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To plug in or not to plug in..THAT is the question!

V

ViPa

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 4, 2007
512
0
lol, so i bought a macbook a little over a month ago (yay)...and i find myself around the power cord a lot..i had problems with battery life on my last notebook (dell 700m)..so i want to know if its better to leave the power cord plugged in or unplugged

thanks!
 
Interesting question.

For what it is worth I leave mine plugged in all the time and never had a problem.
 
ViPa said:
lol, so i bought a macbook a little over a month ago (yay)...and i find myself around the power cord a lot..i had problems with battery life on my last notebook (dell 700m)..so i want to know if its better to leave the power cord plugged in or unplugged

thanks!
Click to expand...

I have an early 2006 MBP with a battery that came with it. I think there are 16 (sixteen) cycles on it and it's at about 99% - 98% of capacity. I rarely use my MBP on battery power, but when I do, I get a good 3-4 hours out of it.

And most of those cycles are from me just cycling the battery every few months.

MacDann
 
^not sure if i fully understand, but thanks for the response
 
It is healthy for batteries to be fully discharged but not essential.

When I'm around my house using my mac, sat on the sofa responding to emails in front of the tv etc, I don't use the chord, mostly because it gets in the way and pisses me off.

My battery probably gets down to 5-10% once every couple of weeks or so, sometimes more if I'm on the move a lot. For using word / emails etc on the go I get 5-7 hours depending how intensive I'm being. Turing display brightness etc down when you don't need it helps a lot.

I would say not to worry about it if you have your laptop plugged in all the time, but if you do have the chance occasionally to let it get run right down, in an environment where power is no issue (you can plug it in as it's about to die and continue working) then do it.
 
MacDann said:
I have an early 2006 MBP with a battery that came with it. I think there are 16 (sixteen) cycles on it and it's at about 99% - 98% of capacity. I rarely use my MBP on battery power, but when I do, I get a good 3-4 hours out of it.

And most of those cycles are from me just cycling the battery every few months.

MacDann
Click to expand...

You've had your MBP for 2 years and it only has 16 cycles? That's amazing
 
The bottom line is that the more you use the battery, the less capacity it will be able to hold in the future. So keeping it plugged in whenever it's convenient will prolong the life of your battery. But don't be afraid to take it off the power cord either, because most batteries can be used for a very long time before you will see the capacity go down by too much. And what would be the point of having a laptop if it was always plugged in?
 
I keep mine plugged in all the time as well. In the System Prefs I have 3 cycles in my first month with my MacBook.

I was unaware of the cycling when I first got my new toy. ;)

When I look in coconut battery it says I have 5 cycles.

Also, sometimes my % drops from 100, so I just unplug the unit until it hits 96% and then I plug it back in.

You sure can learn a lot from here when you're a "newbie."
 
motulist said:
The bottom line is that the more you use the battery, the less capacity it will be able to hold in the future. So keeping it plugged in whenever it's convenient will prolong the life of your battery. But don't be afraid to take it off the power cord either, because most batteries can be used for a very long time before you will see the capacity go down by too much. And what would be the point of having a laptop if it was always plugged in?
Click to expand...

Very true, but I still try and minimize my time "off the grid" whenever possible.... that's probably why I have never had to replace a battery in any notebook I've owned (so far.)

MacDann
 
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