb question..but I was wondering if it's ok to leave your MBP plugged in all the time...even when it's fully charged....

The idea is to calibrate it once or twice a month, which involves letting it run down to 0% into sleep mode, then charging up to 100%.

You should let the battery get some use, though.
 
I keep mine plugged in just about all the time, and run it off the battery once in a while. Battery technology has changed quite a bit, so after 20 months, my battery shows only 64 cycles, and 100% health.
 
It is a good idea to leave it plugged in, except when you can't. Otherwise you are just wasting battery cycles. If you a going to leave it plugged in for several days, you should remove the battery, just so as to not cause problems of false cycles.

TEG
 
Don't take your battery out! First, it slows your processor down to 1Ghz, and second, if you accidentally knock the MagSafe cord out, it will do a hard shut down of the system which can result in data loss and even damage the hard drive. Use the battery occasionally, but in general if your computer can be plugged in, plug it in.
 
Why in the name of holy hell would removing the battery reduce the processor speed? Sounds like you just have horrible Energy Settings set.

TEG
 
Removing the battery also introduces the possibility of a shutdown from accidently disconnecting the power cord.

I think I will leave mine in...
 
I keep mine plugged in just about all the time, and run it off the battery once in a while. Battery technology has changed quite a bit, so after 20 months, my battery shows only 64 cycles, and 100% health.

Second that. I leave my MBP unplugged only overnight. I've MBP over year and my battery shows 97% Health, 25 cycles and 5324 mAh (brand new showed 5510) mAh.
 
I leave mine plugged in most of the time. Except when I'm going to be away for a while because the square part (sorry, I really don't know the name of it) gets really hot and I'm terrified that it might burn down my house :eek: Better safe then sorry right?
 
I leave mine plugged in when possible.

I am on the road a bit, so when I switch to battery power I usually just let it run down, then plug in the charger if there is time to recharge to 100% Otherwise, I plug in whenever possible.
 
It's worth noting though that not using your battery won't really increase its life. Lithium Ion batteries lose charge level dependent on their age, not [just] the number of charge cycles its had.

Also, the higher the temp it's stored at, the faster it deteriorates. Perhaps you should take the notebook off your lap and pop it on a table!
 
Well I don't have a MBP, but I do have a iBook and wincrap notebook, and I never unplug them unless I don't have a AC plug available, or i just don't feel like messing up the nice courd layout behind my desk:D

Don
 
It's worth noting though that not using your battery won't really increase its life. Lithium Ion batteries lose charge level dependent on their age, not the number of charge cycles its had.

Also, the higher the temp it's stored at, the faster it deteriorates. Perhaps you should take the notebook off your lap and pop it on a table!

they lose charge level based on age and charge cycles, so avoiding charging when you don't need to will still help your batteries lifespan.
 
Some time ago when I bought my MBP I red that for these kind of batteries it's better to be active ( to waste cycles) than to be not active. So in theory you should always unplug, wait til its almost empty, plug it in, wait til its full, unplug, wait til empty...
This sounds wierd but I think I red it on apple.com somewhere.
I must admitt though that I'm too lazy to do this all the time.
 
Some time ago when I bought my MBP I red that for these kind of batteries it's better to be active ( to waste cycles) than to be not active. So in theory you should always unplug, wait til its almost empty, plug it in, wait til its full, unplug, wait til empty...
This sounds wierd but I think I red it on apple.com somewhere.
I must admitt though that I'm too lazy to do this all the time.

That's for Ni-Cad batteries which have a 'memory effect'.

Li-Ion are very different and, in fact, completely discharging a Li-Ion battery can damage it - each Li-Ion battery has various electronic shenanigans to ensure it doesn't discharge beyond a certain point, overheat etc.

Running the battery all the way down, waiting for the Mac to power off, leaving it to rest a few hours and then fully recharging it calibrates the Mac and battery making the percentage/time readout more accurate.
 
I just bought my first MacBook Pro almost 2 months ago and have already adapted pretty well to the OS X environment and the whole Apple world.

Reading this thread about battery cycles is making me wonder if I've been doing something wrong with mine.

As I mentioned, I've had the MBP just under 2 months now and my Cycle count is at 83. After seeing that SpookyLars is at 25 cycles after over a year, I'm a little concerned I've overworn my battery.

Is this cycle count normal or have I been killing it?
 
I just bought my first MacBook Pro almost 2 months ago and have already adapted pretty well to the OS X environment and the whole Apple world.

Reading this thread about battery cycles is making me wonder if I've been doing something wrong with mine.

As I mentioned, I've had the MBP just under 2 months now and my Cycle count is at 83. After seeing that SpookyLars is at 25 cycles after over a year, I'm a little concerned I've overworn my battery.

Is this cycle count normal or have I been killing it?

My MacBook Pro is approx. 1 and a half month old and im still on my 4th cycle. I keep mine plugged in all the time but unplug it when i go to sleep, I dont want to overcharge it.

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I leave it plugged in and pay almost zero attention to battery health. Once in a blue moon I let the battery drain and recharge. I've been doing this for a few years with no ill effects. Ignorance is bliss - and, apparently, harmless under certain circumstances.
 
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