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MBP Retina 13inch: battery best practice?

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shahvikram123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 13, 2008
10
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Hi, I recently purchased a MBP Retina (13 inch base model) and was wondering what the best practice is for using the battery? Couldn't find a relevant support page on the apple page with regards to the issue.

I previously had one of those plastic white MacBooks (from 2006) and with that I mainly left it plugged in and only really took it off charge 4-5 times a week.

Whats the best practice for the new Retina MBP's as they have a non removable battery which lasts 1000 cycles? Should I look at leaving it plugged in as often as possible? And when discharging, should I charge again at 0%, 10%, 20% etc?

Thanks for any input/advice in advance :)
Regards
 
The batteries are designed to be used however you wish, they should last between 4 and 6 years and pretty much nothing you do will make a lot of difference to it's life. That is a 1000 charges within warranty I'm afraid and they have to still get 80% of their design capacity. This is also just a guideline they have no hard and fast rules on this and as a consumable they have every right to charge you for a replacement, although they are pretty good about replacing them free within warranty if they drop below that 80% capacity.

See here for all your battery information:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ry-every-day-good-or-bad.914068/#post-9875442
 
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Weaselboy said:
Just use it on battery when you need to and leave it plugged in when you don't need to run on battery. Beyond that, there is nothing special you need to do as far as charging or discharging.

Here are a couple links with Apple's information on batteries.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446#Troubleshooting

http://www.apple.com/batteries/
Click to expand...

So if someone is near a power port and the battery of the rMBP is fully charged, one should still keep the battery and rMBP plugged in ?
 
augustya said:
So if someone is near a power port and the battery of the rMBP is fully charged, one should still keep the battery and rMBP plugged in ?
Click to expand...
I mean I would not obsess over running around looking for places to keep it plugged in. But from Apple's information it appears the idea is to avoid unnecessary charge cycles that wear down the battery. So the more it is plugged in and not being charged and discharged over and over the better.
 
Weaselboy said:
I mean I would not obsess over running around looking for places to keep it plugged in. But from Apple's information it appears the idea is to avoid unnecessary charge cycles that wear down the battery. So the more it is plugged in and not being charged and discharged over and over the better.
Click to expand...

the better for what??? That is the question, better for the battery? maybe, a bit. but not better for the user who bought a laptop to use on the go.

Batteries die eventually whatever you do so use your new laptop as you wish and replace the battery when it dies. The battery lasting a few weeks more is really going to make very little difference over the life of the computer and worrying about it is utterly pointless.
 
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Just plug it in when you can and run it off of the battery when you need to. The battery in my old mid 2009 13" MBP still lasts a couple hours and it has 1500 cycles on it. I didn't follow any special procedures, I just used the damn thing.
 
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Samuelsan2001 said:
the better for what??? That is the question, better for the battery? maybe, a bit. but not better for the user who bought a laptop to use on the go.

Batteries die eventually whatever you do so use your new laptop as you wish and replace the battery when it dies. The battery lasting a few weeks more is really going to make very little difference over the life of the computer and worrying about it is utterly pointless.
Click to expand...
It seemed pretty clear what I was talking about in my post and I even clarified by saying not to obsess over it, so I don't think we are in disagreement about anything here.
 
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Thanks for your responses guys :). I've been doing some research and it does seem that you don't really need to do anything in particular. Just leave it charged in whenever you can.

Samuelsan2001 said:
The batteries are designed to be used however you wish, they should last between 4 and 6 years and pretty much nothing you do will make a lot of difference to it's life. That is a 1000 charges within warranty I'm afraid and they have to still get 80% of their design capacity. This is also just a guideline they have no hard and fast rules on this and as a consumable they have every right to charge you for a replacement, although they are pretty good about replacing them free within warranty if they drop below that 80% capacity.

See here for all your battery information:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ry-every-day-good-or-bad.914068/#post-9875442
Click to expand...

I thought 300 cycles per year is average, therefore 1000 = 3 or so years. Or am I just making things up now!:D
 
shahvikram123 said:
I thought 300 cycles per year is average, therefore 1000 = 3 or so years. Or am I just making things up now!
Click to expand...

One cycle in a complete discharge then a complete recharge. So you would need to run the battery almost completely down just about every day in a year to hit 300 cycles.

So for example if you ran it down 50% each day then recharged and did that for ten days every day, you would have used up five cycles.
 
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T5BRICK said:
Just plug it in when you can and run it off of the battery when you need to. The battery in my old mid 2009 13" MBP still lasts a couple hours and it has 1500 cycles on it. I didn't follow any special procedures, I just used the damn thing.
Click to expand...

Yup. Also, I appreciate replies that allow me to leave the Harley forum for a spell without feeling too far away.
 
Just use it as any other battery - don't leave it charging for long periods of time, let the battery die completely every once in a while so it can re calibrate the estimated time remaining.
 
ano0oj said:
Just use it as any other battery - don't leave it charging for long periods of time, let the battery die completely every once in a while so it can re calibrate the estimated time remaining.
Click to expand...
You don't need to do that any longer with Apple batteries.

Actually, by doing that you are incurring an additional charge cycle and reducing battery lifetime.
 
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But I have heard that you don't leave your Laptop Battery Plugged in if it is already showing charged 100% because by even overcharging the Life of the Battery reduces !! is there any truth in this theory ?
 
But that is not what people meant here :( everyone here is saying plug it in a power supply, whenever possible.
 
augustya said:
But that is not what people meant here :( everyone here is saying plug it in a power supply, whenever possible.
Click to expand...

And if you do your battery may last a few months longer maybe 5 1/2 years instead of 5 years, if that extra 6 months is important to you by all means do as they say.

Personally I couldn't give a monkeys, I bought a laptop to use on the go, on it's battery, whenever I wanted or needed to, If that means the battery gets a few months less life then so be it.
 
augustya said:
So the reality is whenever possible keep the battery plugged in ? Only if really required use it on Battery else all the time use it on Power Supply.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is true, but I think what everybody here is trying to convey is just use it on battery if you need/want to and don't obsess over it.
 
Throw 25 cents in a jar every day. Every three years you'll be able to afford to have Apple put a new battery in your MacBook. :D
 
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