At home, should the device be kept on charge, or the battery should be used?

[yukari]

My advice:

At home, take it OFF the charger 3-4 times a week, and let the battery drop down to about 35-40%, then plug it back in.

At home, UNPLUG the charger from the wall at night while the computer is shut down or sleeping. Plug it back in, in the morning.

Leaving the MacBook plugged into the charger "too much" seems to affect the battery adversely, and I believe this is a prime cause of "swollen batteries".

My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.

I agree!

 

[NomadCRY]

I think the OP already knows all the answers. I think he knows batteries have limited and somewhat unpredictable life, so Bob may need a replacement after two years while Lucky Joe's will last for the five or six years he uses the device. It's pot-luck, it's the random finger of chance poking you in the eye or not, just like some folk reach a ripe old age and some are stricken while tragically young. I refer you to Ecclesiastes 3:1.

Seeking to extend a battery's life by adopting this or that charging pattern is a futile quest and doomed to failure, you'd have better prospects seeking the holy grail. Just use the computer and stop fretting about the battery, you know it makes sense.

Jesus christ.

 

[NomadCRY]

My advice:

At home, take it OFF the charger 3-4 times a week, and let the battery drop down to about 35-40%, then plug it back in.

At home, UNPLUG the charger from the wall at night while the computer is shut down or sleeping. Plug it back in, in the morning.

Leaving the MacBook plugged into the charger "too much" seems to affect the battery adversely, and I believe this is a prime cause of "swollen batteries".

My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.

+1 for this.

I generally haven't cared that much about my battery, until COVID had me working from home for last 7 months where I use my MBP now as my primary work computer. Having read more stories that plugging MBP in all the time (and especially overnight) can lead to battery swelling issues, this is what I now do.

- MBP plugged in from 9am - 6:30pm as I'm working closed-clamshell into external monitor/kb/tp
- Once done work at ~6:30pm, put computer to sleep, and unplug
- If I ever need to use the computer for personal use in the evening, I use it unplugged like a laptop on battery. On weeknights, battery may get down to 70/80% on avg when using it
- Leave unplugged overnight
- In morning, plug back in right before starting work again
- On weekends, only using as a laptop on battery, not plugged in. Plug back in Mon morning per above

This works for me. Very small effort on my part, fits the way I work / use my laptop, and enough time on-battery that should help keep battery degradation minimized.

Thank you guys. Best way I think.

 

[NomadCRY]

Don't buy into those saying you can keep it plugged-in all the time with Catalina. Its a crock.

See https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...to.2240183/page-5?post=28654712#post-28654712

And also

How to Care for Your Laptop’s Battery (So It Lasts Longer)

The best laptop battery strategy is never using a battery. Okay, fine: here are the realistic ways to maintain good capacity on a battery you actually use.

www.ifixit.com

.

Oh my God thank you so much. I read tons of articles but never seen this.

Looks like I'm gonna do the @Fishrrman's way which you and @Christopher Kim agreed.

Thank all of y'all.

 

[yukari]

I use Charge Limiter to keep mine at 55% for most of the time. Then I will increase the Charge Limiter to 80% and after that unplug and use it until it drops to ~40% and plug it back into the charger and set my Charge Limiter to 55% again.

I usually repeat this process once every week or two.