How can I maximize M1 MacBook battery health?

[BigMcGuire]

Here is my question regarding this topic. Since receiving my MBA M1 in December, I've been babying the battery by charging the battery when it hit's around 30-35% and unplugging it once it hits 80%. I'm new to laptop batteries; I haven't owned a laptop in like 12 years. The last one I owned was a Toshiba and I left it plugged in 95% of the time. doing that killed the battery prematurely and I vowed that if I ever owned a laptop again I would take the battery out if I had the laptop plugged in (You could easily eject the battery on the Toshiba and it would run on AC power). Obviously not possible with the new MBA M1.

I'm no power user and the only apps I actually run on it are Adobe Cloud/Lightroom/Photoshop, Davinci Resolve 17, Screen Sharing (to connect to my desktop MacMini) and Safari. Very basic stuff. I've only recently learned of Coconut Battery and basically it's telling me that I have:

- 40 cycles
- 96% capacity (Apples own battery health says that I have 99% capacity)

Like I've said, I'm not a power user and I keep the screen at 50% brightness. Everything is optimized for the battery. I'm not sure how I've already reached 40 cycles; with the way I use the computer I'm sure that I've only ever charged the battery every two maybe three days.

Anyways, my question is, will charging to 80% and letting the battery run down to 30% before charging again do more harm to the battery in terms of how many cycles it creates compared to leaving it plugged in and disconnecting from power say, twice a week and let it run down to 50% just to keep the electrons moving? How does that contribute to battery swelling that I've read some have experienced leaving plugged in?

So that's the thing right. That 96% capacity is really only good unless you knew what the laptop came from the factory at. I've had Apple Devices come 108% of design capacity, others 96% of design capacity. Also, optimized charging reduces that capacity somewhat from what I've seen on my laptop and my wife's laptop.

It's usually best to err on the side of cycles vs leaving at 100%. Even better is to use AlDente to keep the battery at 60-80% and run off wall power. That's what I do with my Mac and it appears to be having a significant positive difference than my last MacBook which sat all day at 100%.

Battery swelling is rare today - it was more common back in the day with older laptops especially older laptops that sat 100% all day long baking with high CPU usage.

 

[spiderman0616]

I consider preserving battery life and/or keeping the battery healthy to be Apple's job, not mine. I've found their battery optimization features on all my other hardware to be pretty reliable, so I don't have any problem trusting it on my Macs. I use both of them regularly on and off the charger. (One is a 2019 Intel, one is a brand new M1)

My last work computer was a 2014 MacBook Air. I gave it back to my employer at the beginning of last year, and the battery was still in great shape as far as getting through a full work day, even though I usually just left it plugged in and docked at all times.

The cool thing about the battery optimization is that it will adjust to your habits. If you tend to use the notebook until it's low on battery and then charge it all the way back up again, optimization will still allow that to happen. If you tend to use the notebook mostly plugged in or in clamshell mode or whatever, it may try to keep the battery below 100% most days. I've even had it let the battery discharge most of the way before it activated charging again.

I used to make sure I unplugged stuff regularly and let the battery drain before charging again--maybe like once a month or so for each of my devices. I don't worry about doing that anymore. I'll upgrade long before this battery starts performing poorly.

 

[Mike Boreham]

If you tend to use the notebook mostly plugged in or in clamshell mode or whatever, it may try to keep the battery below 100% most days. I've even had it let the battery discharge most of the way before it activated charging again.

I have never seen this happen on any portable Mac, including my current M1 MBA after ten weeks.

 

[henoire]

I consider preserving battery life and/or keeping the battery healthy to be Apple's job, not mine. I've found their battery optimization features on all my other hardware to be pretty reliable, so I don't have any problem trusting it on my Macs. I use both of them regularly on and off the charger. (One is a 2019 Intel, one is a brand new M1)

My last work computer was a 2014 MacBook Air. I gave it back to my employer at the beginning of last year, and the battery was still in great shape as far as getting through a full work day, even though I usually just left it plugged in and docked at all times.

The cool thing about the battery optimization is that it will adjust to your habits. If you tend to use the notebook until it's low on battery and then charge it all the way back up again, optimization will still allow that to happen. If you tend to use the notebook mostly plugged in or in clamshell mode or whatever, it may try to keep the battery below 100% most days. I've even had it let the battery discharge most of the way before it activated charging again.

I used to make sure I unplugged stuff regularly and let the battery drain before charging again--maybe like once a month or so for each of my devices. I don't worry about doing that anymore. I'll upgrade long before this battery starts performing poorly.

