Hey so i just got my mbp set up and have read various discussions online about leaving it on the charger when you are using it and alot of people say leave it on the charger just let it decharge to about 50% once every week while other people say dont do that as t will wreck the battery.. What do i do?

 

My MacBook Pro i7 has been plugged in non-stop since 2011. When I unplug, the battery is fine and last about 3 to 4 hours or so. There might be a way to maximize battery life, but I rarely go unplugged. Even airports have laptop stations now. I have heard . . .

1. Use the battery all the way down to ZERO so it gets "trained."
2. Use the battery only when needed.

I went with option #2. However, I go with option #1 with my cordless shaver.

 

I leave mine on the charger unless I need to go mobile. 'Cycling' (what they described about intentionally discharging it) won't hurt it at all. The ones claiming it will wreck the battery must never go mobile and would be better off with a desktop.

But... These aren't NiCD or NiMH we're using, which would develop a 'memory' over time. These are Lithium-Ion or LiPo (depending on your model), which do not develop memory and don't require full discharges to maintain them.

So there's no need to intentionally cycle the battery, but there's no harm done either. The battery is there to be used.

 

For Lithium-ion batteries it is important not to discharge or charge completely to prolong its life as much as possible. When you want to store it, it's best to store it at 50% charge. When you use your laptop at home it is best to take out the battery [at 50%] and use it without it, if possible. Some laptops don't work without the battery installed. Mine [Lenovo ThinkPad] thankfully does. Keeping it out and half charged will surely prolong its life for years and years. Just use the battery when you have to. If you use it all the time it will last from 3 to up to 5 years and then you'll have to replace it. That's why I'll never buy anything with a battery that's not replaceable as this effectively means that you can throw your gadget in the trash bin after 3-5 years. Non-replaceable batteries are the most obvious way of how to enforce planned obsolescence.

That's how things currently are. Nobody uses Ni-Cd batteries any more, just Li-ion. It's only a matter of a few years until we'll finally get something better than Li-ion batteries and the "rules" might change again.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the replies. The model is MGXA2X-A (MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

It says it has a Built-In Lithium-Polymer battery Providing up to 8 Hours per Charge (95Wh)

 

Thanks for the reply SineWave but i can't remove the battery, it's built in.

 

Do you leave a Mac Book Pro on charger? Does a Bear Shit in the woods? Yep its true don't leave plugged in all the time as it will ruin your battery and run up youre electric Bill also
Unplug

 

You probably meant "can't remove". That's very unfortunate. I edited my post to bitch about that a bit.

Gosh, in that case I'm not sure what to tell you. Is it better to have the Li-ion battery full all the time, or use the battery and keep recharging it? My logic tells me its better to keep it charged full all the time then, that is - don't worry about it. It will become unusable at some point 3-5 years in the future anyway, 6 years if you're lucky.

Cheers!

 

By the way, Lithium-Polymer is the "LiPo" I mentioned in my reply. LiPo is an abbreviation for that.

 

I'm curious if you can point to online data about this, especially the part about running up an electric bill?

 

My plan i was to let it drop down to 50% 2 to 3 times a week then recharge, keep it on the charger when using it and unplug it when I'm not.. But as expected, mixed opinions. Thanks for your reply Studio5599

Yea i did, edited my post and corrected it, thanks. Yea it is unfortunate, I just went for the most powerful model i could afford and didn't really think about that, it has a 3 year warranty though so i should be sweet

 

I found a good article about it. http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/15775_how_do_lithium_batteries_work.php

It seems that whatever we do, 3-5 years of life from a Li-ion or LiPo is what we get. I think your plan is a sound one. Use the battery from time to time, let it drop to 10% and then recharge to 80%. I read that that's the best for Li-Ion and probably Li-Poly batteries, too. Never charge it to 100% or deplete to 0%.

It would be great if your battery died before 3 years then, so you could get it replaced and get another 3 or more years of life from your laptop. So don't worry, actually. Hope it'll die sooner rather than later.

 

Lithium Ion will last 3 to 5 years, used or not.
If you buy a brand new battery, left on shelves for 4 years, it is already dead.
There is no (more) point caring about laptop modern battery usage/discharge cycles

 

Yep its a load of crap, it costs more to charge than it does to use. Nothing is that efficient!

 

I'm not sure about Macs. I have a HP laptop that I have plugged in to power pretty much 24/7. I rarely use it out of its spot (it's mainly used connected to e-drums with EZDrummer). But I don't have the battery attached to it. I've heard that if I leave the battery attached it goes into a cycle of charging/recharging, messing up with the life of the battery. So I only put the battery on (or charge it) if I need the laptop by itself, which is rare. Not sure if this helps you with Macs, but it has made the life of my HP laptop battery last for ages.

 

why do you know your battery is fine when your macbook has been pluged nonstop since 2011??

 

Use it without thinking to much about it, and after 2,5 Years, find a way to burn the battery, so they have to replace it under warranty.

 

" Do you leave a Mac Book Pro on charger? "

No, it has a battery.
But when the battery is dead you may want to think this over...

 

I've been holding my Macbook pro from 2010 mostly on charger and I still get several hours of battery life. It never lasted for 8h like they said though.