What's best for the battery in the long run?

[kingston1987]

With the new rMBP coming out, I'm curious as to how to take better care of my hardware in the long run. Before I wrecked my 2015 rMBP, it had well over 500-600 cycle count which I found out after noticing that my battery life wasn't as long as before. I'm an university student that uses my laptop aggressively practically everyday. If not doing homework or writing papers I'm browsing the web or watching movies and shows on Netflix.

Through 1-2 year of ownership of that laptop, I have never once turned it off or restarted with exception of updates or letting it die out completely (which had happened countless times). It has always just been me turning the lid down either post lecture, or before bed.

I tried to google a solution as to the best way to preserve my battery and I've gotten both sides of pros of turning it off and on after each use versus just letting it go to sleep mode.

Also as for charging, is it bad to stop the charging before it hits 100%? Is it also bad to keep it charged all the time? How about letting it die all the way?

What are your thoughts on this based off of experience or knowledge?

Thanks

 

[JTToft]

All in all, it doesn't really matter what you do.

 

[T5BRICK]

What are your thoughts on this based off of experience or knowledge?

Charge it when you can, run it from the battery when you need to. No matter what you do, it'll last from 3-5 years.

 

[prisstratton]

One thing you do not need to do is to run it down to zero before recharging. This was more important with older technologies like NiMH, but is not beneficial with Li-ion.

I came from the old camp of running things down all the way and that was how I started with my MBP, until I did some reading on this site. My MBP (see my sig.) is still functioning with the original battery and it is now at 1062 charge cycles and still doing quite fine.

T5BRICK hit the nail on the head.

 

[leman]

The best for your battery in long-term is to use your laptop less But honestly, it really doesn't matter. Just use your machine as you see fit. The battery will easily last 3+ years, which is better than what most other brands offer.

 

[Toutou]

is it bad to stop the charging before it hits 100%?

Not at all.

Is it also bad to keep it charged all the time?

Doesn't matter.

How about letting it die all the way?

Now this IS bad and it IS damaging for the battery. It can withstand this a couple of times, but try not to make this your general mode of usage.

Also - I'm a student too and I'm at 230 cycles after two years of usage. Looks like you're a very heavy battery user.

 

[jerryk]

Use the machine. Letting it sit for weeks unused is not good.

Based on your usage pattern that sounds like what you doing. So you probably are doing nothing to harm your battery.

 

[Weaselboy]

Like others mentioned, no need to do anything special. Just run on battery when you need to be portable, then plug it in and leave it be otherwise.

Here are a couple links from Apple on battery care/usage.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

http://www.apple.com/batteries/

 

[Savor]

The best for your battery in long-term is to use your laptop less But honestly, it really doesn't matter. Just use your machine as you see fit. The battery will easily last 3+ years, which is better than what most other brands offer.

^ This.

People will usually get 3-5 years from a MacBook anyway. These aren't smartphones that probably gets used more frequently where batteries degrades anywhere between less than a year to 18 months. Computers simply last longer and the upgrade cycles are longer than mobile devices.

Before smartphones became more of the norm throughout this decade as the #1 choice for being online, a laptop was arguably as important as any cell phone in the previous decade. I am perfectly content with a few smartphones, a laptop, TV, Blu-ray player, and large external hard drive,. The rest are just extras but not needed.

I am not worrisome with laptop batteries. If worst-case scenario, you just pay the replacement which is still fractions of the cost than the price of the laptop. You also still have the power plug to keep it turned on even if the battery degraded. Relax and enjoy. The prior MVP and #1 vital gadget for online connectivity called laptops can last half a decade.