Should I keep my macbook plugged or let battery drain then recharge?

I just got 1st MBP and wanted to know whats best? Let battery drain to 15%- 20% then recharge to full...or.... when near a wall unit, keep it plugged in?

It makes no real difference although if you are near a wall outlet it makes sense to run from the AC adaptor. However, if you always run from the AC adaptor then periodically you want to use the battery so it is in use or once every couple of months do this: Apple Portables- Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance.

Similar Messages

  • Should  I leave my macbook plugged in when I'm not using it?

    Should I leave my macbook charging cable plugged in when I'm not using it?

    It won't hurt anything (i.e., it won't overcharge). It isn't a good idea to leave it plugged in 100% of the time. One common recommendation is to use the battery at least one cycle per month without ever deeply discharging it. Ways to do that would be to use it on battery power until it is discharged to 50% twice during a month or to 80% 5 times during a month or some other combination that adds up to roughly 100% usage once per month at a minimum. Another way of stating that is that you should use the battery sometimes.

  • Plugged in my new iPhone to charge before letting battery drain to 0%. Did I ruin it?

    I plugged in my new iPhone 6 to charge before letting the battery drain to 0%. It was at about 86% when I plugged it in to my computer to restore everything from my previous phone and then left it to charge to 100%. Will my battery be ruined because of my failure to let it drain before charging it? Pls help!!

    You aren't supposed to let it drain fully before charging it - in fact, repeatedly doing so can damage the battery.
    Charge it whenever it is convenient for you. Try to avoid running it all the way out unless necessary.
    Apple does recommend running it out about once per month, and you can also run it to 0% if the battery gauge seems to be incorrect.
    ~Lyssa

  • MacBook Air Mid-2013 Battery Draining FAST (about 5-6 hours at best)

    I have been having problems with my Mac's battery draining very fast even on light usage. Simply using Safari will drain my battery in 5 to 6 hours, when my laptop would last the stated 12+ hours before when browsing the internet. I followed these steps yesterday...
    Reset com.apple.finder.plist, com.apple.sidebarlists.plist and com.apple.desktop.plist
    - Open a new finder window
    - Choose Go > Go to folder. Your destination is ~/Library/Preferences
    - Locate com.apple.finder.plist and rename it to com.apple.finder_backup.plist
    - Locate com.apple.sidebarlists.plist and rename it tocom.apple.sidebarlists_backup.plist
    - Do the same for com.apple.desktop.plist. Note: This file was missing in my folder. If so: nevermind.
    - Open Terminal and type: killall Dock
    Reset your SMC:
    - shut down your system
    - plug in the magsafe
    - hold down shift+ctrl+alt+power for a second, then release. Your magsafe should blink
    - do this three times
    Reset PRAM:
    - turn on your mbp and hold down alt+cmd+p+r immediately
    - hold down the keys until you hear the startup sound the second time
    - release the keys and let the MBP boot.
    Give your system some time to adjust to the changes: after a while it should show you a much increased battery time.
    ...but to no avail, it didn't have any effect on my machine. I'm not sure what to do. :'( Activity monitor shows Safari as having a "10.7 average energy impact" (I don't know what that means in all honesty) and is the highest consumer on the list, with Dropbox being number two on the list saying the average is 1.9 at the moment. I quit background applications so I know that's not an issue — I don't know where to go from here. Also, my battery max/health is 6909 at 97% health, so I do know it's getting a near-full charge. I miss having 12+ hours of battery as that's what I bought this for. Should I go to the Genius Bar and see what they can do?

    Hi hawknelson24,
    It sounds like you have been on the right track. If you are looking for more options for troubleshooting your battery issue before potentially taking your Air in for service, you may find the following article helpful:
    Mac notebooks: All about batteries
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1446
    Regards,
    - Brenden

  • MacBook Air 2012 Severe Battery Drains While Sleeping

    Hi there,
    This isn't any new but I've looked through all posts I could.
    I got a refurbished MacBook Air 2012 in July. In the first 2 weeks it worked fine (or I was noticed).
    Then I noticed the battery drains fast while the system sleeps.
    I have done tests in the past weeks; almost 20% of battery drain after slept a day.
    I have tried everything I could: turn off PowerNap, no wake from BT devices, erase and reinstall OS
    None of above helped.
    I have tried to modify hibernatemode to 25 and it worked ok; 2% of battery dropped after 12 hours.
    I took this to Apple in Taiwan and they told me they couldn't do anything about it because they think it's software conflicts which does't really have a solution but wait for OS updates. They did run a diagnostic and everything turns out to be fine.
    I just did reinstall the OS again and I'll see whats going on tomorrow morning.
    If still not getting better I will just use hibernatemode 25.
    Anything recommandation is more than welcome.
    Thanks.
    My OS version is 10.8.3.

