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Don't do what I did.

M

Miltz

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 6, 2013
887
506
Being a computer technician I should know better, but I didn't and I hope this helps anyone with their laptop. I got a brand new MBP 15" in 2017. I wanted to keep this laptop as long a possible and that meant using the battery the least as possible when it made sense. So basically if It could be plugged in it was plugged in. I never let it charge overnight because I knew that was bad for the battery. I did everything I could to keep the cycle count as low as possible, because everyone including Apple uses that as a metric for battery health. I found out the hard way that's not true at all. So from 2017 to 2021 the laptop battery was mostly kept at 100% because it was plugged in while using it.
Earlier this year I started using my laptop more without it being plugged in due to work and I was in for a huge surprise. It would die very quickly and at times it would go from 60% to dead. How could this be I thought? I only had 125 cycle counts which is nothing... I did all the SMC, PRAM resets nothing helped. The battery was dying faster than ever before and worst of all I couldn't rely on it at it would randomly die out. I soon realized my mistake. Keeping the battery at 100% or plugged in all the time killed my battery faster. Granted, I would have kept it plugged in for long FCP editing sessions anyway, but the rest of the time I didn't have to keep it plugged in. I usually worked at my desk so it was easy to just keep it plugged in. For light work loads I should have unplugged the battery and let it drain to around 35% and then plug it back in till it would reach 80%. I was so focused on those charge cycles which really don't mean much. I ended up getting a new 16" MBP M1 Pro and with this laptop I will definitely not keep it plugged in for all light work loads, nor will I focus on charge cycles as keep mine at 125 from 2017 did nothing for my battery and left me with a battery that died faster and wasn't even reliable when it came to battery percentage. For the record Apple reported the battery health at 73% which seems wrong as well at the battery life was more like 50% of what it was.
I hope with helps anyone with charging questions on their new laptop. If possible keep it above 20% and below 80%, and don't leave it at 100% for Long periods of time. I'm excited to test FCP next week with my new 4K video shoot to see how it does on battery and performance. The Intel 2017 model was a furnace and needed to be plugged in. These new M1 chips make that super easy as they are so efficient.
 
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Well the gist is: Don't overthink it and just use your devices. I've got my macbook plugged in at work, and when I get home or sit on the sofa I don't charge it until it gets empty. This way, it probably gets 2-3 cycles a week. This sounds healthy to me.
 
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Sorry your battery went bad.
I have an Early 2015 MBP that I keep plugged in most of the time.
Whenever I need to use it on battery, it still performs within acceptable parameters. I still get a few hours of use on battery and it doesn't feel it is significantly worse than it was when new.

Some batteries fail early and some don't, regardless of usage and charging patterns.
 
I kept my now-departed 2015 MBA plugged in 99% of the time, using it in clamshell mode (had 65 cycles after 5 years, had just over 100 when I sent it away to SellYourMac), and even though I had a battery warning, I could still get 2.5 hours or so out of it unplugged. Did keeping it plugged in shorten the battery life? Maybe. But it did what I needed it to do for six years, so I wrote the battery issue off as age.
 
This should be less of a concern nowadays with MacOS's "optimized battery charging," which typically caps at 80% (unless you override it).

Unfortunately, my new MacBook Pro is ignoring the feature (even though I have it turned on). I assume maybe it takes a few weeks to kick in, as MacOS is trying to learn what times of day I usually unplug it.
 
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Man people are really so neurotic about their batteries theie advice is to use a mobile battery powered device in such a limited fashion. Use the device and when and if the battery is taking a hit, have apple replace it, even if it’s at a small cost to you. These are daily use tools; a battery replacement at $200 might be justified once every 2 years or so for something that holds that much personal value.
 
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It sounds like the mistake was assuming that cycle count was the sole driver of battery performance.
You were right to consider it but it's not the only variable.

These days I would turn on optimized battery charging and just use it as I see fit. I am still using a 2015 MBPro and have had the battery replaced. It's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.
 
Not a problem on my 2017 MacBook. Sure, the battery life has decreased, but it's still fine, and I just plug it in most of the time when I'm sitting at a desk.

BTW, I did the same thing on my 2009 MacBook Pro, and it's still on its original battery from 12 years ago. That one has poor battery life now, and says "Service Battery", but it still holds a charge. Actually, I've treated this one worse, now that I think about it. Since I use it less, there are times where it would be plugged in for many days at a time, unused.

Same thing with my iPhones. When at my desk (which is most of the work day), I often it have it plugged in or on MagSafe charging. My 1 year-old 12 Pro Max is only at 90% health though.
 
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Well, I think you totally missed the mark here. I did the same thing with my 2014 MBP 15, always kept it plugged in, rarely turned it off. The battery health always came back fine until it reached its end of life in late 2020 and needed to be replaced. So 6 years, one battery, not bad at all. Not doubting that your battery died, but I totally don't think you nailed the reason.

There are stories of laptop batteries defective at manufacture and swelling, laptop batteries overheating. In fact I had one strange incidence where I was traveling, and had slept my laptop instead of turning it off (not on a plane though of course). When I got home the battery was really hot, I actually opened it to get the fans running, got it lifted off the surface and put a fan blowing directly on the laptop. I was concerned that the battery or the "intel inside" had been fried, but I got lucky, I guess, the battery health still tested fine, the laptop still worked with no problems, the SSD still passed. and seriously, another 30 minutes and I could have been looking at a fire. Still no clue how that happened, but I always turn off laptop if it is going into a case now.