See..the problem I have is that I don't use my Mac "regularly". Some days I only use it for minutes and other days I use it for video and photo editing for a couple hours etc. I don't have a regular schedule with it. The example that apple gives for an ideal day (using the laptop on the train and then charging it at work) doesn't fit how I use it. So based on this my concern is, how does apple's AI know my habits when they are very random. How does apple know when to stop charging at 80%? If I leave it plugged in, the battery will always remain at 100% which typically is bad for the battery.

 

[Apple_Robert]

See..the problem I have is that I don't use my Mac "regularly". Some days I only use it for minutes and other days I use it for video and photo editing for a couple hours etc. I don't have a regular schedule with it. The example that apple gives for an ideal day (using the laptop on the train and then charging it at work) doesn't fit how I use it. So based on this my concern is, how does apple's AI know my habits when they are very random. How does apple know when to stop charging at 80%? If I leave it plugged in, the battery will always remain at 100% which typically is bad for the battery.

For your usage, it would be best to turn off "optimized charging," in my opinion.

 

[jdb8167]

I have never seen this happen on any portable Mac, including my current M1 MBA after ten weeks.

What part? Going to nearly 0% I agree that I haven't seen that but my M1 MacBook Air has started to track my habits. Most days it hovers around 70% without charging. Then it charges overnight about every other day. Usually if I use it off the charger, when I plug it back in, it will charge up but not always. It seems pretty smart.

 

[henoire]

For your usage, it would be best to turn off "optimized charging," in my opinion.

You're probably right. I was hoping that the AI would somewhat be intelligent for all types of different charging scenarios, but I guess not. I think I'll just have to stick to my normal habit of charging to 80% and plugging in at 30% when I can. I guess 40 charge cycles in 2 months isn't bad. That gives me over 4 years of optimal battery life until the recommended time to change the battery that apple suggests. ??‍♂️

 

[Mike Boreham]

What part?

Just the part of the post which I quoted

"If you tend to use the notebook mostly plugged in or in clamshell mode or whatever, it may try to keep the battery below 100% most days. I've even had it let the battery discharge most of the way before it activated charging again."

I have turned off Apple's Optimised Charging and using Al Dente 2.1 now on my M1 MBA and it is keeping the battery at my selected 75%, rock steady.

 

[jdb8167]

Just the part of the post which I quoted

"If you tend to use the notebook mostly plugged in or in clamshell mode or whatever, it may try to keep the battery below 100% most days. I've even had it let the battery discharge most of the way before it activated charging again."

I have turned off Apple's Optimised Charging and using Al Dente 2.1 now on my M1 MBA and it is keeping the battery at my selected 75%, rock steady.

So optimized battery charging doesn't work for you at all? Odd. It has been working very well for me for about the last month. It took 2 months or so to start working at all.

 

[Mike Boreham]

So optimized battery charging doesn't work for you at all? Odd. It has been working very well for me for about the last month. It took 2 months or so to start working at all.

Sounds like your usage is more typical for laptop, with some kind of routine, which Optimised Charging seems to be aimed at. Mine is plugged in all the time and all I have seen is very brief dips to about 97%.

 

[Apple_Robert]

You're probably right. I was hoping that the AI would somewhat be intelligent for all types of different charging scenarios, but I guess not. I think I'll just have to stick to my normal habit of charging to 80% and plugging in at 30% when I can. I guess 40 charge cycles in 2 months isn't bad. That gives me over 4 years of optimal battery life until the recommended time to change the battery that apple suggests. ??‍♂️

Consider using the free AlDente Mac app to handle battery charging.

 

[jdb8167]

Sounds like your usage is more typical for laptop, with some kind of routine, which Optimised Charging seems to be aimed at. Mine is plugged in all the time and all I have seen is very brief dips to about 97%.

Not really. I go for days without unplugging it while leaving it in clamshell mode. I just had a couple of unattended kernel panics in a short period of time and now it looks like the MBA decided to charge to 100%. Not sure if it is correlated but that is the first time I've seen 100% charge in about 3 days.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Not really. I go for days without unplugging it while leaving it in clamshell mode. I just had a couple of unattended kernel panics in a short period of time and now it looks like the MBA decided to charge to 100%. Not sure if it is correlated but that is the first time I've seen 100% charge in about 3 days.

Interesting. So when you leave yours plugged in for days you actually see the battery level being reduced to 80% held there for periods?

My M1 MBA is never in clamshell mode. Mine also usually has a couple of externals plugged in via an OWC TB hub.

 

[jdb8167]

Interesting. So when you leave yours plugged in for days you actually see the battery level being reduced to 80% held there for periods?

