Sorry to bring this old argument up again--I didn't want to drudge up any older threads, as I am speaking more in terms of the last version or two of Big Sur. I know people still want more nitpicky settings to control this feature, and I get that completely. I'm not one of those people, but I see the need, especially for anyone on an older Intel Mac that doesn't have a fresh new battery in it anymore.
I have OBC turned on for both my M1 MBA and my 2019 15" Intel MBP from work. I don't really think twice about it on the M1 since I feel like I almost never have to plug it in, and never let it sit fully charged for long before I'm using it again. With the Intel Mac though, I have a vested interest in keeping the battery in good shape. I don't want it sitting here docked at my desk all the time and then find out the next time I have to travel with it that the battery is shot and constantly in need of an outlet. (I had that happen years ago on a work trip and the Mac eventually just refused to power on, even when plugged in. It was not pleasant.)
To avoid issues, I've gotten into the habit of using my work Mac off-charger at least once every week or so and let it drain down to about 15-20% before plugging it back in. The rest of the time I'd have it unplugged and shut down when not in use. During the day when I'd plug it back in, it would always charge itself up to 100%. I didn't really understand the point of the optimization setting it all, even thought I've always just let it stay on. What I didn't realize was that unplugging it at night was teaching that setting to behave a certain way. My company forces on the Power Nap functions through JAMF, so even if I turn those wake-from-sleep features off, it just turns them back on the next time I boot up. My computer was learning that it needs power at night too, so it should always keep that battery at 100% during the day. It was almost like it was using the work day as its rest time and the night as its work time as far as the battery was concerned.
As I expected, when I stopped unplugging the computer at night, the optimized battery charging started behaving the opposite way. During the day it will often only put the battery up to about 80%. I'll see it discharge and charge back up to 80% several times throughout the day. At night it will sometimes charge up to 100% but sometimes not, probably depending on some other pattern it has learned.
Long story short: I think I might finally have landed on the side of this feature being quite good. I have started just leaving the MBP plugged in at all times and letting the OS treat it as a more of a desktop (which is mostly how I use it anyway). The micromanaging of the charging is taking care of itself and off my mind. The "Charge To Full" option is great to have right there in the menu bar as well, so I can plan ahead if I need to. Again, I know people have a lot of complaints and prefer Al Dente over this baked in solution, but I wonder how many are just misunderstanding how it works. I've found that if you just let go and use the computer, it figures your usage patterns out after about a week or so and adjusts on the fly from there. I quite like it!
I have OBC turned on for both my M1 MBA and my 2019 15" Intel MBP from work. I don't really think twice about it on the M1 since I feel like I almost never have to plug it in, and never let it sit fully charged for long before I'm using it again. With the Intel Mac though, I have a vested interest in keeping the battery in good shape. I don't want it sitting here docked at my desk all the time and then find out the next time I have to travel with it that the battery is shot and constantly in need of an outlet. (I had that happen years ago on a work trip and the Mac eventually just refused to power on, even when plugged in. It was not pleasant.)
To avoid issues, I've gotten into the habit of using my work Mac off-charger at least once every week or so and let it drain down to about 15-20% before plugging it back in. The rest of the time I'd have it unplugged and shut down when not in use. During the day when I'd plug it back in, it would always charge itself up to 100%. I didn't really understand the point of the optimization setting it all, even thought I've always just let it stay on. What I didn't realize was that unplugging it at night was teaching that setting to behave a certain way. My company forces on the Power Nap functions through JAMF, so even if I turn those wake-from-sleep features off, it just turns them back on the next time I boot up. My computer was learning that it needs power at night too, so it should always keep that battery at 100% during the day. It was almost like it was using the work day as its rest time and the night as its work time as far as the battery was concerned.
As I expected, when I stopped unplugging the computer at night, the optimized battery charging started behaving the opposite way. During the day it will often only put the battery up to about 80%. I'll see it discharge and charge back up to 80% several times throughout the day. At night it will sometimes charge up to 100% but sometimes not, probably depending on some other pattern it has learned.
Long story short: I think I might finally have landed on the side of this feature being quite good. I have started just leaving the MBP plugged in at all times and letting the OS treat it as a more of a desktop (which is mostly how I use it anyway). The micromanaging of the charging is taking care of itself and off my mind. The "Charge To Full" option is great to have right there in the menu bar as well, so I can plan ahead if I need to. Again, I know people have a lot of complaints and prefer Al Dente over this baked in solution, but I wonder how many are just misunderstanding how it works. I've found that if you just let go and use the computer, it figures your usage patterns out after about a week or so and adjusts on the fly from there. I quite like it!
