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Keeping it Charging 24/7 Ruin Battery?

F

Finox831

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 28, 2010
75
0
Hey, so I just bought a MBP 13" a few days ago and I have it connected to my monitors at home with the charging cable on. Whenever I need to take my laptop on-the-go I unplug it, which is maybe once or twice a week. Will keeping it charging at 100% battery for long periods at a time ruin the battery life or anything? thanks
 
Finox831 said:
Hey, so I just bought a MBP 13" a few days ago and I have it connected to my monitors at home with the charging cable on. Whenever I need to take my laptop on-the-go I unplug it, which is maybe once or twice a week. Will keeping it charging at 100% battery for long periods at a time ruin the battery life or anything? thanks
Click to expand...

No. Battery myths such as this one dates from the old Ni-Cad days and need to die a painful death.

Your cell phone battery is the same type of battery that is in your computer. Charge it and discharge it as you please, you're not going to damage it.

Plug it in when you need to, unplug it when you need to. Just don't leave it plugged in 100% of the time, unplug it once in a while(like, once a month) just to keep the juices flowing.
 
No, it'll be fine.

When I first got my mac I worried about this too, no need.

I have hammered my battery for 4 1/2 years and think still in low 90's high 80's capacity...

..worry about something else instead ;)
 
If it's plugged in 24/7, honestly look at an iMac, so much more for the money. But if you at all need the portability, the times when you're not using it at a desk will be more than enough to keep the battery in good health.
 
My 2012 rMBP stayed plugged in most of the time I owned it...When I sold it, 10 months later, it had a total of 6 battery charge cycles.

The battery life was at 101% the day I sold it. I, however, intentionally would unplug it once every few weeks for ~ an hour, whether being used or not.

Since I got the 2013 version, I just plug / unplug as desired..
 
MattZani said:
If it's plugged in 24/7, honestly look at an iMac, so much more for the money. But if you at all need the portability, the times when you're not using it at a desk will be more than enough to keep the battery in good health.
Click to expand...

I see people say this all the time - get an iMac.

BUT - my computer is almost always plugged in at my desk at home or desk at work. An iMac is not going to be a good solution for that.
 
nostresshere said:
I see people say this all the time - get an iMac.

BUT - my computer is almost always plugged in at my desk at home or desk at work. An iMac is not going to be a good solution for that.
Click to expand...

Pretty clear he meant plugged in in one place, no-one is suggesting an iMac is portable...

:rolleyes:
 
snaky69 said:
Plug it in when you need to, unplug it when you need to. Just don't leave it plugged in 100% of the time, unplug it once in a while(like, once a month) just to keep the juices flowing.
Click to expand...

The 90's called, they want their advice back.

Actually, this advice used to be true a long time ago. However, Apple's power management is very smart and does not continually charge the batter when it is plugged in.

Apple even had a video that talked about this with the introduction of the MBP Unibody.

-P
 
the battery lifetime is described as 'cycles'. these cycles are the "deplete/charge" amount. Let's say your the manufacturer designated your battery life as "3000 cycles" which means after depleting your battery approximately 3000 times, your battery will not function properly.

When you plug the macbook on charge on a 100% full battery, it feeds itself off of the power supply. So it is more healthy for your battery ( just plug it out while you power off/sleep and to calibrate battery, let it drain completely once in a while). But to make things clear, your battery is still charging itself minimally while on 100% and plugged in. (that's a really minimal charging, nothing to be worried about)

Go to your system information dialog and under Hardware->Power you will see your cycle count. check: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1519 to see your mac's maximum cycle count so you can see where your battery stands.

Also there are some programs showing how much charge your battery could hold when it was out of the factory and how much it can hold now.
 
Weaselboy said:
For real. Official word from Apple right here.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
Click to expand...

Pentad said:
The 90's called, they want their advice back.

Actually, this advice used to be true a long time ago. However, Apple's power management is very smart and does not continually charge the batter when it is plugged in.

Apple even had a video that talked about this with the introduction of the MBP Unibody.

-P
Click to expand...

It is true. Read the official statement from Apple at the link I posted. They say to run it on battery occasionally.

You are correct the Mac portables have circuitry to prevent overcharging, but that is a different issue.

snaky69 is right on target here.

Here is the relevant quote from the article.

Standard Maintenance

For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her notebook on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.
Click to expand...
 
Ok just checked my battery after 4 years of abuse my battery is at 93.5%..so based on that about 1.5% a year...so its gonna 10 years to reduce your capacity by about 15%!

Not worth worrying about imo use it as you want :)
 
I did a lot, I mean a lot of research about batteries, and even specifically the MacBook Pro. In short it's actually healthy to leave it plugged in 24/7 but let it discharge once a month (meaning of course unplugging once a month)
 
"Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. "

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Finox831 said:
Hey, so I just bought a MBP 13" a few days ago and I have it connected to my monitors at home with the charging cable on. Whenever I need to take my laptop on-the-go I unplug it, which is maybe once or twice a week. Will keeping it charging at 100% battery for long periods at a time ruin the battery life or anything? thanks
Click to expand...
 
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