preserving macbook battery

- Don't let the battery go completely flat. Do not maintain a full charge for weeks or months at a time, whether it is in use or not, but especially if letting the computer sit for a few months.
- If not using the computer for more than five months, remove it from the computer.

vix wrote:

that quote is from the apple website on the macbook. what does the first point mean? does it mean to take the battery out when the battery life reaches 50%?

Yes, when they state that you should remove the battery from the MacBook after you've run it down to 50%, they mean you should remove the battery from the MacBook after you've run it down to 50%. That's _if_ you're going to store it for more than 5 months, though. If it's less, then don't remove it.

Are you planning on storing your MacBook for an extended period?

Thus spake Mike Rosenberg:

Yes, when they state that you should remove the battery from the MacBook after you've run it down to 50%, they mean you should remove the battery from

the MacBook after you've run it down to 50%. That's _if_ you're going to store it for more than 5 months, though. If it's less, then don't remove it.

I would add that if you don't need the battery (e.g., you use your computer always plugged in to AC power), I would remove the battery as instructed and put the battery in whenever you wish to go travellin' (even downstairs). Of course it means putting the battery back in occasionally to charge it back to 50%. This should extend the life of your battery several years. It's the heat of being constantly charged and installed in the MacBook that shortens the life of the battery, as well as the number of charge cycles it goes through.

Enjoy,

On 2007-01-18 12:12:35 -0600, vix said:

i just got my first ever mac.... and i love it!!!!! much better than pc's there so like 20th century

btw vista is a copy of os x 10.5 leopard

And a purely-superficial, bad copy, at that.

And under the hood is where it really counts - Mac OS X is far ahead in its system design. Windows Vista is largely still the same old Windows under the hood, in contrast.

Okay, so why are you concerned about what you're supposed to do with the battery when you're storing your Mac? Nothing you quoted applies to normal everyday use.

Mike Rosenberg:

Okay, so why are you concerned about what you're supposed to do with the battery when you're storing your Mac? Nothing you quoted applies to normal everyday use.

I think he's looking forward to the day that his battery starts to croak even though he hasn't actually *used* it (e.g., being plugged into AC power for 90 percent of the computer's life).

See my earlier post in this thread regarding a suggestion for "everyday use". Enjoy,

John E. wrote:

I would add that if you don't need the battery (e.g., you use your computer always plugged in to AC power), I would remove the battery as instructed and put the battery in whenever you wish to go travellin' (even downstairs). Of course it means putting the battery back in occasionally to charge it back to 50%. This should extend the life of your battery several years. It's the heat of being constantly charged and installed in the MacBook that shortens the life of the battery, as well as the number of charge cycles it goes through.

Enjoy,
--
John English

According to the instruction book for my MacBook Pro, I am supposed to run the battery all the way down and recharge it every couple of months to "calibrate" it. So it sounds as if it is supposed to go through
periodic charge cycles to maintain its storage capacity.

--- Brian

That seems to work for me - I run a (non critical) video render every couple of months on battery power to fully drain the battery. I'll plug it back in when it starts whining about 'immediate shutdown' blah blah. 3 and change years, still get a good 2.5 hours casual use, and 90 minutes of a video render on battery. G4 866 12" AlBook, if that matters.

Will

I don't believe that this is intended, at least directly, to maintain its storage capacity. I believe that this process is meant to give an accurate measurement of the current storage capacity. It may well be that one use of this would be to help manage things for longer battery life.

That's also my understanding, and is certainly more consistent with the term 'calibrate' that Apple uses in this context.

LiIon batteries shouldn't need charge cycles; to the contrary, charge cycles shorten their life (though they do, as you point out, give the microcontroller an estimate of capacity)

The reason for the "charge it up to 50%" thing when the battery isn't being used is because if the battery goes down too low, it won't charge at all any more. The reason for bringing it _down_ to 50% is that the battery ages faster -- much faster -- when it is full.

This page goes into all of it:

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

And reminds me I ought to see if my old TiBook battery is still good. --
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can result in a fully-depreciated one.