My M1 MBA is never in clamshell mode. Mine also usually has a couple of externals plugged in via an OWC TB hub.

It actually goes below 80% quite frequently. I've seen it hold at just over 50% after being plugged back in as well.

 

[henoire]

Consider using the free AlDente Mac app to handle battery charging.

I have but I've read other peoples take on it, mainly that it takes control of the SMC and there's a possibility that it can brick a computer. There's even a disclaimer about it on the download site. It would surely be easier to use it but I'm just not sure right now about it.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have but I've read other peoples take on it, mainly that it takes control of the SMC and there's a possibility that it can brick a computer. There's even a disclaimer about it on the download site. It would surely be easier to use it but I'm just not sure right now about it.

All it takes to reset the SMC for the battery, is turning the charge level back to 100%, deleting the app, and doing a cold 30 second boot. The app isn't going to brick the M1. If anything, you have more likelihood that a Big Sur update or bad reinstall procedure bricking your M1 than this app. It is pretty benign.

 

[BigMcGuire]

All it takes to reset the SMC for the battery, is turning the charge level back to 100%, deleting the app, and doing a cold 30 second boot. The app isn't going to brick the M1. If anything, you have more likelihood that a Big Sur update or bad reinstall procedure bricking your M1 than this app. It is pretty benign.

Apple_Robert is right. No way does it take over the SMC. Hard rebooting your Mac (like when it crashes or holding down power till it reboots) will reset everything to 100% - you'll have to use AlDente to reset the charge back to 70% or whatever you want it to be.

 

[jdb8167]

It actually goes below 80% quite frequently. I've seen it hold at just over 50% after being plugged back in as well.

So I let my battery go down to about 65% (using Handbrake on a DVD will kill the MBA battery in a few hours) and then plugged it back in. Now it is holding at 65%.

 

[Fred Zed]

When is he going to bring the Pro version, the author deserves some credit for sure .

 

[Mike Boreham]

So I let my battery go down to about 65% (using Handbrake on a DVD will kill the MBA battery in a few hours) and then plugged it back in. Now it is holding at 65%.

Very interesting. Either there is something wrong with my M1 MBA or it is related to my having externals and a hub, or your usin Clamshell. I also have mine set not to sleep and not let hard drives spin down.

I have seen other reports from people who have it plugged in nearly all the time and not seen optimised battery working like yours. Would be good to hear from a few others, and what their usage is.

In general I prefer using Apple's built-in utilities, but in this case I have no confidence in the Apple way and happy with Al Dente.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have but I've read other peoples take on it, mainly that it takes control of the SMC and there's a possibility that it can brick a computer. There's even a disclaimer about it on the download site. It would surely be easier to use it but I'm just not sure right now about it.

I think the reports I have seen have related to NVRAM, rather than SMC. It seems possible to change NVRAM parameters but no way to reset NVRAM on M1 Macs. M1 Macs can reset SMC.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Very interesting. Either there is something wrong with my M1 MBA or it is related to my having externals and a hub, or your usin Clamshell. I also have mine set not to sleep and not let hard drives spin down.

I have seen other reports from people who have it plugged in nearly all the time and not seen optimised battery working like yours. Would be good to hear from a few others, and what their usage is.

In general I prefer using Apple's built-in utilities, but in this case I have no confidence in the Apple way and happy with Al Dente.

This is typically what I saw when using Apple Optimised charging with machine plugged in.

It does look like something happened regularly every 24 hours, but a long way from being held at 80%.

And this is what I see since using Al Dente:

The spike and dip in the Al Dente was a period off charger, not Apple Optimistation which is turned off.

 

[stanleydesu]

This is typically what I saw when using Apple Optimised charging with machine plugged in.


View attachment 1733104

It does look like something happened regularly every 24 hours, but a long way from being held at 80%.

And this is what I see since using Al Dente:

View attachment 1733107

The spike and dip in the Al Dente was a period off charger, not Apple Optimistation which is turned off.

Very cool. What are you using to see those graphs?

 

[Mike Boreham]

Very cool. What are you using to see those graphs?

iStat Menus

 

[jdb8167]

Interesting. So when you leave yours plugged in for days you actually see the battery level being reduced to 80% held there for periods?

My M1 MBA is never in clamshell mode. Mine also usually has a couple of externals plugged in via an OWC TB hub.

So after updating to 11.2.2 it appears that the optimized charging has gone back to just keeping my MBA at 100%. I don’t know if the update broke something or if it tossed the previous usage history and had to start over. If it’s the latter, it is going to seriously limit the usefulness of the feature if every time there is an update it has to start over while keeping the battery at 100%.