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Okay to run on power lead?

P

Peewiglet

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi there,

I'm a new Macbook user, and I'm wondering whether it's okay to run the laptop via the power lead when I'm at home, or whether I should always unplug it and run from the battery when it's become fully charged.

Thanks for any help.
 
Doesn't matter. Use your computer how you want to use it, rather than basing your habits off artificial concerns about battery health.
 
Hi,

Thanks for that, but I'm not sure how to take care of the Mac battery, as I've not had one before. I just don't want to damage it accidentally when I've only had the laptop for a few days.
 
The best way to look after it is to charge it fully, then run it from the battery until you need to plug it in again.

Leaving it plugged in is not a good idea.
 
Bear said:
Giving someone a simple Google search will not always return the results in the same order. It's better to give the direct link(s) in addition to the search you used to get it.
Click to expand...

For something as simple as this I'm sure the same one will be on top independent of google's country geo-location differentiation for search results.
 
I've asked exactly the same question when I got mine. Someone replied that they had it on charge all the time, and when the batterys health dropped, apple would not replace the battery as it had X unhealthy cicles. Use it on battery power when you can
 
You can plug it in anytime you need to. The best approach is to run on battery when you need to and plug it in when you can. Just don't leave it plugged in all the time, as the battery needs to be used periodically to keep it healthy. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 
RetepNamenots said:
The best way to look after it is to charge it fully, then run it from the battery until you need to plug it in again.

Leaving it plugged in is not a good idea.
Click to expand...

This is completely incorrect and is basically the worst thing to do. Back when people used NiMH batteries, they had a memory so it was best to run them down each time. With Li-ion batteries, the opposite is true, and nowadays almost any electronic device uses Li-ion (cell phones, digital cameras, etc). It's just fine to keep it plugged in all the time, but you will definitely shorten the life if you continuously run it down. The more load there is on the battery, the shorter the life.

Unless you're calibrating it, don't let it run down.
 
awer25 said:
This is completely incorrect. It's just fine to keep it plugged in all the time, but you will definitely shorten the life if you continuously run it down. The more load there is on the battery, the shorter the life.

Unless you're calibrating it, don't let it run down.
Click to expand...
False. Leaving it plugged in all the time will shorten the battery life. It's not necessary to drain it all the way, but it doesn't harm it to do so when necessary. Read the Battery FAQ I posted for facts. Pay special attention to the AC POWER section near the bottom.
 
GGJstudios said:
False. Leaving it plugged in all the time will shorten the battery life. It's not necessary to drain it all the way, but it doesn't harm it to do so when necessary. Read the Battery FAQ I posted for facts. Pay special attention to the AC POWER section near the bottom.
Click to expand...

You're right - I didn't clarify enough. Being that it's a laptop, I assumed that "all the time" meant most of the time, like overnight or for a few days at a time. Since it's a portable, I figured that it would get run down to 50% or so every few days giving the battery the sufficient usage recommended. Keeping it plugged in literally 100% of the time isn't good as you mentioned.
 
Thanks for the further postings, and links. I'm glad I returned for another look. This is more complicated than I'd imagined! I'm following the calibration instructions referred to in the FAQ now.

Thanks again.
 
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