Macbook battery advice

[axelnova]

firstly, a huge thank you to everyone here at macrumors. I have just made the jump from PC to mac, and you guys and your knowledge has been absolutely invaluable in getting started.

i have just bought a macbook 2.4, and want to keep the battery as healthy as i can for as long as i can. i have read all the info i could find about cycles etc, but what's the best way to "use" my macbook: connected to the mains all the time, or charging and then using up the battery?

would leaving my macbook running on mains mean that i never went through any cycles?

 

[GfulDedFan]

I connect mine whenever possible and calibrate every other month. Here's Apple's articles:

General Battery Info.
How to Calibrate your Battery
How to Maximize your Batteries Charge

-GDF

 

[morrisman1]

firstly, a huge thank you to everyone here at macrumors. I have just made the jump from PC to mac, and you guys and your knowledge has been absolutely invaluable in getting started.

i have just bought a macbook 2.4, and want to keep the battery as healthy as i can for as long as i can. i have read all the info i could find about cycles etc, but what's the best way to "use" my macbook: connected to the mains all the time, or charging and then using up the battery?

would leaving my macbook running on mains mean that i never went through any cycles?

just use it, just make sure you get a mixture of battery use and mains use. a couple of battery cycles every week will keep it in tiptop condition.

Every other month you should do a battery calibration which has been mentioned above, it makes sure that your computer knows what state the battery is in. If you take care of them the batteries will last a very long time. If you dont cycle at all then they will lose capacity. Using the battery heaps wont really harm it.

 

[foothead]

I do a battery calibration every 2 weeks. It seems to have helped, as I still get 60% battery life after 5 years.