    Tried hibernatemode to 25 and still not helpful at all.
    Battery drained 8% after 10 hours of sleep while mode 25 should put my macbook air into deep sleep and consume very minimal power.
    <Edited by Host>

  • My iphone 4S 64gb factory unlocked keep freezing when running especially the music and photo app; and it keep rebooting itself after every total battery drain; i'm on ios 5.1

    i upgraded to the ios 5.1; and i realized that each time i have a comple battery drain and the phone goes off; when i connect the iphone to charge; it keeps rebooting itself. And the phone freezes when in the middle of applications; i have to stop the app and start it several times before it works; i have an iphone 4S 64gb factory unlocked

    At first drain the battery till the iPhone gets off for many times isnt really a good thing read this:
    http://www.apple.com/batteries/
    after that I think the only way that will help you is restore the iPhone and the bad news are that you should do it without restore a backup after cause you're problem could be saved in the backup of the phone too so you must manually reinstall apps, preferences etc etc

  • Macbook Pro running slow/battery drains when closed

    Hi!
    I have a Macbook Pro 13-inch, mid-2012 running OS X 10.9. It recently started running extremley slow and the spinning ball pops up all the time when I try to do basically anything, but mostly when I try to do more than one thing at a time. Sometimes it will run normal, but then slow up. The spinning ball also pops up basically everytime that I try to play a video or anything like that. The adobe flash plugin also seems to crash a lot.
    Also, when it is closed, it becomes very warm and the battery drains while it is closed. It seems like it doesn't really turn off when it closes.
    Anyone know what could be causing this?
    Thanks!

    I ended up having to take it in. Turned out there was a connection to the hard drive that was loose or something. I took it to a store in my city that specializes in macs so I didn't have to spend a fortune. Otherwise, I had someone else look at it and they said that it could have been from when I updated my computer, that something didn't download properly- which has been an issue in some computers.

  • Is keeping the your macbook plugged in while battery charged ok?

    Is it harmful to your macbooks overall battery life if you keep it plugged in if the battery is fully charged?

    It is OK to leave your battery hooked to the charger most of the time. The only time I unhook mine from the charger is when I calibrate. You should calibrate your battery once a month. Li-Ion batteries prefer small charges so anytime you want to charge is fine.
    The following links have good information about the MacBook and the care of it's battery.
    MacBook reduces processor speed when battery is removed while operating from an A/C adaptor
    Apple portable computer's battery does not show a full charge in Mac OS X
    Apple Notebook Batteries
    Lithium-ion Batteries
    MacBook: How to remove or install the battery
    Determining Battery Cycle Count
    Use and cleaning of MagSafe power connector
    Look here for some good tips about battery care.

  • Should I keep my MacBook Pro or exchange it for more Ram and SSD space?

