Is it ok to use my macbook air plugged in when I am at home watching movies or while doing other more battery demanding stuff and then plugging it out over night and letting it sleep on battery power? Does this on and of cycle of plugging and unplugging damage the battery in any way, damage in the sense of losing capacity and waring faster than usual ?
MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
It is ok.
Keep the computer plugged when processor intensive activities like playing games, watching movies of long duration,
installing software, etc.
Keep the computer plugged in whenever possible.
If you keep the computer always plugged in, make sure that at least twice a month
run it on battery until battery charge level drops to about 50-40%.
Please don’t discharge the battery completely. Discharging battery completely will reduce battery health.
For more useful info:
Section: Optimizing Battery Life
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204054
Best.
If I have convenient access to an electrical outlet I always use it. With one exception (see it below) the more you use the battery the more it is depleted. Apple guarantees current notebook batteries will hold 80% of the full original charge for 1000 battery cycles. If you routinely run down the battery and recharge you can reach this point in under 3 years and the drop-off is steep after that. (Note: when you get the warning that you are at or below 10% turn the computer off or plug it in immediately.)
The exception is that you should use the computer on battery power at least once or twice a month. Always keeping it plugged in can shorten battery life.
Is it ok if I use battery power for not intensive stuff, such as light web browsing and writing, and plug it in when watching movies ? Does alternating like this between the 2 states reduce battery life ?
You are overthinking it. It doesn't matter when you use the battery or when you plug it in. High intensity Applications will use the battery faster but it's not bad to use the battery with high intensive applications. The main thing is to make sure that you have enough of a charge when you need battery power. That's why I always plug it in when I can.
Today's battery can be plugged in anytime. Unlike older batteries we don't have wait to plug-in when the battery is nearly drained. If you use the battery for an hour and plug it in and then use it on battery for two hours and plug it in that's fine.
Plugged in vs not plugged in
