Macbook 13inch Battery Question

[killer-mass]

I am sure this has been asked before, i have googled and did not find much. I own a macbook, i looked on the apple website about looking after your battery but i am still unsure, i leave it in my room so i do not move it around, is it oka y to keep it on charge or should i take it off? i know i should use the battery every now to helps it's health, but most of the time i will not need it is a portable device...

thanks all for your help

 

[stridemat]

I am sure this has been asked before, i have googled and did not find much. I own a macbook, i looked on the apple website about looking after your battery but i am still unsure, i leave it in my room so i do not move it around, is it oka y to keep it on charge or should i take it off? i know i should use the battery every now to helps it's health, but most of the time i will not need it is a portable device...

thanks all for your help

I use my macbook on my desk using the mains. I rarely use battery power. You just have to remember to calibrate the battery every now and again (I do mine monthly). I use it till it is about to switch off then charge it till 100%. Doing this my laptop battery as a health of 99% and its almost a year and a half old.

 

[Apple Ink]

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

 

[pendo]

I use mine on the power supply more than I don't. I try to let it fully discharge once every couple weeks or so, but most of the time, it's on and off the charger never getting below 25%.

I've had this mb since Nov. and Coconut battery says my battery health is 97%. I could probably be doing better, but I don't mind that decline.

You can also run it without the battery in I found out.

 

[pendo]

I use my macbook on my desk using the mains. I rarely use battery power. You just have to remember to calibrate the battery every now and again (I do mine monthly). I use it till it is about to switch off then charge it till 100%. Doing this my laptop battery as a health of 99% and its almost a year and a half old.

how do you 'calibrate' the battery? you are doing much better than me....

 

[VSMacOne]

how do you 'calibrate' the battery? you are doing much better than me....

Calibration http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

Basically Apple recommends you keep your laptop plugged in whenever possible, but make sure you give it a workout every now and then, and remember to calibrate every 4-6 weeks.
This is what i've been doing, and my 6 months old MB battery now has 73 charging cycles and 100% battery health.

You can also run it without the battery in I found out.

NOT a good idea. Do some searching and you'll see that it cripples your CPU speed and increases the possibility of your logic board to get messed up.

 

[Buskape]

Mine is plugged in 80% of the time last 6 months, i only calibrated once since i got this macbook and i am 100% health 77 cycles.

Usually when the battery is not under 95% it doesn't charge, so it gets all the power from the power cable and leaves the battery alone, so it's fine.

 

[killer-mass]

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

^ if you read my question i said i looked on the apple website and was confused, so i dont understand why you would post this link :S

Thanks to everyone for their help

 

[MacManiac76]

I guess the main reason I would always leave my battery in is because it basically functions as built-in battery backup when not in use. If there happens to be a power flicker/outage, you don't end up losing any unsaved data you may be working on at the time. Taking the battery out just seems foolish to me. With proper calibration you will be just fine leaving it in. If the health % goes down some from non use what does it really matter, you aren't using it that much to begin with.

 

[keith1569]

thanks for the links guys..i have had my macbook for about 3 months and i hadent cycled the battery..i will be tonight hehe..so far i love it!

 

[pendo]

Calibration http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

Basically Apple recommends you keep your laptop plugged in whenever possible, but make sure you give it a workout every now and then, and remember to calibrate every 4-6 weeks.
This is what i've been doing, and my 6 months old MB battery now has 73 charging cycles and 100% battery health.



NOT a good idea. Do some searching and you'll see that it cripples your CPU speed and increases the possibility of your logic board to get messed up.

Didn't know about the running w/o battery thing....thanks.

Also, I did the calibration you linked to (thanks btw) and my battery stats improved from 97% health to 99%.

 

[VSMacOne]

Didn't know about the running w/o battery thing....thanks.

Also, I did the calibration you linked to (thanks btw) and my battery stats improved from 97% health to 99%.

that's awesome! Now just pay a little extra attention and plug your laptop in when you don't need to use it on battery (obviously don't be ridiculous about it - this is afterall a laptop lol and thus needs to be able to be used in places desktops can't) but if you're reasonable, you can make it a good time on this battery.

 

[pendo]

that's awesome! Now just pay a little extra attention and plug your laptop in when you don't need to use it on battery (obviously don't be ridiculous about it - this is afterall a laptop lol and thus needs to be able to be used in places desktops can't) but if you're reasonable, you can make it a good time on this battery.

I can keep it plugged in to the power adapter 85% of the time I use it. Most of the time I'm using it, it's either plugged into my DAC in my dedicated 2 channel stereo rig, or I'm sitting in a recliner.

So you think it's best to keep it plugged in whenever possible??