lawyergirl66

Q: should i shut down my macbook air each night

how often should i shut down my macbook air?

MacBook Air

Posted on Feb 19, 2014 6:07 PM

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Q: should i shut down my macbook air each night

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  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Feb 19, 2014 6:12 PM in response to lawyergirl66
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Feb 19, 2014 6:12 PM in response to lawyergirl66

    if youre not using it for a few hours

     

     

    leaving your macbook both ON charge AND in sleep mode is bad on the battery

     

     

    merely in sleep is another matter, which is fine.

     

     

     

    Considerations for the long life of your MacBook. Handling and environmental care tips

     

     

    General consideration of your MacBook battery

    Contrary to popular myths about notebook batteries, there is protection circuitry in your Macbook and therefore you cannot ‘overcharge’ your notebook when plugged in and already fully charged.


    However if you do not plan on using your notebook for several hours, turn it off (plugged in or otherwise), since you do not want your Macbook ‘both always plugged in and in sleep mode’.


    A lot of battery experts call the use of Lithium-Ion cells the "80% Rule", meaning use 80% of the full charge or so, then recharge them for longer overall life. The only quantified damage done in the use of Lithium Ion batteries are instances where the internal notebook battery is “often drained very low”, this is bad general use of your notebook battery.


    A person who has, for example, 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 40% remaining of a 100% charge has a better battery condition state than, say, another person who has 300 charge cycles on their battery and is recharging at say 10-15% remaining on a 100% charge. DoD (depth of discharge) is much more important on the wear and tear on your Macbook’s battery than the count of charge cycles. There is no set “mile” or wear from a charge cycle in specific. Frequent high depth of discharge rates (draining the battery very low) on a Lithium battery will hasten the lowering of maximum battery capacity.

     

    All batteries in any device are a consumable meant to be replaced eventually after much time, even under perfect use conditions.

     

     

    If the massive amount of data that exists on lithium batteries were to be condensed into a simplex, helpful, and memorable bit of information it would be:

     

    1. While realistically a bit impractical during normal everyday use, a lithium battery's longevity and its chemistry's health is most happy swinging back and forth between 20% and 85% charge roughly.

     

    2. Do not purposefully drain your battery very low (10% and less), and do not keep them charged often or always high (100%).

     

    3. Lithium batteries do not like the following:

    A: Deep discharges, as meaning roughly 10% or less on a frequent basis.

    B: Rapid discharges as referring to energy intensive gaming on battery on a frequent basis (in which case while gaming, if possible, do same on power rather than battery). This is a minor consideration.

    C: Constant inflation, as meaning always or most often on charge, and certainly not both in sleep mode and on charge always or often.

     

    From Apple on batteries:

    http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1446

    "Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time."

  • by dominic23,

    dominic23 dominic23 Feb 19, 2014 6:14 PM in response to lawyergirl66
    Level 8 (41,531 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 19, 2014 6:14 PM in response to lawyergirl66

    It is up to you. If you want it shutdown, shut it down.

     

    If you like it to be sleeping, sleep it.

     

    Best.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Feb 19, 2014 6:20 PM in response to lawyergirl66
    Level 8 (48,595 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 19, 2014 6:20 PM in response to lawyergirl66

    lawyergirl66 wrote:

     

    how often should i shut down my macbook air?

     

    It is not required to shut it down unless you are not going to use it for a long time (weeks).

     

    A MacBook Air that is allowed to sleep will enter "hibernation mode". This is a very low power mode that will not deplete a fully charged battery for about a month.

     

    I don't routinely shut down portable Macs, and have some whose batteries have lasted over seven years and well over 1000 charge cycles. Disuse is much more detrimental to a battery's longevity than routine use.