Best for battery life?

Got a new 13" MBA, is there anything I should be doing to get the best battery life, such as leaving on charge for 24 hours and then allowing it to fully discharge, for example?

newbimac said:

Got a new 13" MBA, is there anything I should be doing to get the best battery life, such as leaving on charge for 24 hours and then allowing it to fully discharge, for example?

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Hi there.

You only need to fully discharge the battery once every few months in order to re-calibrate the fuel indicator. Instructions are on the Apple support website

My top tips are:

Don't regularly charge from the red zone as this is damaging to Lithium batteries.
Don't leave it on charge all the time.
Re-charge with smaller more frequent charges and this will keep your battery ions moving properly.

Cheers

So in terms of keeping the battery in good condition, if I get home and have 70% battery life left rather than just leave it in my bag and think 70% is enough to get me through tomorrow i'd be better off charging it back up to 100%?

Also is the a "sweet spot" or best compromise for screen brightness in terms of brightness vs battery life, i.e. does 50 % give a noticeable more battery life than say 60% or is it just what you'd expect?

Apple has a great article about this, I'd highly recommend giving it a once over:

Apple - Batteries - Notebooks

Screen brightness doesn't matter as much as it used to in this era of LED-backlit screens. The power consumption is significantly lower than traditional CCFL-backlit screens. I'd say the differences are negligible at any brightness level in terms of battery runtime. Where you can really maximize your runtime is in the software you use - particularly playing videos in a browser and other CPU-intensive tasks can significantly degrade your runtime.

The thing to do is Use It but don't Abuse it.

Never let the battery run down until the unit turns off by itself. That is very bad for the battery.

Shootist said:

Never let the battery run down until the unit turns off by itself. That is very bad for the battery.

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Not according to Apple. Please read.

cwa107 said:

Not according to Apple. Please read.

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Have you read that article?
No where in it does it say to Completely discharge the battery. It also does not say not to completely discharge the battery, which can be confusing to some people.

It also says, Quote

If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.

End Quote

That does not mean to Completely drain the battery. It does mean to use the battery by discharging it and then recharging it without giving any specs on how much to discharge before you recharge it. It is just to keep the Electrons moving in the battery, as stated earlier in the article.

If you do some searches on how to care for lithium batteries they will tell you that completely discharging them is not good for the battery.

And although the Mac, or any, notebook will shut off when the battery gets to a certain point it really does not Turn Off completely. It will go into a sleep mode state which will also draw power until the battery is Completely drained.

Thanks.

Shootist said:

Have you read that article?
No where in it does it say to Completely discharge the battery. It also does not say not to completely discharge the battery, which can be confusing to some people.

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Sure it does.

Apple refers to this process as "calibration" and it does refer to completely discharging and recharging the battery:

Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance

Shootist said:

Have you read that article?
No where in it does it say to Completely discharge the battery. It also does not say not to completely discharge the battery, which can be confusing to some people.

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I think what "cwa107" is saying is...no where in the Apple battery article does it say that completely discharging a battery till the computer shuts off...is "bad" for the battery.

Since this is an Apple article...if discharging the battery until the computer shuts off was bad for the battery...then the Apple article would probably mention this as a "bad thing to do". Since it does not..."cwa107" is probably pointing out...that making such a statement may lead folks to incorrect conclusions.

Shootist said:

If you do some searches on how to care for lithium batteries they will tell you that completely discharging them is not good for the battery.

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I completely agree with you...that there are probably some articles on the internet that say this. Also consider that there are LOTS & LOTS of misleading information on the internet...and not everything is correct.

Since this is an internet forum for Macintosh computers...and Apple products...our best information to follow for the maintenance & use of Apple computers & products...is to follow what Apple recommends. Which in this case...is the Apple battery maintenance article linked earlier.

- Nick

Thanks Nick.

Batteries are not a precise science. So, our policy on Mac-Forums is to point to Apple's specific recommendations.

Yes, there are vastly differing views on what's best for notebook batteries. But what we've found over time here is that if you occasionally do a calibration as Apple recommends, it tends to produce very good results.

cwa107 said:

Yes, there are vastly differing views on what's best for notebook batteries.

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Boy is there ever!!!

- Nick

cwa107 said:

Sure it does.

Apple refers to this process as "calibration" and it does refer to completely discharging and recharging the battery:

Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance

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Really you have to start reading the articles you are posting links to.

QUOTE:

Portables with built-in batteries
Current Apple portable computer batteries are pre-calibrated and do not require the calibration procedure outlined in this article. These computers use batteries that should be replaced only by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

MacBook

MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009) and later

MacBook Air

MacBook Air, all versions

MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) and later
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) and later
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) and later


END QUOTE:


In the end everyone will do as they like, and that is the way I like it.
So you put your money down and you take your chances.

Have a great day.

Shootist said:

Really you have to start reading the articles you are posting links to.

