How to recharge battery on MBP 16''

[Francesco Cinque]

Do you have some tips about batteries?

I mean: do you usually use the laptop plugged to ac or do you use it on battery? On a long term perspective what is the best practice to follow? Use the battery until 20% and then charge to 100%? Or use it less possible?

 

[jerryk]

I just use my laptops and have never had any issues getting to the design life (1000 cycles) on any MBP. The only thing I do not do is leave it plugged in if I am not using it for long periods. Otherwise, I charge before I go somewhere, and charge when it needs it. Other than to see if it needs charging for a flight I never look at a battery charge.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Always plugged in at the desk and when not using battery.

I try to never go below 40% on battery tho

 

[chabig]

How to recharge battery on MBP 16''

It's really quite simple. The computer ships with a white brick-shaped device called a "charger" and long white cable with which to connect it to the computer. On the computers screen, look in the upper right corner to see the battery level. Unless the battery is already full, plug one end of the cable into the "charger" and the other end into any of the computer's ports. While the charger is plugged into power, the computer's battery will recharge until full.

 

[Francesco Cinque]

Ahahah you're right, my question wasn't that clear 😂
In the past I read an article (from Apple) regarding the iPhone battery maintenance. They suggested to recharge it less possible, always recharging from 20% to 100%. Never go under 20% battery and never unplug until is fully charge (just if you want to maximizethe battery life).

I was guessing how it works on a laptop with a non-removable battery

 

[chabig]

The best advice is Apple’s advice. Everything else is snake oil. My instructions above, though tongue in cheek, are right on. Charge it whenever you want to or need to. There is no need to play games with the battery. Nothing you can do will have a meaningful affect on its life.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

 

[mightyjabba]

I agree that you don’t have to micromanage the battery, but I would still advise not keeping it plugged in all the time without ever letting it discharge. I did this with my previous MBP and had swollen batteries twice.

 

[chabig]

I did this with my previous MBP and had swollen batteries twice.

Anectodal. Plenty of people, me included, keep mine plugged in almost all of the time and have never had swollen batteries. If there were a risk, Apple would advise against it. YMMV.

 

[trailmonkey]

Pondering the same thing myself. Used to working on laptops at a desk maybe 80% of the time so I'd keep them docked and on mains. Most techies I know are averse to that and recommend battery use as much as possible. My 16" battery is 4-5 days in and draining super fast. Hoping that's gonna change.

 

[mightyjabba]

Anectodal. Plenty of people, me included, keep mine plugged in almost all of the time and have never had swollen batteries. If there were a risk, Apple would advise against it. YMMV.

I was also told specifically by the tech not to keep it plugged in all of the time and to let the battery discharge from time to time. (Yes I know that these people don’t always know what they’re talking about.) I’m just saying, before this happened twice within a span of a couple of years, I assumed that Apple’s software would just handle it, but now I am not so sure.

And no, leaving it plugged in all the time won’t cause it in every case, but whenever I read about people having swollen batteries they seem to say that they generally used it as a desktop, so it seems like it increases the risk at the very least. Mine was probably a worst case scenario because it was plugged in all the time and never allowed to sleep

 

[Francesco Cinque]

Yeah you're not the only one experiencing this kind of issue

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/battery-life-on-macbook-pro-16.2212813/page-5