mac book pro 17 inch battery question

[scott905]

I was wondering whether the battery should be left in the laptop when it is primarily plugged in,much like all of the batteries I use in my high end video gear it is better not to leave them in the charger all the time.
With the high heat under the Mac it seems that it would be best to leave the battery out and simply re-charge it ocasionally when it runs down from just sitting,or just before going mobile with it.
Any thoughts?

 

[pkoch1]

You're right. It's better to not leave your battery in while your computer is plugged in.

 

[TheStu]

The MacBook batteries have chips in them to prevent them from being overcharged. Just look at yours sometime... let it fully charge, and then leave it plugged in... after a certain amount of time, it will eventually slip down to say.. 98%, but it won't recharge until it is below either 95% or so.

Furthermore, I have used my friend's gen 1 MBP (Core Duo) and it gets wicked hot, but the battery always remains cool, even after prolonged use with it plugged in... so, you should be fine.

 

[Infinity]

You're right. It's better to not leave your battery in while your computer is plugged in.

Just so you know, if you try running your MBP via AC outlet and without the battery your CPU will only run 1GHz.

MBP was designed to be run with the battery in at all times hence the battery makes up a large part of the case bottom.

 

[sammich]

You can leave the battery 24/7 it shouldn't cause them to degrade over time.

I've been keeping some stats since I bought mine, have a look for yourself, it hasn't gone down significantly, even though it's probably been plugged in with the AC and battery for about >95% of the time since I first bought it.

 

[creator2456]

I was wondering whether the battery should be left in the laptop when it is primarily plugged in,much like all of the batteries I use in my high end video gear it is better not to leave them in the charger all the time.
With the high heat under the Mac it seems that it would be best to leave the battery out and simply re-charge it ocasionally when it runs down from just sitting,or just before going mobile with it.
Any thoughts?

As has been mentioned, taking the battery out and using only AC cuts processor speed to 1ghz. It also HIGHLY increases the chance of complete power loss when the magsafe gets tugged.

I have had my MBP since jun 06 and my first battery lasted me until may 07 when the battery update pretty much junked it. My new one is still going strong. Both were/are plugged in to the ac 90% of the time and are calibrated every couple months.