U-MBP as desktop at work - worried about longevity.

[tejota1911]

I'm in a very similar situation. When I started my new job a few months back, they tried to get me to use an old Dell computer. I politely declined. They pretty much let me do whatever I want. I would much rather bring my MBP to work with me, if it means I can work on it, instead of that Dell. Funny thing is, since I've been there, three other employees have purchased MBPs. People are constantly asking me about it. It doesn't take long to wow them, and make them converts.

 

[kasakka]

Just use the damn thing and don't worry about it. I wouldn't be worried about screen savers or fan settings. The defaults work perfectly fine.

 

[sn0warmy]

I'm in a very similar situation. When I started my new job a few months back, they tried to get me to use an old Dell computer. I politely declined. They pretty much let me do whatever I want. I would much rather bring my MBP to work with me, if it means I can work on it, instead of that Dell. Funny thing is, since I've been there, three other employees have purchased MBPs. People are constantly asking me about it. It doesn't take long to wow them, and make them converts.

haha same here. Since I've been here I have gotten 2 employees to switch to iPhones and the President of the company to switch to a 17" MBP.

 

[sn0warmy]

I'd get a taller stand for more airflow underneath, and maybe even one of those USB keyboard/mouse switching devices that lets you use the same KB/Mouse combo with two machines.

I just put 4 plastic pieces underneath the Targus stand which has raised it up about 3". And there is a noticeably greater amount of cooler air getting sucked through the fans. My laptop's internal temp is hovering around 46 Celsius. Before raising the stand it was hovering at about 55 Celsius.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Richard1028]

He's not tying up company resources using a company machine, so what real harm is bringing his home computer to work doing, exactly?

What harm? "Time is money". What boss would allow his employees to do processor intensive work on a lowly MBP when a faster machine will save him money in the long run? I'm guessing the OP's work is not too critical to the longterm stability of the company since his boss doesn't even know this. Given the facts provided thus far one can draw no other conclusion.

 

[allmIne]

What harm? "Time is money". What boss would allow his employees to do processor intensive work on a lowly MBP when a faster machine will save him money in the long run? I'm guessing the OP's work is not too critical to the longterm stability of the company since his boss doesn't even know this. Given the facts provided thus far one can draw no other conclusion.

Did you read the post where the OP said, clearly, that was he was offered a P4 with integrated graphics?

Surely his MBP is faster, therefore saving his boss money, and mooting your point entirely?

 

[diazj3]

get AppleCare. Otherwise the only thing you may have to replace in the future is the hard disk and fan, since they only have a limited lifespan.

Agree...

And be sure to drain and calibrate your battery as often as possible - try running it for complete cycles... this way you'll be sure to keep the battery in the best way possible.

Other than that, use it at will - but I'd also advise to let your employer know this can't go on forever without a fair arrangement. Explain to them why your mac makes you more productive, and let them pay - at least - for the apple care fee and some sort of insurance, in case your mac gets stolen or burnt in a fire... just to be fair.

On the other hand, if your employer does not care about you using the tool of your choice, does not see the difference, or because of an internal policy can't come to a fair agreement (e.g. can't have other OS in the internal network due to security reasons or outsourcing strategy)... then you'd have to decide if you take the risk by yourself - if your computer gets stolen, or you accidentally drop it while commuting, then you're on your own. I personally wouldn't do it permanently - IMO it sets a dubious precedent.

cheers!

 

[sfroom]

And be sure to drain and calibrate your battery as often as possible - try running it for complete cycles... this way you'll be sure to keep the battery in the best way possible.

Draining and calibrating your battery more often than necessary causes a lot more harm than good, and will reduce the lifespan of your battery. There is no reason to be running a modern lithium polymer battery through "complete cycles".

It is, however, good to use the battery occasionally. A couple times a week or so, unplug the battery for an hour or two, but try to avoid draining it completely.

I would say that at the very least, if you don't already have Applecare, that you should at least speak to your boss about paying for it or subsidizing the purchase. I don't really think there's any risk in terms of the longevity of the computer, but I think it would be fair compensation, and would also provide some security in the functionality of the hardware, and accordingly, your continued productivity.

 

[bassjunky]

Given the facts provided thus far one can draw no other conclusion...

...that you failed in reading comprehension.

 

[diazj3]

Draining and calibrating your battery more often than necessary causes a lot more harm than good, and will reduce the lifespan of your battery. There is no reason to be running a modern lithium polymer battery through "complete cycles".

It is, however, to use the battery occasionally. A couple times a week or so, unplug the battery for an hour or two, but try to avoid draining it completely.

well, this fact is new to me... I had to replace my battery after screwing the original one by not running complete cycles and not calibrating it often. All knowledge I found pointed to such procedures; now the new battery seems to be running great.

No threads mentioned it could actually harm it... can you explain why/how can complete cycles/draining/calibration can harm the battery, what type of harm, and how often would be advisable?

Thanks!

 

[Azathoth]

well, this fact is new to me... I had to replace my battery after screwing the original one by not running complete cycles and not calibrating it often. All knowledge I found pointed to such procedures; now the new battery seems to be running great.

No threads mentioned it could actually harm it... can you explain why/how can complete cycles/draining/calibration can harm the battery, what type of harm, and how often would be advisable?

