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Is it ok to leave mbp plugged almost all of the time?

M

magimat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 4, 2010
17
0
Hi,

I just got myself a brand new 2011 15" mbp and I am a bit worried about how to take good care of my battery.

I will use the laptop mainly on the kitchen table where I can easily plug the magsafe in. I'd say I will use it there 95% of the time and I will take it for a ride a few times.

So I was wondering if it's ok to leave it plugged to the wall most of the time or will it damage my battery? For now I've done some so called calibration by charging the battery to full charge and letting it discharge completly, but is it ok if I leave it plugged almost all the time and let it discharge let's say once a month?

Oh and by the way, I'm a bit disapointed by the battery life. There is absolutly no way this thing can run 5-6 hours on battery as advertised if you don't just let it sit there with lcd dimmed and doing nothing. I suppose Apple is just like all the others and lies about battery life. I installed gfxCardStatus to force it to stay with the integrated card, but even with that, the battery meter jumps all over the place anytime I do something with the computer and I'd say I can get like 2...3 hours max of battery life doing normal web browsing, a little photoshop and some xcode programming.

Anyway, I didnt want to complain about battery, I knew it would be like that. This is a 15" laptop after all, so no big deal, but I'd really like to know if it's ok to leave it plugged almost all the time of if it will make battery life even worse that it already is too quickly.

Thanks!
 
iVeBeenDrinkin' said:
It will disintegrate if you don't unplug it for at least one minuter per day.
Click to expand...

I've never heard/read that before, but I have heard it's beneficial to the battery's health to run it below 50% at least once a month. I'm not talking about the computer on the battery that gives you the correct battery level reading, but the battery itself benefits from doing this as well.
 
You can leave it plugged in constantly without harm to the battery. Just go through at least one full cycle per month.
 
iVeBeenDrinkin' said:
It will disintegrate if you don't unplug it for at least one minuter per day.
Click to expand...
This is true. My cousin's brother's hair dresser's dog groomer's assistant didn't unplug his MBP and the battery got so overcharged it caused him to get cancer and his *ahem* manhood fell off.

Seriously though leave it plugged in all the time... Just make sure at least a couple of times a week you unplug it and drain the battery to 50% or so. It helps keep all the juices flowing.
 
It really amazes me that people would rather get on here and take the time to post a new thread (on a topic that's been posted to death), and wait for answers, rather than just search Apple support pages. Or, god forbid, READING YOUR MANUAL!
Click to expand...

I will forgive you for being so naive... when you'll get some experience in life kid you'll know that nothing is worth real experience of real people. Company advertising or manuals just state what people want to hear. If you want some real information, ask real people, that's what I always do and so far it always pays off. I give it to you that many other threads exist on this topic, but not much about the newer 2011 mbp.

Oh and by the way, who would be the most pathetic, the guy asking a bad question or the guy actually taking time to answer something absolutly pointless to this question?

Anyway... thanks to all the others who actually gave real feedback.
 
magimat said:
I will forgive you for being so naive... when you'll get some experience in life kid you'll know that nothing is worth real experience of real people. Company advertising or manuals just state what people want to hear. If you want some real information, ask real people, that's what I always do and so far it always pays off. I give it to you that many other threads exist on this topic, but not much about the newer 2011 mbp.

Oh and by the way, who would be the most pathetic, the guy asking a bad question or the guy actually taking time to answer something absolutly pointless to this question?

Anyway... thanks to all the others who actually gave real feedback.
Click to expand...

The more pathetic, would be the newb that came on here and thought he was actually asking an intelligent question about something that could be answered either by surfing the web, or reading his NEW OWNERS MANUAL.
 
Just to add. I leave mine plugged in probably 80% of the time, only using the battery every 3 days or so, and it still has health of 92% or so after 190 cycles, and my model is only supposed to get to 300 cycles before the battery is at 80% capacity or lower
 
man I though you at least knew how to read... again.. pointless answer..

now unlike you kid I have a life other than lurking forums to post some stupid things about all the threads I can see so I will be out

bye!
 
magimat said:
man I though you at least knew how to read... again.. pointless answer..

now unlike you kid I have a life other than lurking forums to post some stupid things about all the threads I can see so I will be out

bye!
Click to expand...

I guess you showed me... at least I know how to use my MBP... ENJOY!
 
magimat said:
Hi,

I just got myself a brand new 2011 15" mbp and I am a bit worried about how to take good care of my battery.

I will use the laptop mainly on the kitchen table where I can easily plug the magsafe in. I'd say I will use it there 95% of the time and I will take it for a ride a few times.

So I was wondering if it's ok to leave it plugged to the wall most of the time or will it damage my battery? For now I've done some so called calibration by charging the battery to full charge and letting it discharge completly, but is it ok if I leave it plugged almost all the time and let it discharge let's say once a month?

