How long before you plug it in? =)

[alejandro-]

Hello all!

I realized I many times end up relying my MBP internal battery for several hours before I get a chance to plug it in. So I was wondering about how is it like usually for you guys. Be my guest and join the poll =)

 

[casperes1996]

A full school day, plus a little extra. 7-8 hours. That is - that was when I still went to school. I'm on a sabbatical and haven't really used it at all for a while. But when I start studying again it'll likely be the same. Or probably less, since regardless which of my potential studies accept my, I'll be doing more computationally intense tasks than reading books and writing notes (programming or video editing)

 

[alejandro-]

A full school day, plus a little extra. 7-8 hours. That is - that was when I still went to school. I'm on a sabbatical and haven't really used it at all for a while. But when I start studying again it'll likely be the same. Or probably less, since regardless which of my potential studies accept my, I'll be doing more computationally intense tasks than reading books and writing notes (programming or video editing)

Well now that is an intense workout for the battery! Beginning to feel better about myself for mistreating mine like I have

 

[casperes1996]

Well now that is an intense workout for the battery! Begging to feel better about myself for mistreating mine like I have

There's nothing wrong with running the battery. It's good that the battery cells get used. Getting it to 0% isn't good, but I'd often still have 20% left when I plugged it in, which is good. I'm at 94% capacity - it's a 2014 model.

 

[maerz001]

Usually I can't wait that long to plug in

 

[leman]

I usually only plug it in when its about to reach 0%. In the office its plugged most of the time, since its being charged via the display connection.

 

[Sterkenburg]

I keep it plugged most of the time at work and while I'm doing any intensive work. And I use it unplugged during meetings, or at home while sitting on the couch or on the bed. Overall, I rarely need to run it for more than 3-4 hours on battery per day, and I'm usually able to plug it in again before the charge goes below 20%.

 

[tarsins]

Usually plug it in between 20-30%. Generally lasts me two days.

 

[MacDawg]

My MacBook Air (2011) and MacBook Pro (2013) both stayed plugged in most all the time 24/7 these days
The Pro is at home with 2 external monitors and the Air is at work with 1 external monitor
I do take the Air out and about when I have to be mobile for meetings or on site work, but rarely use it more than an hour our two on battery
When I take a rare vacation, the Air goes with me as well

 

[Apple_Glen_UK]

I have a 13" MacBook Pro (2015) and - although not a particularly heavy user - I am amazed at how long the battery lasts before I get a warning it's about to die. On average, I use mine a couple of hours or so each day - mainly just web browsing - and I don't have the screen brightness set that high, but I only need to charge it once a week.

 

[Mr Invisible]

Mine's a 15" MacBook Pro (mid 2014), refurbished. Battery was manufactured in February 2015, it's on 64 cycles, 100% battery health (though it does fluctuate between 97-101%).

I have it plugged it at work and at home.

In places in between, I run it on the battery for no more than 2-3 hours.

Luckily I have AppleCare, the battery is 3 years old now, and things will only continue going south as it ages. I believe they typically last five years. My AppleCare runs out December 2019.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

My 2017 15" MBP only gets about 3 hours of battery life when I'm working in Blender. This is also how I learned Apple's USB-C to USB-A/HDMI/USB-C power cannot deliver the full amount of power the battery charger can deliver. Had to plug the charger directly into my MBP in order to keep the battery percentage from going down while rendering.

 

[jerryk]

I voted for < 20%.

I keep my 2015 15" rMBP plugged in when I am using it. I have chargers at work, home, and the one that came with the unit in my backpack. So I almost always have a charger available.

I will use it unplugged if I am watching TV, but that is just for web browsing. And sometimes when I travel I use it on the plane. But, these days most airlines have 110 power available at your seat.

 

[cambookpro]

Usually I get 3-4 hours (2016 MBP), but I always have quite a few apps running and often one will be pretty power intensive (Xcode & Simulator, Photoshop, Steam, Stata, etc.). Screen brightness is usually 90-100% too.

It lasts long enough for when I need to use it without a charger (at uni is the main place I'll use it on battery as I haven't got around to buying/found the need for a second charger).

 

[alejandro-]

Its really interesting noting that according to the casted votes the most common behaviors is either "very short" ( <2hs) or "very long" (>6hs). The poll is looking good already. I hope more will join and shed some more light on this!

 

[Feenician]

It’s definitely true that it’s best for your battery if you run it off the charger regularly. There’s a great little utility called FruitJuice that helps extend your battery’s life by telling you how much you should run unplugged. I’ve had great results with it for years.

 

[macdudesir]

It’s definitely true that it’s best for your battery if you run it off the charger regularly. There’s a great little utility called FruitJuice that helps extend your battery’s life by telling you how much you should run unplugged. I’ve had great results with it for years.

This is not true. Apple recommends 1 cycle a month. Other than that it's best to keep it plugged in until you need to use it on battery...

 

[Feenician]

Apple recommends 1 cycle a month

Where?

 

[alejandro-]

As far as I know: The current lithium battery technology present in Apple products does undergo dendritic formation which has proven to be the culprit of battery degradation over time. This phenomenon grows faster with the deeper the charge-discharge cycles your battery undergoes. It has been stated in several papers about this matter that frequent charging is associated with a lower occurring of dendritic formations. Also, since storing batteries with full charge seems to also contribute to their degradation, when you have your computer plugged in and battery at 100% (so you are running from the cord)... Apple still runs a slight current through your internal battery to keep electrons moving which apprently decreases the dendritic formation chance of occurring.

Despite of all that, most of the time it is inconvenient or just not possible to have it plugged in. Which btw is kind of the whole point of the poll =P

 

[robvas]

Don't like letting it get any lower than 10%

 

[JPack]

About 10-15 hours before I plug it in.

I double the run time on my 13-inch by often plugging it into a 20,000 mAh Xiaomi power bank.

 

[alejandro-]

About 10-15 hours before I plug it in.

I double the run time on my 13-inch by often plugging it into a 20,000 mAh Xiaomi power bank.

Thats really cool. Mine is a simple 5v 2.1 amp so it doesn't support power delivery and I started worrying about using it because on one hand it (the power bank) felt rather hot rather fast and also Macbook power delivery profile doesn't include it being charged at 2.1 amp while on 5v charging.