Macbook Pro Battery Life Care

[B-Coug]

Hey everybody, I'm not sure all of what Apple does to protect the Macbook's battery life, for example, is 100% charge truly 100% of the battery's capacity? Or is it slightly less to protect the battery?

Is it a good idea to follow the guidelines I read below, for my Macbook Pro? What do you think?

"So if you're really particular about optimizing your battery's life, you should try to go from around 40 percent to around 80 percent in one go, and then back down whenever possible. A bunch of tiny charges throughout the day is your second best bet, and going from zero to 100 and then 100 to zero on a regular basis will put the most strain on your lithium-ion battery."

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-smartphone-battery-the-right-w-513217256 (good read)

Thanks,

B

 

[snaky69]

Hey everybody, I'm not sure all of what Apple does to protect the Macbook's battery life, for example, is 100% charge truly 100% of the battery's capacity? Or is it slightly less to protect the battery?

Is it a good idea to follow the guidelines I read below, for my Macbook Pro? What do you think?

"So if you're really particular about optimizing your battery's life, you should try to go from around 40 percent to around 80 percent in one go, and then back down whenever possible. A bunch of tiny charges throughout the day is your second best bet, and going from zero to 100 and then 100 to zero on a regular basis will put the most strain on your lithium-ion battery."

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-smartphone-battery-the-right-w-513217256 (good read)

Thanks,

B

100% charge means 100% of the current battery capacity. If your battery is old and no longer retains as much juice, 100% still means 100% of what's left.

Nothing you do will prolong the battery's life. Nothing at all. Its life'll slowly get shorter as it ages/is used.

LiPo batteries tend to die right around the 5 year mark(if you're lucky it'll last longer), regardless of how they were used.

I wouldn't waste time trying to take care of something that'll die anyway. Use your laptop however you please.

 

[scaredpoet]

At this point, pretty much there are really only three things you can do to a laptop battery to kill it:

1. Overheat it
2. Keep it constantly plugged into the charger and never actually use the battery. Like, fully charged and plugged in for more than a week or two.
3. Leave the battery completely discharged for an extended period of time.

Though if you end up doing #2 or #3, did you really need a laptop battery to begin with?

Other than this, as long as you're making use of the battery (maybe giving some use once a week or so) the rest doesn't matter. There has been a lot of commentary about charge cycles, that Lithium Polymer batteries dislike deep cycles. This used to be the case, but newer battery generations seem to not care about this so much. The effect of two use-cycles from 100% to 50% and back to 100%, has the same effect as going from 100% down to the point where your laptop shuts off.

Now inevitably, there will be someone who barges into the thread and cites Battery University as the end-all, be-all source of battery knowledge, and that deep cycles are MURRRRRDER on your battery, and you should really be watching the battery levels like a hawk and be ready to charge and discharged at just the right levels (never too full, but OMG DON'T LET IT RUN DOWN EITHER).

But consider the source: "Battery University" is a site run by a business that makes money selling battery analyzers. Their equipment was very useful when Lithium-based rechargeable batteries were more finicky, but clearly as the technology improved, this company saw no reason to diminish the importance of their products, or update their circa-2003 knowledge base articles. So, take such advice with a grain of salt.

 

[B-Coug]

-snip-

Thanks man, that'll save me a lot of trouble and worrying.

Thanks to the first poster as well!