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Toast487

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 27, 2012
9
0
So what is the best way to help keep my battery capacity high as the computer ages? Is it best to use the power adapter and keep it full charge whenever possible or is it best to be off of the power adapter whenever possible?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,540
941
So what is the best way to help keep my battery capacity high as the computer ages? Is it best to use the power adapter and keep it full charge whenever possible or is it best to be off of the power adapter whenever possible?
Run on battery whenever you need to and plug it in whenever you can. You can plug or unplug at any time, regardless of the charged percentage. Just make sure you don't run on AC power all the time, as your battery needs to be used regularly to stay healthy. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 

miles01110

macrumors Core
Jul 24, 2006
19,260
36
The Ivory Tower (I'm not coming down)
So what is the best way to help keep my battery capacity high as the computer ages?

You can't. Batteries wear down over time. When it's dead, you won't be able to attribute it to leaving it plugged in all the time or from "properly maintaining" it as some people swear by. Use your computer how you want to use it - batteries can be replaced. Trying to preserve them is folly.
 

gentlefury

macrumors 68030
Jul 21, 2011
2,866
23
Los Angeles, CA
Use it as is convenient to you. They have chips in them that keep the cells active and also won't over-charge. Apple products don't really have rules...only charge cycles. Check how many cycles you have against your products life.
 

firemedicmark

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2005
258
0
Just use it unplugged when you're away from power. Either way your batteries life will fade with time.
 

MacRazySwe

macrumors 65816
Aug 7, 2007
1,197
1,072
I'm not sure there is so much one can do about preserving the battery health. However, while PC batteries are quite useless after 2-3 years, Apple batteries usually last 4-5 years - which is quite good. My MBP is now 5 years old, and its battery is pretty much dead. I'd say that the battery should last the entire lifetime of the computer, I mean I guess you would upgrade your computer anyway after 5 years of use? At least I do, hence I just replaced my MBP with the 13" Air.

However I must say I find the battery performance of my old MacBook White, 2009 model, last one before the white Unibody model - to be out of this world. This is not my computer however, we "rent it" free of charge from the school. I use this computer every single day in school, and has done so since almost three years ago. This computer has 605 charge cycles, while showing 97% battery health. A full charge still gives me approximately 4-5 hours of use (depending on how I use it). Is this the case with other Apple computers? My old MBP from 2007 did certainly not have this battery health, after three years and LESS use.

605 cycles, almost three years old and 97% health - quite amazing if you ask me.
 

TheRealDamager

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2011
1,043
11
I don't think the health number means that much - I believe it will go up and down over time - it doesn't just start at 100% and then linearly drop as the battery is used.
 
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