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I have read them. Yes, they are pre-calibrated and don't require a initial calibration. But this article, in tandem with the previous article refer to specific circumstances where calibration is a desirable process.

The point in question was whether it was ever necessary (or recommended) to completely drain and recharge the battery. As noted, there are circumstances in which it is recommended.

I must disagree.

And I will continue to post my point of view from years of personal experience.

Thanks and have a great Saturday.

Shootist said:

I must disagree.

And I will continue to post my point of view from years of personal experience.

Thanks and have a great Saturday.

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And that's fine. The reality is, battery chemistry is not a precise science and experiences will vary. While, we as staff tend to lean toward Apple's recommendations here, I've had personal experiences that echo your own opinion.

I've worked in IT for a little over a decade and in a past life have been responsible for the administration of several hundred laptops (mostly Dells and Lenovos). I'd say the vast majority of those laptops sat docked and fully charged for most of their lives - and those batteries would have decent life even after 3-4 years (their average service life).

With that said, I've seen members here who were religious about doing a calibration once per month and have had battery health reported at 98% after a full year of usage. So, it's really kind of a crapshoot.

cwa107 said:

So, it's really kind of a crapshoot.

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That is an understatement.

My oldest Dell i8200 had the original battery last 6+ years before finally giving up the ghost. And I used it mainly plugged in as the battery life was so bad on that notebook to begin with.
The C610 Latitudes lasted forever. P3 in the C610s and P4 in the Inspiron.

Shootist said:

That is an understatement.

My oldest Dell i8200 had the original battery last 6+ years before finally giving up the ghost. And I used it mainly plugged in as the battery life was so bad on that notebook to begin with.
The C610 Latitudes lasted forever. P3 in the C610s and P4 in the Inspiron.

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That's interesting - I had an Inspiron 8200 as well - that was the first new notebook I'd ever purchased (for myself). We also had a fleet of C510s at work (which I believe were very similar to the C610 - I think the C510s were Celerons, while the 610s had P3s). And my experience was pretty much identical to yours.

The i8200 was my first personal notebook also and guess what. It is still running. I used it daily for the last 9+ years. Used it until I got my new Dell Latitude E6420 and the 15" MBP. Had to change out the fans on it about a year ago and as stated above the battery/ies are no good anymore but it still runs fine. I did upgrade the CPU from the original 1.8GHz to a 2.4 GHZ and changed out the video card to a Latitude model that had more VRAM. But in doing so I had to force update the BIOS to the Latitude for the V card to work correctly.

To bad you can't do any of that with Mac's. I plan on updating my E6420 from the i5 to a i7 CPU when they come down in price a year or so from now.

Shootist said:

The i8200 was my first personal notebook also and guess what. It is still running. I used it daily for the last 9+ years. Used it until I got my new Dell Latitude E6420 and the 15" MBP. Had to change out the fans on it about a year ago and as stated above the battery/ies are no good anymore but it still runs fine. I did upgrade the CPU from the original 1.8GHz to a 2.4 GHZ and changed out the video card to a Latitude model that had more VRAM. But in doing so I had to force update the BIOS to the Latitude for the V card to work correctly.

To bad you can't do any of that with Mac's. I plan on updating my E6420 from the i5 to a i7 CPU when they come down in price a year or so from now.

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LOL, it seems we have more in common than we originally thought. My i8200 had the 2GHz CPU as I recall - and I later upgraded that (maybe less than a year in) to the 2.4GHz, which I believe was the top of the line P4m. Come to think of it, that was my first exposure to Arctic Silver too..... which I use religiously now in building my systems.

I never did change out the video card - although as I recall there was an NVIDIA workstation class card that they put in the one variant of the i8200/C820. The mobile Radeon 9000 was a pretty good card in its day, but I had considered upgrading it. That was around the time I decided that I didn't like gaming on a laptop. So, I sold the i8200 off to a friend and went with the m700. I kept the m700 until I bought my first MBP (a Core Duo model). I still say the screens they used in the i8200 and the m700 (TrueBright?) were superior to the panels they used in contemporary Macs and even rivaled the one in my CD MBP. Although the 1600x1200 native resolution was killer on the i8200 (I think I permanently altered my vision looking at that thing for hours - and if you remember, Windows XP had very limited graphics/font scaling).

As far as I know, my buddy still has that i8200 and it's chugging along happily. I think I bought that machine around 2002? I paid around $1600 for it at the time - but that machine has had a remarkable lifespan. I still like Dells although they've come under fire for their quality in recent years.

Ah, but I digress....

Hello guys,

I've just re-visited the thread, it can be a very emotive subject I agree, because there are so many variables involved and equipment suppliers just seem so focussed on run-time that the actual health issue gets lost in the wash.

My usual source of reference for all things battery is this site,
How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

There are many more I know but the site seems well balanced.

Cheers