Leaving Macbook plugged in all the time

[jwolf6589]

Note that this works differently from similar sounding features on Windows PCs. It doesn’t simply stop charging at 80%. I’ve been using the beta for a about a month now, and it seems to let the MacBook Pro maintain close to a full charge when plugged in.

So my battery should not expand like my 2012 did because it was plugged in all the time?
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You should plug it in as much as possible. Keeping the battery topped off reduces charge cycles and extends the overall life of the battery. Lithium ion batteries do not have a memory like the old nicad batteries. Charging as often as possible is the best way to keep your battery healthy.

It's been known for a long time. It's the same reason that it is recommended you plug in your laptop if you can. Just run the battery down at least once a month and you'll be fine. It's way better to plug in and use a charge cycle every 3 days than to use 1.5 cycles every day.

You can read about all kinds of stuff here:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_charge_when_to_charge_table

When draining the battery all the way down and recharging it you are not recalibrating anything on the battery itself. It may help a little for the battery percentage in the software to be slightly more accurate but again the battery has no memory whatsoever. It is not possible to "recalibrate" the battery itself. The more you drain it low the more charge cycles you will incur and the less life you will get out of it.

This applies to all lithium ion powered devices. I always top off my batteries when possible, like driving in the car, and I see excellent life compared to many others because of this habit.

Yes, it’s better to use portable Macs off of the main supply (use the laptop battery). From time to time, (as it helps to keep the battery “healthy”), run the MBP off the mains supply (use battery) until the battery percentage reads around 80% and recharge. Once or twice a month is enough.

I wonder if I will still need to do this after the latest update appears?

 

[KPOM]

So my battery should not expand like my 2012 did because it was plugged in all the time?

It should help reduce that possibility, but eventually lithium batteries fail. 8 years is a long time for a lithium battery.

 

[mcaswell]

Note that this works differently from similar sounding features on Windows PCs. It doesn’t simply stop charging at 80%. I’ve been using the beta for a about a month now, and it seems to let the MacBook Pro maintain close to a full charge when plugged in.

Ah, thanks... I think I'm going to try Al Dente then.

 

[jwolf6589]

It should help reduce that possibility, but eventually lithium batteries fail. 8 years is a long time for a lithium battery.

I bought it in 2015 brand new.

 

[mcaswell]

Al Dente seems to be working great so far. I'm not positive, but it appears that when you set the max. charge %, it doesn't actually drain the battery to that level, it looks like it just leaves the battery at 100% (presumably it would eventually drop to the set %). So, I set it to 70%, and ran off the battery until it got down to around that point, then plugged back in... menubar indicates that it's running off AC power, but indeed is NOT charging.

I use my MBP probably 95% plugged in, and typically I'll know ahead of time when I'll be needing to use it on battery power, so I'll just temporarily set it back to full charge the day before.