    Hello,
    I decided to purchase a MacBook Pro 15 inch with Retina display. I thought I would just bite the bullet and get it with the upgraded 16gb Ram and 512 SSD as I want this computer to last me at least 5 years. I don't know exactly what I will be using it for but potentially I will be running a small business with it as well as using it for photos, some videos and all the other things we all use everyday. This brought the total price tag up to about $2900 before tax. Way more than I wanted to spend, but again, I plan on this being my last computer purchase for at least 5 years...and this would be my only computer...not a secondary one but the primary one.
    As I was asking the guy in Best Buy about any sales or discounts, he mentioned a MacBook Pro with retina display that was just retuned to the store by a lady that decided to go with a MacBook Air instead.  It had been opened but not used and was in perfect condition. The sales manager said he could sell that one to me for $470 off the normal price. The problem was, it was the base model and only had 8gb Ram and 256gb SSD storage. So, I had the option of buying the computer I wanted...that I know would last me for years and years, for $2,900 OR buy the base model for $1,729. What would you do?
    I decided to buy the base model as it was just to good a deal to pass up. Now, 2 days later, I don't know if I made the right decision. I know that 256gb of memory is not going to last me very long...especially considering how much more space modern software takes up nowadays...and its only getting worse. My solution is to just buy an external hard drive and store everything I don't immediately need on it. But I don't know if I'm being realistic as maybe it will be a major pain to constantly have to carry around an extra storage device. Then again, even if I had the 512 SSD model MacBook, I would still eventually run out of space and need an external drive. Has anyone else relied on an external device for their daily computing needs? Is it a major nuisance or easy to get by with?
    My bigger concern is that it only has 8gb of Ram and can NOT be upgraded in the future. 8gb ram is fine right now, especially with the flash drive and i7 quad core processor, but in a couple years, I'm afraid  it won't be enough and that ill be forced to purchase another computer. The sales manager said that because its a Mac and because of the "monster processor" that the 8gb of Ram will be more than enough for years to come. According to him, Macs require less Ram than PC's due to their operating system being much more efficient. (This is my first Mac so I'm a bit unfamiliar)
    So this is my dellima, should I return the base model and buy the one I originally wanted or should I make do with the base model and be thankful for the great deal I was able to get?
    Will the 8gb of Ram be enough in a few years? I realize that depends on what I'm using the computer for but, since I'm not sure what my needs will be in the next year, lets assume I'll be using it to run a small business as well as the typical storage of pictures and home videos, etc.
    Bottom line, will the 8gb of ram be enough to prevent the need to buy another computer for another 5 years or so or do I need to suck it up, return the base model, pay the extra $1,100 and get the 16gb of ram I originally wanted?
    Sorry for the long story, I just need some solid advice as money is tight and I want to make the right decision. I'd rather pay $1,100 extra now and not need to buy a new computer for 5-6 years than save the money now but have to buy a whole new computer in 1-2 years.  If however, the 8gb ram will still make for a solid computer in a few years, I will gladly save the money.
    Thanks in advance for your help. ;-)

    Generally (and in my opinion):
    1) do not buy any computer you cannot replace the hard drive and the RAM in.
    2) do NOT (EVER, EVER, EVER) purchase RAM or expended hard drive from any vendor (like Apple, Dell, etc).  they mark up the RAM
    purchase the lowest machine that will work for you and upgrade the RAM and hard drive down the road.    Just look at the price Apple charges for the upgrade from 4GB to 8 GB:
    Apple is charging the (4GB RAM + $100) for the 8GB upgrade.  You can easily get 8GB for $100.  later you should be able to get 8GB for $60.
    Same thing for the hard drives:
    Applis charging the price of (500GB + $100) for the 750GB drive.  I just bought a 750GB notebook drive for $99
    I, personally, would return the retina notebook for a MacBookPro that you can upgrade the hd and ram

  • Should I keep the headphones plugged in at all times

    I have a classic 160GB iPod, which is really cool. I have since I brought it kept the headphones connected to avoid damage to the amplifier chip ..... do I need to be concerned. I have a Bose Sound dock and still keep the headphones connected when I dock ... again do I need to ?
    Finally I have just brought a Digital radio adapter which uses the docking connector but it has a headphone output which also acts as an aerial for the digital radio. So the question is do I need to use both headphone sockets or should I take care to avoid damaging the output amplifiers by not having headphone output impedance .....
    Any help appreciated from Apple engineering support to re-assure me

    Jules1963 wrote:
    I have since I brought it kept the headphones connected to avoid damage to the amplifier chip .....
    Huh!?? What are you talking about?
    Jules1963 wrote:
    I have a Bose Sound dock and still keep the headphones connected when I dock ... again do I need to ?
    No, you can safely unplug them. Besides, in my opinion, leaving headphones plugged in all the time risks physical damage to the headphone jack in the iPod from bumps and what not. Also I have heard several cases of people accidentally breaking off the headphone plug inside the headphone jack.
    Patrick

  • How long should i keep my MBP plugged in?

    On my old laptop, I used to leave it plugged in nonstop. It seems as if, with my MBP, since i leave it plugged in for most of the day, the batterly life isn't that great....? Is this normal? Should I not be plugging in my laptop after it's done charging or overnight? please help, my old computer's battery died and I don't want that to happen my my MBP!
    -O

    Everytime you cycle the battery it looses a tiny bit of ability to charge. But if you don't cycle it, it also loses maximum capacity as well. The good compromise is to leave it plugged in whenever you can and then once a month or so, unplug it, do a total drain till it goes into automatic sleep mode, and leave it unplugged overnight to fully kill it in sleep. Then plug it in the next morning and use till it's up to 100% again. This will prevent use related loss while maintaining the maximum range of charge of the battery.

