Keeping MacBook plugged in at desk

Chives · 12 Jun 2015 at 12:33

At the moment I'm using my 2013 MBA at a desk hooked up to a monitor and speakers, which uses up the battery fairly quickly over a day. I'm likely to use my laptop like this for quite a while, and so I was wondering - would keeping the Mac plugged into the charger, and then only unplugging when leaving the house be harmful to the battery?

MacRS4 · 12 Jun 2015 at 13:30

All of my MBPs have been treated this way, and never had any issues.

Terminal_Boy · 12 Jun 2015 at 13:45

Running the battery flat once in a while doesn't hurt, but I'm on my 3rd MBP that's spent 95% of their life with the charger connected and the batteries have all lasted 2-3 years.

lamboman · 12 Jun 2015 at 15:01

If you're going to do this, if I recall correctly Apple recommend unplugging the machine while docked and letting the battery drop to around 50%, once a week. In other words, what you're wanting to do is fine and isn't going to cause any problems.

Chives · 13 Jun 2015 at 18:02

MacRS4 said:
All of my MBPs have been treated this way, and never had any issues.

Terminal_Boy said:
Running the battery flat once in a while doesn't hurt, but I'm on my 3rd MBP that's spent 95% of their life with the charger connected and the batteries have all lasted 2-3 years.

lamboman said:
If you're going to do this, if I recall correctly Apple recommend unplugging the machine while docked and letting the battery drop to around 50%, once a week. In other words, what you're wanting to do is fine and isn't going to cause any problems.

Fantastic. Thank you all. I've googled but don't seem to be able to find any official Apple guidance that is definitive on this issue, does anybody have a link please?

momo56 · 15 Jun 2015 at 15:36

http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/#macbook

The 50% is for long term storage.

Apple used to have advice on discharging the battery frequently but they removed that now. There is no definitive guide. There was a comparison on macrumours between a heavily used MBP and one that was plugged in most of the time. The difference was about (1-2%) so it doesn't really matter.

Plus you're covered by the warranty anyway.

edit: found the link, turns out they health on both of them was the same.

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads...ooks-with-different-usage-for-a-year.1807352/

Chives · 16 Jun 2015 at 15:50

momo56 said:
http://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/#macbook

The 50% is for long term storage.

Apple used to have advice on discharging the battery frequently but they removed that now. There is no definitive guide. There was a comparison on macrumours between a heavily used MBP and one that was plugged in most of the time. The difference was about (1-2%) so it doesn't really matter.

Plus you're covered by the warranty anyway.

edit: found the link, turns out they health on both of them was the same.

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads...ooks-with-different-usage-for-a-year.1807352/

Thank you very much, will have a read. I'm surprised Apple don't have guidance on things like this, as I imagine many Mac users do a similar thing to me.

iraiguana · 16 Jun 2015 at 22:47

Modern batteries with sensible chargers (such as that found in recent apple products) no longer suffers from this issue.

Use your new devices however you please, but regular deep discharging of the battery (running it flat every day) will cause more degradation than only using 50% of it.

englishpremier · 16 Jun 2015 at 23:18

I leave my mid 2011 air plugged nearly all the time. My battery health is reported at 93% compared to the original design charge.

The temperature is of course higher when plugged in, but only by a couple of degrees.

Battery life drops quickly when unplugged. I get about 3 hours or so, compared to close to 5 hours when new.

Marmot · 16 Jun 2015 at 23:20

1445 cycles on my 2010 white Macbook battery and counting. Normally it's run flat and recharged.

ikillbears · 17 Jun 2015 at 11:03

Osprey said:
1445 cycles on my 2010 white Macbook battery and counting. Normally it's run flat and recharged.

:/

mine :

englishpremier · 17 Jun 2015 at 11:48

That battery has had it. Probably time for a replacement.

ikillbears · 23 Jun 2015 at 18:42

well its still kicking. no real need.

englishpremier · 23 Jun 2015 at 20:45

Haha true. How long does it last on a charge? Most people use their laptops as they did their old desktops these days. That is plugged in at home.

ikillbears · 24 Jun 2015 at 17:55

it depends what im using it for, obviously, but i have noticed that if im watching twitch, it drains faster than it used to. if im just browsing, nothing that wouldn't really concern you. I'm never far from a power point any way, even on the train they have them

gjrc · 25 Jun 2015 at 10:27

how do you get the battery stats?

shiver · 25 Jun 2015 at 11:32

coconutBattery is a good app for it

tightdraw · 26 Jun 2015 at 19:01

Basically what I've been doing with my Air for the past 2 years. Probably take it out of the office once every few weeks and I haven't noticed any deterioration in that time.