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Run MacBook Air without battery
- Thread starter tru3lies
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You certainly can run Intel powered Macs without the battery connected. I am not sure if the same still applies with an M1 Mac. Do note though that even when plugged in an Intel Mac will use the battery as a sort of "capacitor" under heavy use to draw more power than the power outlet provides. Again though, I am not sure if an M1 Mac would do the same. If it does, then your performance will be impacted under heavy load.
Only a few youtube videos that I've seen compare the performance of M1 on battery versus plugged in and the performance seems to be almost the same using synthetic benchmarks, which did surprise me, so the impact of not having a battery connected seems small with an M1.
Try run it without a battery connected and report back. It will be an interesting exercise in the name of science.
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Apple’s Intel based laptops run at about 800MHz if there’s no battery. I’d expect something similar from the Apple Silicon ones, but what’s your end goal here?
Well, he's taken it apart to see how it works and probably can't put it fully back together. I used to do same thing with a lot of my toys when I was around 5 or 6. I really wanted to figure out how they work and usually I could not get everything back together sadly, but at least I had satisfied my curiosity. When my parents would ask what I am doing I would reply that I was "fixing" it.
Why would you take a perfectly good MacBook Air apart and risk destroying it?
On all my previous laptops I could remove the batterie which a) saved a few 100 g or more (for traveling and not requiring a battery) b) batteries were one of the first things which died or deteriorated into some mostly useless state.
When I'm home I don't need batteries either which hopefully extends their live.
Admitted the MacBook is a bit different because you at least need to remove some screws and could not just kinda unplug the batterie without disassembly as in case of my earlier notebooks.
I was also thinking about disabling the display and keyboard to save some more energy. Cutting the transistors in half would yield the first 2.5 nm CPU or cutting the CPUs in half would easily double my core count. Overall this would also be more energy efficient. I'll already see myself writing an email to Tim Cook, attached some photos of my modded device, and asking for an internship. Maybe you have some neat ideas too 😘
I had .... this inner desire ...
And it was not that hard. I think it still works. I'll actually never turned it on up to now so I don't even know if it worked before. However, I could always claim it was broken when I got it.
Removing the battery on a brand new M1 to save less than a pound of weight was a very foolish thing to do.
Again, it's likely that the computer will run with significantly reduced performance and would be susceptible to unexpected shutdowns if there's more demand for power than the AC adapter provides. There's nothing about this that's a good idea.
Not trolling ...
There were times I regularly travelled with 2 big notebooks and sometimes even a third. You'll certainly notice if some big batteries are missing when you carry that stuff around the whole day. The MacBook is relatively light compared to those tbh.
For the rest I think it was obvious to take it with a grain of salt -.- I think theSeb understood me :3 (and is currently trying to also increase his core count )
Also in case it really does throttle the CPU I won't consider this option. I don't want to turn the MacBook into an Raspberry Pi.
There were times I regularly travelled with 2 big notebooks and sometimes even a third. You'll certainly notice if some big batteries are missing when you carry that stuff around the whole day. The MacBook is relatively light compared to those tbh.
For the rest I think it was obvious to take it with a grain of salt -.- I think theSeb understood me :3 (and is currently trying to also increase his core count )
Also in case it really does throttle the CPU I won't consider this option. I don't want to turn the MacBook into an Raspberry Pi.
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The M1 has a completely different set of power states than Intel CPUs, which is why the M1 Macs do not throttle down when on battery power instead of AC power.
I'm all for exploration. However, this seems like not only a waste of time, but also, a real possibility for harm.
Mostly financial though. I did disassemble a few notebooks. On earlier notebooks you could easily remove batteries, change RAM/storage ...
In case of the MacBook you can't change RAM/storage. Neither batteries without disassembly. But exchanging components like mainboard etc. seems to be a lot easier. In that sense it even seems to be a bit more friendly to tinker/repair than some (non Apple) models from 5-10 years ago.
The iFixit people tear down devices all the time. They are still alive (I think 😶)
I'll try to do some practical tests after I have slept over it. When I'm not back in 24 hours, tell my wife I love her 💑
In case of the MacBook you can't change RAM/storage. Neither batteries without disassembly. But exchanging components like mainboard etc. seems to be a lot easier. In that sense it even seems to be a bit more friendly to tinker/repair than some (non Apple) models from 5-10 years ago.
The iFixit people tear down devices all the time. They are still alive (I think 😶)
I'll try to do some practical tests after I have slept over it. When I'm not back in 24 hours, tell my wife I love her 💑
any news on this matter?
did anyone yet try wether or not Apple Silicon Macbooks will throttle without a battery on a sufficiently powerful PSU?
not trying to save a few grams here, just curious about the possible future when the time for the batteries inside my MBs has come, as i could live with the fact that i'd only use them plugged in at some point
did anyone yet try wether or not Apple Silicon Macbooks will throttle without a battery on a sufficiently powerful PSU?
not trying to save a few grams here, just curious about the possible future when the time for the batteries inside my MBs has come, as i could live with the fact that i'd only use them plugged in at some point
When your battery reaches its max number of cycles and isn't working for you, Apple can replace it for $159. And if you're too cheap to do that, I don't think there's anything stopping you from just keeping it plugged in. Why would you want to physically REMOVE the battery?
because, for instance, at some point it will actually become dangerous to keep charging it as the battery could go up in flames when it becomes too old or worn.
It really depends when this time will come though. When it is already old and slow anyway and software support ended, i think it's not really worth bothering with Apple's ****** repair / overhaul practices anymore, despite still being a decent unit for some tasks.
It really depends when this time will come though. When it is already old and slow anyway and software support ended, i think it's not really worth bothering with Apple's ****** repair / overhaul practices anymore, despite still being a decent unit for some tasks.
Why not check out local shops that specialize in battery replacements and other repairs for cell phones and computers? I've had good success with my local repair shop, they replaced an iPad battery for me, and also repaired one of my Kindles. Their price for a battery replacement for your laptop will be less than what Apple charges, and you can see if they will simply remove it for you if that is what you insist on doing. Then you could see how it works, and if its not satisfactory then have them put in a new battery for you.
Well, I guess if you want to save a few bucks by removing the battery in some old-ass laptop as an FU to Apple... I guess go for it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
based on YT videos, it's actually not too hard to replace the battery yourself.
i usually dispose of my old batteries after more than 10 years though.
some battery lifes were pretty abysmal by that time, but my prior phone's for instance was surprisingly still quite OK after 13 years when i removed it from my phome because of first signs of swelling, so it's not said that i might still get a battery in the right physical dimensions and voltage, that's why i usually keep using my old stuff plugged in as i'm not desperate enough to look for a new battery for such old devices.
so the question remains: will it throttle? 😜
though i'll likely find out myself in around 8-9 years or so 😂
i usually dispose of my old batteries after more than 10 years though.
some battery lifes were pretty abysmal by that time, but my prior phone's for instance was surprisingly still quite OK after 13 years when i removed it from my phome because of first signs of swelling, so it's not said that i might still get a battery in the right physical dimensions and voltage, that's why i usually keep using my old stuff plugged in as i'm not desperate enough to look for a new battery for such old devices.
so the question remains: will it throttle? 😜
though i'll likely find out myself in around 8-9 years or so 😂