So yah, you got a dead battery, but it was not keeping it plugged I that did it
 
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TechRunner said:
I kept my now-departed 2015 MBA plugged in 99% of the time, using it in clamshell mode (had 65 cycles after 5 years, had just over 100 when I sent it away to SellYourMac), and even though I had a battery warning, I could still get 2.5 hours or so out of it unplugged. Did keeping it plugged in shorten the battery life? Maybe. But it did what I needed it to do for six years, so I wrote the battery issue off as age.
Click to expand...
2.5 hours? I almost forgot how bad battery life was on Intel Macs, until you reminded me. Mine also got down before I replaced the battery, but even new, battery life was crap with Intel-inside. My new MBP M1 is awesome. It is funny, I have it plugged in, but it is not charging, it says charging is on hold because I never use it on battery, must be the optimized battery charging.
 
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MauiPa said:
2.5 hours? I almost forgot how bad battery life was on Intel Macs, until you reminded me. Mine also got down before I replaced the battery, but even new, battery life was crap with Intel-inside. My new MBP M1 is awesome. It is funny, I have it plugged in, but it is not charging, it says charging is on hold because I never use it on battery, must be the optimized battery charging.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I actually felt lucky to get that, considering the stern warning I got regarding its health haha. Battery life is such a random thing...I've heard the M1 MBPs have ridiculously good battery life!
 
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Yes, it is true that the focus on battery cycle count has little to do with battery health. Truth is that some young batteries die and some old batteries keep going. I keep my laptop plugged in most of the time -- like the OP does -- because it is usually on my desktop. It is nearing a 600 cycle count and remains in "good" condition -- knock on wood.
 
ho
Miltz said:
Being a computer technician I should know better, but I didn't and I hope this helps anyone with their laptop. I got a brand new MBP 15" in 2017. I wanted to keep this laptop as long a possible and that meant using the battery the least as possible when it made sense. So basically if It could be plugged in it was plugged in. I never let it charge overnight because I knew that was bad for the battery. I did everything I could to keep the cycle count as low as possible, because everyone including Apple uses that as a metric for battery health. I found out the hard way that's not true at all. So from 2017 to 2021 the laptop battery was mostly kept at 100% because it was plugged in while using it.
Earlier this year I started using my laptop more without it being plugged in due to work and I was in for a huge surprise. It would die very quickly and at times it would go from 60% to dead. How could this be I thought? I only had 125 cycle counts which is nothing... I did all the SMC, PRAM resets nothing helped. The battery was dying faster than ever before and worst of all I couldn't rely on it at it would randomly die out. I soon realized my mistake. Keeping the battery at 100% or plugged in all the time killed my battery faster. Granted, I would have kept it plugged in for long FCP editing sessions anyway, but the rest of the time I didn't have to keep it plugged in. I usually worked at my desk so it was easy to just keep it plugged in. For light work loads I should have unplugged the battery and let it drain to around 35% and then plug it back in till it would reach 80%. I was so focused on those charge cycles which really don't mean much. I ended up getting a new 16" MBP M1 Pro and with this laptop I will definitely not keep it plugged in for all light work loads, nor will I focus on charge cycles as keep mine at 125 from 2017 did nothing for my battery and left me with a battery that died faster and wasn't even reliable when it came to battery percentage. For the record Apple reported the battery health at 73% which seems wrong as well at the battery life was more like 50% of what it was.
I hope with helps anyone with charging questions on their new laptop. If possible keep it above 20% and below 80%, and don't leave it at 100% for Long periods of time. I'm excited to test FCP next week with my new 4K video shoot to see how it does on battery and performance. The Intel 2017 model was a furnace and needed to be plugged in. These new M1 chips make that super easy as they are so efficient.
Click to expand...
how about using aldente to use passthrough and keep your battery at 50-60% all the time ? and running from 0 to 100 every 2 weeks ? wont it be the best ?
 
Wando64 said:
Sorry your battery went bad.
I have an Early 2015 MBP that I keep plugged in most of the time.
Whenever I need to use it on battery, it still performs within acceptable parameters. I still get a few hours of use on battery and it doesn't feel it is significantly worse than it was when new.

Some batteries fail early and some don't, regardless of usage and charging patterns.
Click to expand...
Since I did a lot of video/photo editing editing the laptop ran hot a lot. Heat is really bad for batteries long term.
 
There's just no way to engineer a battery right now that would do well in both being plugged in/not losing life while having a long battery life without issue. They are 2 extremes which Apple is trying to solve with software.

Better to take the advice of others and just not think and use the machine. Shortened battery life happened to my 2014 MBP (would leave it on the desktop weeks at a time) and now I know to pull my new '21 M1 Pro MBP off the dock every once in a while.
 
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Nikhil72 said:
Man people are really so neurotic about their batteries theie advice is to use a mobile battery powered device in such a limited fashion. Use the device and when and if the battery is taking a hit, have apple replace it, even if it’s at a small cost to you. These are daily use tools; a battery replacement at $200 might be justified once every 2 years or so for something that holds that much personal value.
Click to expand...
Honestly save the $200 + resale value and opt for the newer model instead.
 
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