Proper Battery Care for MBA

[Zaphyrus]

I just picked up my 11" i7/8g/500 MBA and love it. Definitely handles everything I throw at it. I've been babying it and I want to get into better habits of battery care. My concern is that since I picked up the i7, and do game casually (on a good week when my work schedule allows it I'll game 1-2 hours a day 4 days out of the 7 day week), how can I maintain its condition.

Concerns:
-when gaming, working on photoshop or anything a bit more strenuous, should I work unplugged or keep it plugged in? Such as keeping it plugged into my ACD all day?
I've heard both sides of this. One side is saying keeping it plugged in doesn't harm it since it stops charging at 97%-100% and works off the power source. The other says unplugging and actually using charge cycles is healthy versus 'rationing' them even when at home. Kind of the whole "if you don't use it, you lose it" saying.

Before this computer, I started getting into calibrating my MBP battery every month.

Any tips, advice and input is greatly appreciated!

 

[GGJstudios]

Run on battery whenever you need to and plug it in whenever you can. You can plug or unplug any time you need to, regardless of the charged percentage, and you never need to completely drain your battery. Just make sure you don't run on AC power exclusively, as your battery needs to be used regularly to stay healthy.

The built-in batteries in the newer Mac unibody notebooks come pre-calibrated and do not require regular calibration like the removable batteries in older Apple notebooks.

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The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[Zaphyrus]

Thanks a ton! I wasn't aware of these coming pre-calibrated. Will definitely take the time to thoroughly read through this!

 

[TC25]

The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

You have the patience of Job. This same question gets asked multiple times a day, usually in a new thread, and you answer the same way each time. At least there are plenty of your posts to be found, should anyone actually do a search.

 

[Zaphyrus]

You have the patience of Job. This same question gets asked multiple times a day, usually in a new thread, and you answer the same way each time. At least there are plenty of your posts to be found, should anyone actually do a search.

Granted, this was supper informative, but It's always nice to hear a reply that's a bit more 'personal' towards your inquiry. And I agree with you that searching it a bit more could have been easier, but I was curious to any new precautions or tips and advice in terms of new Haswell chip in general.

 

[GGJstudios]

Granted, this was supper informative, but It's always nice to hear a reply that's a bit more 'personal' towards your inquiry. And I agree with you that searching it a bit more could have been easier, but I was curious to any new precautions or tips and advice in terms of new Haswell chip in general.

If there was any new information, I would have updated the Battery FAQ to reflect it. That's the purpose of the FAQ, to answer frequently asked questions such as yours, rather than having to re-type the same information thousands of times. Also, the FAQ applies to all Mac notebooks, so there is no need for a "personal" version of the information for each model or each inquiry.

 

[tums]

My battery monitor has been all over the place with the new Macbook air. It is almost like it is updating based on current load. One minute is shows 9hours 3 minutes later it shows 6:40.

Strange. 2013 Macbook Air 11

 

[GGJstudios]

My battery monitor has been all over the place with the new Macbook air. It is almost like it is updating based on current load. One minute is shows 9hours 3 minutes later it shows 6:40.

Strange. 2013 Macbook Air 11

It's not strange at all. From the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the Battery FAQ (already posted):

Your "time remaining" indication is an ever-changing estimate, based on the current workload of your system. It will fluctuate up and down from minute to minute as your power demands change. It is not perfectly accurate, but only an estimate.

 

[TC25]

If there was any new information, I would have updated the Battery FAQ to reflect it.

...but I was curious to any new precautions or tips and advice in terms of new Haswell chip in general.

Nice try. Everyone thinks their thread/question is unique.