The correct way to use your MacBook's battery

TalkBack 30 of 60:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

This is ancient thinking

I work in an academic setting so work on a whole lot of
laptop computers including loads of iBooks, Macbooks and
MBP's. This information simply does not square with my
experience with Apple.

It is true the older battery technologies did not like to be
minimally charged over and over again and would lose
capacity prematurely if not discharged 80% or so and
recharged on a regular basis. E.g., folks who left their
notebook computers plugged into their AC adapter for
long periods of time would one day take the machine
mobile and find that they would get very short battery life.

The lithium ion batteries are very different. So long as the
damned things don't catch fire, the biggest problem you
are apt to have is reduced battery life IF YOU DO apply the
old rule of discharge/recharge avoiding AC adapter use
except to recharge. Instead, these batteries suffer
degraded performance typically when their design recharge
cycle count is reached. My experience with Apple products
has been that when the battery cycle count gets much over
300 that you can expect the battery runtime to start to
drop off and it is time to replace the battery.

On the other hand, a battery that works perfectly well one
day, has been getting normal "mobile" use and then just
totally dies the next is probably defective. That is,
assuming that it is less than 24 months old.

So, I would agree with part of what you have said
inasmuch as it has been my experience with Apple that
they will simply NOT replace a battery that is more than
one year old (APP or not) that has a high cycle count and
has simply stopped providing adequate battery life. If it is
less than one year old or if it is over one year and under
an APP with say, 200 cycles and just drops dead, then they
will usually replace it.

Mind you, I don't deal with those geniuses at the Genious
Bar, so get pretty consistent talent from my reps. But this
is not a lot different from others we use a lot (Dell and
Lenovo mostly) in terms of policy and practice. It seems
however that the other manufacturers' batteries are less
likely to make it to 300 recharge cycles.

The advice I give my clients about getting the best battery
life:

1. If your notebook computer spends a lot of time on your
desk, then connect the AC adapter when you are using it
but for sure turn it off and disconnect the adapter if you
are not going to use it for a day or so.

2. If you fit case 1 above, then you should be sure to run it
off of battery for a good length of time once a week if the
unit gets daily use.

3. If you do use it mostly mobile, then I've achieved the
best battery life by allowing the battery to get under 25%
or so before recharging. This varies a bit from one
manufacturer to another, but the recharge cycle count on
Apple machines seems to increment up by one cycle if
recharged from 80% or 20% capacity left. So the deeper
charging levels tend to reduce the cycle count and improve
battery life.

Posted by: r.u.FED.up.2   Posted on: 07/02/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Open Standards Technologies Provide the Ingredients for Delivering Security Across the Papa Gino's Enterprise Dell Papa Gino's Holdings Corporation founded by the entrepreneur operates one ... Download Now
• INNOV8 2.0: A Business Process Management Simulator IBM Innovate your business' process model, play against the market, compete ... Download Now
• ChangeAuditor for Exchange ScriptLogic Quest ChangeAuditor for Exchange proactively audits all activity, provides ... Download Now