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superspiffy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 6, 2007
740
0
I have a 2.33ghz C2D MBP. Is it advisable to leave it plugged in all night? I've heard about overcharging but I don't know if it still applies. Is there a safe and practical procedure to maintain your battery and maximize its lifetime? I've always owned a desktop so I don't know the dos and dont's of laptops and their lithium batts.
 
How long is the battery cycle of a fully charged, 2.33Ghz C2D MBP, with the Battery Savings option chosen, backlighting dimmed to minimum levels, and sound off? I get around 3:30 hrs and I'm wondering if that's normal.
 
Well, the settings are a factor in how long it'll last, but it still comes down to how you were using the machine during those three and a half hours. I don't have long term experience with that sort of machine, but I'd say that three and a half hours is normal, maybe a little short.
 
When I turn the Better Energy Savings on and dim the screen down to ~4 or 5 bars, I only get about 2.5 hours at most of battery life. That's with BT off and wireless on, with me taking notes and surfing the internet.

Does anyone think I ought to be calling Apple to get a replacement? I had assumed this was normal, and was just ******.. but after reading a bit I think I might warrant a new battery. What are some other's experiences?


EDIT: Just in case anyone else is wondering like I was.. I just got off the phone with Apple and after reading my specs, they said I was right on the cusp of having a problem, but since I was in warranty, they're sending me out a replacement. My specs were 118 cycles with 5144 full capacity. Hope this helps someone!
 
would it mess up your calibration, if in the middle of the process you restart your MBP? I know you're suppose to let the battery drain all the way but I don't know if restarting the comp in the middle of it would have any impact.
 
would it mess up your calibration, if in the middle of the process you restart your MBP? I know you're suppose to let the battery drain all the way but I don't know if restarting the comp in the middle of it would have any impact.

I wouldn't imagine that it would- just if you plugged it in at all during that would it affect it...but I could be wrong.
 
Restarting does pause the charging so it's probably best not to, if possible. Having said that, I agree that it probably isn't a huge issue.
 
coconutBattery 2.5.1 says that my Current Battery Capacity is: 5524 mAh while by Original Battery Capacity is: 5500 mAH. Isn't the "original" value suppose to be larger than the "current" number? I'm confused :confused:

I bought my MBP like 2 weeks ago and it says it's 8 weeks old.
 
Restarting does pause the charging so it's probably best not to, if possible. Having said that, I agree that it probably isn't a huge issue.

I guess I was assuming the restart happened while draining the battery, but maybe it was during the charging...
 
I guess I was assuming the restart happened while draining the battery, but maybe it was during the charging...

I restarted when it was draining via Boot Camp to go back to OS X. Then I just sticked with OS X and let the battery run out.
 
coconutBattery 2.5.1 says that my Current Battery Capacity is: 5524 mAh while by Original Battery Capacity is: 5500 mAH. Isn't the "original" value suppose to be larger than the "current" number? I'm confused :confused:

I bought my MBP like 2 weeks ago and it says it's 8 weeks old.

coconut battery is not perfect, some already mentionned wrong idications, you couls try the istat widgets to see if it shows any different.
 
Or you could just go into System Profiler > Power.. gives you all the same stats.

never knew this...it is cool that coconut batter has a widget now, but I don't need any more widgets to slow my system down so will use profiler now.

For those that don't know- to get to system profiler go to apple menu-->About this mac-->more info (in the window that opens)
 
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