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I killed 2 macbook pro batteries in 2 years by not following this advice. Now I make sure to unplug and carrying around the laptop whenever I can. Eliminating a

I killed 2 macbook pro batteries in 2 years by not following this advice. Now I make sure to unplug and carrying around the laptop whenever I can. Eliminating all wired peripherals was a key step to actually doing this in practise.

lutorm 17y ago
I thought the MBP battery switched off charging when it was full, so that it charges up the battery and then disconnects it if you are plugged in. When the battery has self-discharged some amount, it tops it up again. But maybe I misunderstood. The flipside, though, is that Li-ion batteries also age from discharge cycles. So I really don't think it's better to run the battery down, charge it up, and repeat. The number of charge cycles is limited, so I bet that will kill it faster. If you really want to save the battery, you can take it out and put it in the fridge when you are plugged in.
- jonknee 17y ago
  > If you really want to save the battery, you can take it out and put it in the fridge when you are plugged in. Unfortunately MacBook Pro batteries are not removable anymore. That really grinds my gears.
  - moe 17y ago
    Well, technically you can and it doesn't look too hard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42qcvlftmcM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42qcvlftmcM But it seems apple is not officially selling those batteries, which makes my gears grind. I don't want to walk to an apple store or send my laptop away just to have the batter swapped.
- mcculley 17y ago
  Yes, you are correct: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1909 http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1909 At least, that is the way it is supposed to work. I've been through a few batteries that were replaced under warranty free of charge by Apple for premature failure. I've noticed that one of my 4 MagSafe chargers is not charging correctly any more even though it can power the computer just fine. It took me a while to figure out that was the case as I kept incorrectly concluding that the problem was in the battery. There have been reported problems with the chargers failing in this way. I think that because a modern laptop can now have intelligence in the charger, the battery itself, and the power management functions of the laptop, we are seeing problems that are hard to debug.
chrisolsen 17y ago
I have also gone through 2 batteries in just over 2 years. The first was fully recharged quite a bit seeing as I was always working remotely. The second battery went through much fewer charge cycles since I was working from home and I was making attempts at improving the life of the second. Each of the batteries I purchased died out at about the same time. Unless I got two bad ones, it seems to me that mac batteries weren't of the best quality during the time of my purchases.

lutorm 17y ago

I thought the MBP battery switched off charging when it was full, so that it charges up the battery and then disconnects it if you are plugged in. When the battery has self-discharged some amount, it tops it up again. But maybe I misunderstood. The flipside, though, is that Li-ion batteries also age from discharge cycles. So I really don't think it's better to run the battery down, charge it up, and repeat. The number of charge cycles is limited, so I bet that will kill it faster. If you really want to save the battery, you can take it out and put it in the fridge when you are plugged in.

jonknee 17y ago
> If you really want to save the battery, you can take it out and put it in the fridge when you are plugged in. Unfortunately MacBook Pro batteries are not removable anymore. That really grinds my gears.
- moe 17y ago
  Well, technically you can and it doesn't look too hard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42qcvlftmcM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42qcvlftmcM But it seems apple is not officially selling those batteries, which makes my gears grind. I don't want to walk to an apple store or send my laptop away just to have the batter swapped.
mcculley 17y ago
Yes, you are correct: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1909 http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1909 At least, that is the way it is supposed to work. I've been through a few batteries that were replaced under warranty free of charge by Apple for premature failure. I've noticed that one of my 4 MagSafe chargers is not charging correctly any more even though it can power the computer just fine. It took me a while to figure out that was the case as I kept incorrectly concluding that the problem was in the battery. There have been reported problems with the chargers failing in this way. I think that because a modern laptop can now have intelligence in the charger, the battery itself, and the power management functions of the laptop, we are seeing problems that are hard to debug.

chrisolsen 17y ago

I have also gone through 2 batteries in just over 2 years. The first was fully recharged quite a bit seeing as I was always working remotely. The second battery went through much fewer charge cycles since I was working from home and I was making attempts at improving the life of the second. Each of the batteries I purchased died out at about the same time. Unless I got two bad ones, it seems to me that mac batteries weren't of the best quality during the time of my purchases.