I would imagine that the battery's microcontroller stops the energy flow once it arrives to a 100% so the battery does not die. Is this true?
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Is it okay if I leave an iBook always plugged in?
- Thread starter juancarlosonetti
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Yes, it's true. Mine is plugged in most of the time but I do use it on battery occasionally.
It will be fine, but I would occasionally unplug it and let the battery drain a bit, then plug it back in.
I have a 2001 iBook, and in 2003, I let my parents use it while I was in Afghanistan.
It was plugged in for almost a year, as my parents, like most people back then, did not have wifi, and their cable modem was plugged into the laptop using ethernet.
The Laptop stayed on and plugged in. Not unplugged once, until I came back.
As soon as I unplugged it, the laptop died. I plugged it back in, and it started up fine. But, the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all. The battery was fried.
Apple used to recommend discharging the battery of their laptops every once in a while, but if you go on their laptop battery support site, they don't give a recommendation anymore.
I have a 2001 iBook, and in 2003, I let my parents use it while I was in Afghanistan.
It was plugged in for almost a year, as my parents, like most people back then, did not have wifi, and their cable modem was plugged into the laptop using ethernet.
The Laptop stayed on and plugged in. Not unplugged once, until I came back.
As soon as I unplugged it, the laptop died. I plugged it back in, and it started up fine. But, the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all. The battery was fried.
Apple used to recommend discharging the battery of their laptops every once in a while, but if you go on their laptop battery support site, they don't give a recommendation anymore.
If it's not okay, then I'm seriously screwed. I've had a number of PowerBooks and iBooks left plugged in and on/sleeping 24/7 since 2001.
My work MBP is plugged in all the time except when transported to and from work.
I think it's fine - my 2013 MBA remains plugged in most of the time and 6 years on it still has over 90% of the original battery capacity remaining.
As a few have already mentioned, I think as long as the laptop is occasionally unplugged, it will be fine.
But, I wouldn't leave it plugged in 24/7/365 if you value the battery.
Apple used to address the issue on the now-broken support link:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
But, the contents of the page is quoted often:
But, I wouldn't leave it plugged in 24/7/365 if you value the battery.
Apple used to address the issue on the now-broken support link:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
But, the contents of the page is quoted often:
Apple said:
I'm glad to have confirmation that the battery does not allow constant charging if plugged in. I leave the battery in my server iBook as a form of poor man's UPS for power flickers, but have always wondered how long the battery would hold out like that. Killed an HP battery years ago by abusing it with constantly being plugged in.