  • Leaving the Macbook plugged in w/battery out. Is it safe?

    I typically use my macbook on my external hdtv so i keep it plugged up with the battery removed. Is this safe to do or should i always unplug it when i'm not useing it.
    it just a hassle to plug it up everytime i want to use it. And i took the battery out because i'm not using it in the traditional method.
    Should i be concerned if i leave it plugged up? Will this do any harm?
    thanks
    ~chris

    cpage76 wrote:
    I typically use my macbook on my external hdtv so i keep it plugged up with the battery removed. Is this safe to do or should i always unplug it when i'm not useing it ... And i took the battery out because i'm not using it in the traditional method.
    Safe? Well, it won't harm the computer, but if you have important files on the computer, you're putting them at risk. If the power is lost - if there's a power outage, brownout, or you accidentally pull the power cord out, you're shutting the computer down in a very "harsh" manner - essentially crashing it - so your hard drive would undergo undue stress and wouldn't get the safe shutdown it requires to help safeguard your files.
    I highly recommend you keep the battery in. If you're permanently connecting it to the mains - which is fine - the battery isn't going to run down, so you're not wearing it out by having it connected.
    Matt

  • My macbook wont boot after battery drained during installation

    I was downloading updates for my software and my battery is running low. When the download was completed and installation is starting and on-going then my battery got drained and turned off. When I plugged / charged it and turned it on, it wont boot... Only the apple drawing comes out and keeps on booting but it wont go to the main display.... what should i do???

    i've got thad cd, it just doesn't work, i also downloaded a iligal version ( just to check if my original cd died, not to put it on my mac )
    but thad didn't work aswell,
    so any other suggestions?

  • Why does my Macbook Pro Retina's battery drain so quickly?

    Okay so I have Mavericks for my Macbook Pro retina ( I have been hesitant to update to Yosemite because I heard connecting to wifi takes longer and it slows down the laptop but at this point if it improves my laptop's battery life I might update anyway..). It is only about a year old I got it December of  2013. Lately I have been noticing that my laptop's battery has been draining so easily. It usually lasts about 4-5 hours (even thought ideally it would last about 7) but these days it has been lasting me barely 2 hours. How can I fix this? Will quitting applications like Google Chrome make it any better? Are there any apps or anything I can install that can help in extending my Mac's current battery life? Please, help. I really need my battery life to be way better than this :/
    Thank you.

    There are a variety of reasons that will affect battery run time.  Activity monitor may identify some culprits:
    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203184
    Google Chrome and its various parts have had a history of compatibility issues with OSX and has often been a resource hog.  I suggets deleting it.  I use Firefox.
    Here are a few Apple support articles, that may assist you:
    https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/batteries_power/
    Should you have any AV software or so called 'cleaning' or 'performance' applications, they are also detrimental to MBP operation and that may be relected in battery run time.
    Ciao.

  • The "not enough storage" window wont close when i press close and my phone also wont reset because my lock button doesnt work. what do i do? just let the battery drain then turn it on?

    the "not enough storage" window wont close when i press close and it wont reset because my lock button is broken. what do i do?

    Battery does not appear to charge
    Important: iPod touch cannot be charged with a FireWire-based power source.
    Verify that the power source being used is working properly.
    If connecting to a computer's USB port, verify it is a high-powered USB 2.0 port. Note: The USB ports on most keyboards don't provide enough power, so if you're connecting iPod touch to a keyboard, make sure it has a high-powered USB 2.0 port.
    Verify the computer is turned on and not in sleep or standby mode. If iPod touch is connected to a computer that's not turned on or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPod touch battery may drain.
    Try another USB port.
    Try charging from a USB charger if available.
    If that does not help, try another USB cable if available.
    Learn more about charging the battery.
    The Home button isn't working
    Put the iPod Touch to sleep.
    Wait a couple of seconds.
    Press the Home button.
    iPod Touch should wake up.
    If iPod Touch does not wake up, then iPod Touch should be serviced.
    Resources for Service
    http://support.apple.com/kb/he57
    https://selfsolve.apple.com

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