How do I treat the battery in a new macbook?

[NSK123]

I just bought a 13" MBP a few days ago and wanted to know how best to not mistreat the battery.

I currently use It plugged into an outlet with an external monitor connected and the lid closed, It says it has 97% battery life and is fully charged, the first day it was 100% and then after a few hours of work 99 and today 97%.

Is this because I haven't calibrated the battery yet? is it best to leave it unplugged or plugged during the night?

If anyone has any good sites with battery info I would much appreciete it, thanks.

 

[Goettel]

How do you treat it? Well gently ofcourse or it will cry...

No seriously, you can treat it as any normal lithium ion (polymer in the MBPs case) battery. That means try to give it at least one complete cycle a month to keep electrons on the move. A cycle means bringing the battery from 100% down to 0% but can be done in many "mini cycles" if you wish. You can use it one day, bring it down to 60% left then plug it back in, charge it up then a few days latter bring it down to 40% left. Like that you will have used 100% of the battery's capacity. As for the slow discharging, it is normal. All batteries tend to loose power with time but the circuit that controls the SoC (state of charge) of the battery will only start charging it back up once it goes down to about 95%. This is made so that it doesn't damage the battery by constantly charging it.

 

[pinoyplaya]

Dont worry about how you use the battery... use it like you normally would on any laptop... though just make sure that you do calibrate it once a month... at least...

Once every two weeks would be best.

But yea... you can keep it plugged in if you do so wish or keep using the battery. Do whatever you want based on your usage. If you can keep it plugged in, then plug it in, this leaves your battery at at least 95% and then you dont have to worry about having low batter when you really need to take it somewhere else.

 

[aleksandra.]

Use it from time to time. If you keep battery fully charged all the time, it loses capacity faster. If you use it very often you'll put cycles on it faster (and it'll lose capacity with them). It's a no win situation. I'd say put at least a cycle a week, instead of a month recommended, and otherwise use it as you need.

As long as battery health stays over 90% it's fine. Readings of battery health can be as inaccurate as 5 percentage points, although some people get consistent results. Mine fluctuates from 92% to 95%.

 

[cababah]

The new ones have 1000 charge cycles compared to 200-300. Cycle it as much as you want..by the time you actually need a new battery you will probably be getting a new computer.

Or just pay the $130 or so bucks for a new battery after 3 years or so. Not bad at all.

 

[a cat *miaow*]

Don't worry about it. Enjoy your computer. The battery at some point will lose charge but taking care of it really isnt going to buy you enough extra cycles to warrant worrying about it.

I don't do anything that 'cares' for my battery –*I just use my laptop and plug it in sometimes, leave it unplugged other times, charge it for 10mins here and there.. yes I use the battery in all the worst ways.. but... after around 16 months of this i'm at 684 cycles and still have 99% battery health according to istat. That's not doing badly at all.

All this: drain it every x amount of days, calibrate every x months? I wouldn't and don't bother.

 

[crisito]

How can I check the health and number of cycles?

 

[djinn]

after around 16 months of this i'm at 684 cycles and still have 99% battery health according to istat. That's not doing badly at all.

6 months and already at 684 cycles? WOW!

 

[a cat *miaow*]

6 months and already at 684 cycles? WOW!

Haha.. it's 16 months but yes i'm going for it! This battery ain't going to have it easy... not for a minute!

crisito, if you donwload istat Pro you can check the health of battery (and loads of other stuff), It's a free widget –*you'll find it with a quick search.