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Prolong Battery Life with first charge?
- Thread starter hmmm4321
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The new MB's don't warn you of the battery being low until 4-5% of the charge is left (which worked out to 10min for mine).
I fully charged mine, then ran it till the warning came up, then charged it over night. That's how I've always done my laptops, and I've had great luck with the batteries :shrug:
I fully charged mine, then ran it till the warning came up, then charged it over night. That's how I've always done my laptops, and I've had great luck with the batteries :shrug:
I guess that most MacBook owners use their Macs each day, so may I ask how do you work with the battery to keep the life up but allow a lot of usage? The new battery lasts for like 4-5 hours, so if it is going to be based at home during the week or whatver can you run it off the charger without damaing anything?
Thanks
Thanks
A full charge and discharge of a laptop battery is really neither here nor there with modern battery technology. Lithium Polymer batteries, like those used in laptops, don't exhibit the memory effect that plagues NiMh and older batteries (whereby you had to condition the batteries with full charges and discharges to retain the capacity).
However, that being said, a full charge and discharge of your new laptops battery does have one positive effect: it calibrates the battery indicator, which means that your battery reading both in OSX and directly on the battery will be more accurate.
In general use though, it's best to plug your laptop in when you get the reserve power warning.
However, that being said, a full charge and discharge of your new laptops battery does have one positive effect: it calibrates the battery indicator, which means that your battery reading both in OSX and directly on the battery will be more accurate.
In general use though, it's best to plug your laptop in when you get the reserve power warning.
Calibrating Notebook Battery
Turn it on and plug it in. Use and charge until fully charged. Then keep the computer plugged in for 2 hours.
Next, unplug the power adapter and use the computer until it puts itself to sleep due to low battery. You can make it faster by using certain terminal commands or you can use it as normal and play around with all the features. (If you keep IR, bluetooth, and wireless on it will make it go faster. It will also go faster if you keep the brightness all the way up.
Let it sleep for 5 hours. After 5 hours plug it in and allow it to fully charge.
Lithium ion batteries aren't plagued by the problems of NiMh batteries so you don't have to fully discharge and charge every time, but it is still good to do every once in a while.
Turn it on and plug it in. Use and charge until fully charged. Then keep the computer plugged in for 2 hours.
Next, unplug the power adapter and use the computer until it puts itself to sleep due to low battery. You can make it faster by using certain terminal commands or you can use it as normal and play around with all the features. (If you keep IR, bluetooth, and wireless on it will make it go faster. It will also go faster if you keep the brightness all the way up.
Let it sleep for 5 hours. After 5 hours plug it in and allow it to fully charge.
Lithium ion batteries aren't plagued by the problems of NiMh batteries so you don't have to fully discharge and charge every time, but it is still good to do every once in a while.
If you're not going to be "on the go" with your laptop for more than a few days, I'd recommend removing the battery altogether. The computer runs just fine off the A/C without the battery attached. Lithium polymer batteries aren't likely to be damaged by overcharging, but both heat and prolonged storage at full charge will reduce the battery's capacity over time.
Thanks very much, that is exactly what I needed to know
I just wouldn't want to increase the charge cycles if I am not going anywhere.