Thanks!

check batteryuniversity.com
Liion and Lipo don't like discharge < 20% or charge (or high temp) >90%.

 

[sfroom]

check batteryuniversity.com
Liion and Lipo don't like discharge < 20% or charge (or high temp) >90%.

Seconded. Lithium polymer batteries require different care than their technological predecessors.

It used to be the case that if you didn't run your battery through complete cycles, it would begin to exhibit a memory effect, which would significantly reduce the battery life. These batteries didn't require calibration, as Lithium batteries do, they required what was called "conditioning" whereby you would run the batteries through several complete charge/discharge cycles to restore/optimize runtime.

Lithium batteries experience NO memory effect. In fact, as the previous poster mentioned, draining the battery fully actually degrades the battery health. The biggest thing to avoid, however, is extreme temperatures. Cold temperatures will temporarily reduce battery life, but hot temperatures will permanently reduce it. Particularly, avoid leaving your laptop in a hot car on a sunny day. Or your cell phone, for that matter.

The reason that Apple recommends "calibrating" your battery every once in a while is because there is a chip in the battery that reports its charge to the computer. After many partial discharge cycles, this reading becomes inaccurate. Fully discharging and recharging the battery recalibrates the reading, meaning that OSX can more accurately display the current charge.

 

[mac2x]

Mine is on most of the time; I only shut it down for the following reasons: Power outage, thunderstorm, I'm taking it with me or will be away from the house for more than a day without it. I surf the web, do email, program in Xcode some, compose music using Finale 2009, and game a little bit. Still runs as new.

 

[diazj3]

great... thanks Azathoth and sfroom- I've checked the site now.

One thing that isn't clear is ¿what's considered as a full cycle? is it considered a full cycle to recharge it to 100%, and then use the battery until the computer goes into sleep mode when it reaches 0%? or is it a full cycle when all power from the battery is drained - beyond sleep mode?

As I currently also use my MBP as a desktop (I just got rid of the iMac and I'm waiting for a new MacPro to arrive), I still wonder two things:

a) so, how often should I unplug it and let my computer run on batteries (when I use it as a desktop)?... once every day? every other day? once a week? doesn't matter?

b) when I unplug it (as often as recommended in a-), how low should I let it go? 20%?

thanks again for your help... (I guess this is still in line with the original thread- I don't mean to hijack it).

 

[Thiol]

One thing that isn't clear is ¿what's considered as a full cycle? is it considered a full cycle to recharge it to 100%, and then use the battery until the computer goes into sleep mode when it reaches 0%? or is it a full cycle when all power from the battery is drained - beyond sleep mode?

a) so, how often should I unplug it and let my computer run on batteries (when I use it as a desktop)?... once every day? every other day? once a week? doesn't matter?

b) when I unplug it (as often as recommended in a-), how low should I let it go? 20%?

Sleep mode is not good enough. Apparently, Apple recommends turning it off or leaving it in sleep mode for 5 hours.

a) About once a month.
b) Let it go all the way down, as if you were recalibrating your battery.

All the info can be found here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

 

[Azathoth]

great... thanks Azathoth and sfroom- I've checked the site now.

One thing that isn't clear is ¿what's considered as a full cycle? is it considered a full cycle to recharge it to 100%, and then use the battery until the computer goes into sleep mode when it reaches 0%? or is it a full cycle when all power from the battery is drained - beyond sleep mode?

As I currently also use my MBP as a desktop (I just got rid of the iMac and I'm waiting for a new MacPro to arrive), I still wonder two things:

a) so, how often should I unplug it and let my computer run on batteries (when I use it as a desktop)?... once every day? every other day? once a week? doesn't matter?

b) when I unplug it (as often as recommended in a-), how low should I let it go? 20%?

thanks again for your help... (I guess this is still in line with the original thread- I don't mean to hijack it).

What I've done on my Thinkpad for the past two years: unplug the battery when I'm at home or at work - I use a single machine for both. When it's plugged in I can plug and unplug the battery without sleep or hibernating the machine. If I do have it plugged in then I set the Thinkpad charging utility to stop charging at 80%. After 2 years and about 130 cycles the battery still holds over 95% of its original capacity.

When using batteries then a 'shallow' discharge of 80%-20% lets me get 3 hours of work or so, I don't discharge below about 12-15% except in a few rare occasions. The main thing is to keep the battey cool and below 90% charge. I would recalibrate no more often then once every 50-100 cycles or 6 months, whichever comes first (FWIW i've recalled twice in 18 months, I might do it again soon).

As the MBP battery is integrated (and probably close to warm things), then I would recommend you keep various forms of power saving (e.g. processor throttling) enabled whilst plugged in. BTW is there an Apple utility to control charge levels, or does Apple consider this too advanced for its users?

I really want to go over to a macbook in the (hope?) that it works better with the office environment, which is all Linux based: samba sharing, x terminals, ssh etc should be more seamless with the BSD Unix foundation in OS X. But the seemingly iffy quality of the Macbook laptops and stupid design decisions (glossy screens, sharp edges, non-spill-proof keyboards, AppleCare protection racket, overheating) are keeping me away...