How do you treat the battery on your Mac laptop?

I was just curious since I just got one and I want to keep the battery life as good as possible. Do you constantly keep the battery fully charged, and then once you unplug it to go somewhere else, not charge it until it's fully drained?

I know old cell phones used to get a "memory" build up as to if you charged it without it being fully drained your battery wouldn't last as long. Should I have to worry about this about my new Mac? Or is it safe to keep it plugged into an outlet, and whenever I need to go somewhere with it..use the battery and plug it in when I get back?

todd51 said:

Do you constantly keep the battery fully charged, and then once you unplug it to go somewhere else, not charge it until it's fully drained?

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yep, and I also monthly completly charge up, then completly discharge the battery. Its good for the battery, and I have found that my batteries last longer than other people's batteries.

Its also not a good idea to use them in extramly hot temperatures, as that will also shorten the battert life.

I just conditioned the battery properly when i first got it, and never let it get too low (below 10%) the way Li-ion is ment to be used.

lionel said:

I just conditioned the battery properly when i first got it, and never let it get too low (below 10%) the way Li-ion is ment to be used.

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I did the same but recently it feels like my pbook is only getting 2 1/2 hours or so of battery. I reset the pram and the pmu. Still under warrenty so maybe I'll get the battery switched out. dunno.

I ususally run the battery pretty low on my iBook. I use it while sitting in bed and I don't like having the cord connected.

All of that stuff about fully discharging and recharging every time applies only to NiMH batteries. It's really not such a big deal with lithium-ion batteries. The only advantage to completely discharging and then completely recharging the battery is to recalibrate the battery meter. So just keep your laptop plugged in all the time, and when you need to use it on the battery, just unplug it. When you're done, just plug it back in.

Ok, but you guys think it's not a good idea to let it go below 10%? Then whenever I calibrate it every month let it stay on until it shuts itself down?

I tend to run off battery until it gets to about 10% or so (sometimes lower) then charge it to full in a single sitting. As soon as it's fully charged, I whip the magsafe out and run off battery again. The battery lasts long enough (~5 hours for 'normal' use) that it's not a pain, and performance doesn't seem to suffer

To be honest, the only reason I do this is because I am paranoid about leaving a fully charged battery plugged in to the mains. I know the green light on the charger means that no charging is occurring, but "back in the day" I've had laptop batteries degrade due to constantly being on charge and rarely discharge. Silly, I know - I should put it in the 'quirks and phobias' thread, I guess!

Haha my dad's old Sony Viao did that, he kept it constantly pllugged into an outlet and never used teh battery, now it only lasts approximately 4 minutes on the battery, booting up takes up most of the charge lol.

Ok, this is the first time calibrating my battery. I kept using the computer until it went to sleep, and the instruction booklet says to leave it like this for a couple of hours or so. My question is, how long will it sleep liek this before it turns off completely?!

Below 10% is fine, from what i've read don't let it hit 0%, at least not for long. Apparently this erases the circuit that "remembers" what a full charge is, in Li-Ion batteries... Or something like that, jeez its 4am gimmi a break :/

Basicly i just read this guide some guy with a PhD in chemical engineering wrote...

I tend to keep my MBP as charged as possible at all times and run off the fully charged batty (keeping the cord plugged into the wall) at all times when i am home.

My battery life has been terrible though

according to apple, you can keep it plugged in for a whole month, and just cycle it once a month...

as far as I know, the more u use it, the better it is (li-ion likes to be used, it likes having the electric current on a constant flow)

i let mine cycle weekly when im using it, but basically i used my own method after reading the section in the Manual of my powerbook that told me what to do
-chris

I never cut charging short if it isn't to at least 95%, for the whole "charge memory" thing stated above. I'm a bit bad about letting it go all the way down to zero from time to time, as I never think to just set it out to let it drain, and I never want to lose my data when I'm running off of battery life normally.

I let it go down to the point where it tells me to plug in my AC adapter. My battery after 23 cycles is actually 100 mAh above what the MacBook is rated at