Some advice on the battery

[MacBH928]

Hello

I am a desktop guy and I hate laptops due to lack of durability and weaker performance but I decided to go with a laptop a month ago for portability.

I read your guide on batteries but I am wondering, does that battery really die that fast because am not used to laptops. A month later the iStat shows a 46 cycles and my laptop is already at 98% of health.
it would really suck to have a laptop with a bad battery because then it is like a moving desktop, because it needs the wire. I don't want to get there.

I looked at battery prices and they are insanely high $120!! For something that starts to die after a month of usage, and a high price of $1200 or so(uMB).

Now I got the idea that it is best to let the battery die down and then fully recharge it, but is it better if I keep my laptop fully charged and use it while it is connected to the power cord. Will I retain more battery lifetime like that?

 

[beaker26]

It's best to use the battery without the power cord or else it'll create a memory and kill the battery even quicker. I've had my MacBook for about three years and am still getting about 2.5-3 hrs out of the battery, so don't fret too much it'll be fine.

 

[MacBH928]

well thanx a lot
that sure makes me feel better

 

[Zafeer]

I have the mabook unibody. and after about 2 months, my battery health was down to 98% health. I let my mabook die completely and then charge it completely a few times and now the health is back up to 100%

 

[MacBH928]

I discussed this on apple.com boards
it appears that the best way to kill your battery is to charge it all the way up and then drain it all the way down.
I thought this is the best to keep the battery healthy and I have been doing so for the last month since I got my laptop, I am at 51 cycles and my laptop health is at 96-98%(it changes) according to istat.

It seems that keeping it plugged in is the best way to keep it healthy, you just need to calibrate it once a month or so, otherwise keep it plugged in.

defies the idea of being a portable really.

 

[browny]

51 cycles and 98%? Bloody hell! If coconutBattery is right (which I have doubts about, I wouldn't have thought it be that good) then I'm on

How do you calibrate the battery? Anyway, mines stayed like that by charging it overnight, then running it on charge for most of the day then running it down to about nearly empty, I do that pretty much every day.

 

[MacBH928]

there is something for sure wrong there.
Apple actually says after 300 cycles your battery starts to die, like probably needs new replacement or maybe just gives you half the performance . You are at 400 already.

Try running the istat widget or you can go to the Apple to the top left of your screen and -> About this mac--> More Info
then click power on the list to the left and read what is next to : Health Information-Condition.
Mine reads Good and its only a month old. I think that is top rank.

To Calibrate your computer you need to do this once a month or two months maybe.
Fully Charge your laptop and use it for two hours or let it on for two hours at 100%. Then take out the power plug and keep it on battery power until the power drains, you can do it on purpose like maximum brightness , sound, play a DVD to kill the battery faster.

Do that until your laptop goes to sleep on its own while you are using it. Keep it like that for 5 hours(over night, go out) when you come back, hook it back to electricity and let it fully charge again, do not use it until its 100%.

that is how.

Do that once a month, and otherwise keep your laptop charged all the time, this is the best way to save your battery. But again if you are not using it on battery ever then what is the use of a portable or owning a battery in the first place. A desktop would be better.

From your comments I say you REALLY need to calibrate your battery. It takes all day though, they say this helps the battery give more accurate power supply status. Like when it says there is 50% power, there is actually 2 hours of power left, it would go down to 25% in ten min.

 

[morrisman1]

do you use it as a portable or just it just sit on the desk with the power plugged in?

if you use it as a portable then dont worry about the battery, your usage will keep it healthy.

If you leave it plugged in then go to the effort of using it on the battery a few times a week, draining down to about 50% each time.

They batteries last very well when they are used. If you just leave them plugged in all the time then they die in what seems like no time at all.

Calibrating isn't necessary no matter what people tell you, it just gives the computer an accurate reading of the current battery condition. You can calibrate if you want, i usually do it 4 times a year to keep track of the battery health.

A mate has an old 1.8 C2D macbook white and heres the coconut battery screenshot:

As you can see, the battery is in tip top condition, even exceeding its original capacity. This battery gets used constantly and the computer rarely sits on a desk on the charger. Charges are usually half charges, then it gets taken off to be used again.

EDIT: coconut battery just takes information out of the system profiler, and the original capacity figure is taken from their database. age of mac, load cycles and battery capacity is all stuff that the hardware reports to OSX

 

[SOLLERBOY]

The best way to keep a battery good is usage, I find this with my macbook and iphone, the more you use it and charge it the better. There will come a point that it will degrade but by doing 50-90% charges will keep it good, keeping it plugged in will kill it fast,

 

[MacBH928]

can any one tell us what is best because what people are saying is very contradicitng