Maximising battery lifespan

[ashleykaryl]

My daughter has a new 2018 MBP and it has done 83 charge cycles over the last 6 weeks. She is doing quite a lot in Maya, which seems to drain it pretty quickly and she is running Mojave. According to what I read somewhere an Apple battery is only good for 1000 cycle charges, which doesn't sound like a lot of life at this rate.

I've seen wildly conflicting reports on best practices to ensure the battery lasts a long time, so I'm wondering if those who have used an MBP for a long time have any thoughts on how best to preserve the battery and hopefully get a few years of life, despite regular usage. I almost wish the battery could be removed, so the machine could be run purely off the mains, however that isn't possible.

 

[Blue Sun]

Its best not to let the battery drain below 30% and not to fully charge it too often. I've read that a battery is happiest between 30-80% charge. That said, I've had my MBP for over 5 years - I'm currently at 90 cycles and 96% battery health and I've kept this thing at 100% most of the time. Every couple of months I discharge the battery to 30% then charge it back up. It has mainly been tethered to my desk with power while in use (which is every weekday since October 2013).

 

[ashleykaryl]

Five years of regular usage with the battery still in good shape sounds pretty good to me and suggests that whatever you are doing works pretty well.

 

[cfdlab]

Its best not to let the battery drain below 30% and not to fully charge it too often. I've read that a battery is happiest between 30-80% charge. That said, I've had my MBP for over 5 years - I'm currently at 90 cycles and 96% battery health and I've kept this thing at 100% most of the time. Every couple of months I discharge the battery to 30% then charge it back up. It has mainly been tethered to my desk with power while in use (which is every weekday since October 2013).

5 years and only 90 cycles, thats a very healthy battery. Here I thought my 5 year old with about 550 cycles was really good shape. But I dont have any complaints, I probably use it a lot on battery.
[doublepost=1541733813][/doublepost]Since the charger can supply only about 80+ Watt, if you are drawing more power, the battery will drain even when connected to power supply !!! Another pathetic design failure from apple in their post 2015 MBPs.

 

[Painter2002]

Its best not to let the battery drain below 30% and not to fully charge it too often. I've read that a battery is happiest between 30-80% charge. That said, I've had my MBP for over 5 years - I'm currently at 90 cycles and 96% battery health and I've kept this thing at 100% most of the time. Every couple of months I discharge the battery to 30% then charge it back up. It has mainly been tethered to my desk with power while in use (which is every weekday since October 2013).

How the heck do you only have 90 cycles after 5 years? I’ve had my 2017 for about 10 months and am at 60 cycles. That sounds insanely low to me.

 

[anpaman]

My daughter has a new 2018 MBP and it has done 83 charge cycles over the last 6 weeks. She is doing quite a lot in Maya, which seems to drain it pretty quickly and she is running Mojave. According to what I read somewhere an Apple battery is only good for 1000 cycle charges, which doesn't sound like a lot of life at this rate.

I've seen wildly conflicting reports on best practices to ensure the battery lasts a long time, so I'm wondering if those who have used an MBP for a long time have any thoughts on how best to preserve the battery and hopefully get a few years of life, despite regular usage. I almost wish the battery could be removed, so the machine could be run purely off the mains, however that isn't possible.

I think it must always connect to charger when using maya.

As I known in other laptop like acer while connect to charger the battery would be off to supply power.

Does the MBP always connect charger but charge cycles also keep increase ?

 

[maxgts]

Recommend to your daughter she keep the laptop plugged when doing CPU/GPU intensive work.

 

[leman]

You know, trying to maximise battery lifespan is a bit like trying to prolong your life by eating healthy. There are some obvious things you should avoid (don't have it plugged in at a desk ALL the time, don't run it below 20% of battery all the time), but beyond that it's all mostly about luck. And stressing out about these things is certainly not helpful.

The fact is: if the machine is used actively, the battery will cycle. And there is nothing wrong about it. I went through 1-2 cycles per day on average with all my Macs in last 8 years. The battery has lasted without any noticeable degradation for at least 3 years in every single case.

 

[tamara6]

My 8 year old MBP has 1305 cycles and is at 58% battery health. It lasts maybe 75 minutes unplugged (depends on what I'm doing - I can get more if I only have one app open). I rarely let it drop below 20%, and nowadays it stays plugged in most of the time. Back in its "prime" I used it on battery or not, charging it when it needed it during the day and overnight every night. My husband just changed the battery in his 2011 MBA because it was only lasting 2-3 hours on battery. He charges it overnight, but usually it is mostly not plugged in during the day. I forgot to check his load cycles before we swapped the battery out, but it had to have been at least 1000. I just bought a new MBP and I'm not worried about the glued in battery - I expect it to last fine until I want another computer.

 

[Nebulance]

I have a mid-2014 MacBook Pro (running Mojave), and it’s at ~79% battery health, and ~670 cycles. As stated above I usually charge at 30%, and most of the weekend it’s plugged into power (it’s usually driving a 25” 2560x1440 monitor as well).

I see my battery health fluctuate a few percent — when I stick to charging at 30% or even higher, tend to gain a few percent back on occasion. I’ve seen this recent dip to 79%, and I’m wondering if that’ll be my new norm for a while, as 85% was for the past 6 months or so.