Macbook Air Battery: KEEP PLUGGED or KEEP ON RECHARGING CYCLE?

Hi,

MUSIKERO wrote:
Should I keep my Macbook Air plugged, or unplug every full charging for plugging after 5 hours usage or when battery is only 5%?

I think it is better to keep our MBA plugged at all time but perform the calibration once a month to reduce the cycles count as I believe the Health of the battery is depends on the cycles count.

cheers.

Hi,

The battery memory would refer to the cycles count.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1490

Strictly follow the recommendations above and you should be safe. I cant see any contradiction here...

Cheers.

The battery memory effect is not applicable to lithium ion/polymer batteries. It applies primarily to older battery technologies (nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium). For those older batteries, if you regularly only partially discharged them before recharging them, the battery would eventually only hold the average of your typical recharge point (this is what was referred to as "memory"). Lithium ion/polymer batteries don't suffer from this issue. There is no one point which is better than any other with respect to the actual health of the battery. However, the more you run on battery, the more quickly you'll work up cycles.

I agree with the former - the new LiPoly batteries don't develop a memory problem, but in my experience it's better to run the battery as long as you reasonably can, charge fully, then run on the battery again. I work desktop support for a large company and have over 1000 laptops in my charge for support. I've seen way too many batteries fail early (or fail to hold an adequate charge) if it's charged most of the time. I find too many folks having to get batteries earlier than they should because when they finally do use them on battery, the charge just isn't as long as fully good battery. My last Macbook battery had full capacity when I sold it (4 years) working it that way. My current other (PC) laptop is only a year old, but still holds a full charge under the same conditions. Only time will tell with that one.

I'm sorry but I just got a little confused...

By agreeing with the former one, do you mean that we should keep it plugged?

Sorry for being stupid but I'm not really good at English so...

Thanks 😉

Hi,

It's up to you. The bottom line is to perform the calibration every month if you always get your machine plug in. If you dont plug in your machine that often, just use the machine and let it drains completely, recharge completely, drains completely again and so on. Just make sure that the battery juice flows would maintain the performance of the battery.

Cheers.

Hi,

Yes. So that the juice which remain at the "bottom" can flow.

Cheers. 😉

Yes. Batteries are kept at better health when used. Keeping any system plugged in all the time will shorten the life of a laptop battery. I simply charge when needed. When the charge is done, I unplug and use it until it needs to charge again. With the MBA, it's great because of the long battery life per charge. I rarely have to carry my supply with me.

Read Apple's own support documents on our batteries and battery usage. Keeping it plugged in is fine as long as you periodically (once a month is fine) use it on battery and periodically "calibrate" it.


This is not a windoze pc that you are using and Apple has done the research and provided the resources.

Try the using the mac the mac way and learn it rather than trying to make it into your standard pc.

You are better off keeping the Macbook Air plugged in rather than unplug it and use it. As long as you calibrate the battery once a month, it's more important to preseve your cycles.

When you have your macbook air, the battery is only charged once it gets below 95%. If you keep the laptop plugged in, the battery will be charged every once in a while (maybe every few days or so?) to top it off at 100%. Note that the battery would have to be charged 20 times like this to be considered a full cycle. For more info on cycles, see http://www.apple.com/batteries/

This is my first computer with built in batteries, and was really the only concern I had with the design of the Macbook Air before I bought it. If I ever do need to have the battery replaced, it would be $129. That's a low enough price that I'm not going to really worry too much about the battery life other than calibrating it once a month.

http://www.apple.com/support/macbookair/service/battery/

According to Apple ( http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html), "leaving your portable plugged in all the time" is not recommended. They go on to say that "an ideal use would be a commuter who uses her notebook on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge". As previous poster stated, this helps to keep the juices flowing.

From experience, it's best to disconnect the power adapter after charging once it is finished charging to 100%, and use your device until you need to charge again, whether it's at 80% or 25%. Also, it's important to calibrate the battery once every 1 to 2 months to keep the battery monitor accurate.

Cheers

My MacBook Air 13" started at 7 hour charge when I opened it and started using it just after Christmas. Now it recharges to just 3 hours capacity... I have my doubts about any battery that does that. I use it as suggested. Any ideas?

Did anyone actually read what Apple says about battery use???

As long as you use the battery occasionally, there is no issue with keeping the laptop plugged in when you are not mobile.

Issues arise when the battery gets NO use, or is stored (FULLY CHARGED). Yes, you can consrue being plugged in all the time as being stored, so use the battery.

I have kept countless Li batteries plugged in most of the time with no issues.

Too much time is spent worrying about this. Use the Air, recalibrate from time to time and enjoy.