Oh and by the way, I'm a bit disapointed by the battery life. There is absolutly no way this thing can run 5-6 hours on battery as advertised if you don't just let it sit there with lcd dimmed and doing nothing. I suppose Apple is just like all the others and lies about battery life. I installed gfxCardStatus to force it to stay with the integrated card, but even with that, the battery meter jumps all over the place anytime I do something with the computer and I'd say I can get like 2...3 hours max of battery life doing normal web browsing, a little photoshop and some xcode programming.

Anyway, I didnt want to complain about battery, I knew it would be like that. This is a 15" laptop after all, so no big deal, but I'd really like to know if it's ok to leave it plugged almost all the time of if it will make battery life even worse that it already is too quickly.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Seriously. If you can't get 5 hours easily just surfing and listening to music your machine is defective. Every independent review is achieving those numbers.
 
my old MBP was plugged in 90% of the time and the original battery lasted over 2 years..
 
SilverOnemi said:
google "how to take care of lithium ion batteries" ...
Click to expand...
Except Apple notebooks don't have lithium ion batteries. They have lithium polymer batteries. No, it's not good to leave any Apple notebook plugged in all the time. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

vincenz said:
You can leave it plugged in constantly without harm to the battery.
Click to expand...
It will absolutely shorten your battery's life to leave it plugged in all the time. If that weren't the case, Apple wouldn't warn against it.
alust2013 said:
... only using the battery every 3 days or so...
Click to expand...
That's the proper use of it.... run on battery every few days, to keep electrons moving.
 
I usually recommend people to not leave their notebooks plugged in all the time. I have a Macbook 5,1, and the original battery is on 495 battery load cycles and is still at 98% capacity after 26 months. This information is according to the coconut battery application. I leave it plugged in over night to charge, use it all day until the power warning, then plug it back in for the night. I also rarely ever plug it in before the power warning.
 
DustinT said:
This is true. My cousin's brother's hair dresser's dog groomer's assistant didn't unplug his MBP and the battery got so overcharged it caused him to get cancer and his *ahem* manhood fell off.
Click to expand...
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
I just spit out my coffee! LOL
 
GGJstudios said:
It will absolutely shorten your battery's life to leave it plugged in all the time. If that weren't the case, Apple wouldn't warn against it.
Click to expand...

Yeh, except you cut off the other part of my answer.

Copy-pasting from manuals isn't going to help you. Ever think you act like a puppet? :rolleyes:

I've had my MBP plugged in for 2.5 years only occasionally unplugging it for mobile use. It's more like a desktop computer to me. My battery is at 82 cycles with 100% health. So no, it won't damage it if you leave it plugged in all the time.
 
vincenz said:
I've had my MBP plugged in for 2.5 years only occasionally unplugging it for mobile use. It's more like a desktop computer to me. My battery is at 82 cycles with 100% health. So no, it won't damage it if you leave it plugged in all the time.
Click to expand...
Apple and most MBP owners would differ with you. If you haven't properly calibrated, your 100% health indication is likely inaccurate. Also, your cycles indicate an average of 2.7 cycles a month, which is about a cycle every 10 days, not once a month.. It will absolutely shorten battery life if you leave it plugged in all the time. The best use is to run on battery every 2-3 days, not just once a month.
 
magimat said:
Hi,

I just got myself a brand new 2011 15" mbp and I am a bit worried about how to take good care of my battery.

I will use the laptop mainly on the kitchen table where I can easily plug the magsafe in. I'd say I will use it there 95% of the time and I will take it for a ride a few times.

So I was wondering if it's ok to leave it plugged to the wall most of the time or will it damage my battery? For now I've done some so called calibration by charging the battery to full charge and letting it discharge completly, but is it ok if I leave it plugged almost all the time and let it discharge let's say once a month?

Oh and by the way, I'm a bit disapointed by the battery life. There is absolutly no way this thing can run 5-6 hours on battery as advertised if you don't just let it sit there with lcd dimmed and doing nothing. I suppose Apple is just like all the others and lies about battery life. I installed gfxCardStatus to force it to stay with the integrated card, but even with that, the battery meter jumps all over the place anytime I do something with the computer and I'd say I can get like 2...3 hours max of battery life doing normal web browsing, a little photoshop and some xcode programming.

Anyway, I didnt want to complain about battery, I knew it would be like that. This is a 15" laptop after all, so no big deal, but I'd really like to know if it's ok to leave it plugged almost all the time of if it will make battery life even worse that it already is too quickly.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Battery life is completely dependent on processor and graphics card usage, your photoshop, xcode, and browsing the web with flash kills your battery, there's nothing else to it.

You can leave it plugged in as long as you like.
 
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