MacBook battery health concern

[Honza1]

Modern Macs will do this automatically. Here's a screenshot from an M2 Air my older relative leaves plugged in all the time. No extra software running, no micromanaging necessary. Just leave your Mac to do its own thing and it will be fine. Lot of people on here who seem to want to make battery management into some kind of boring hobby. It's consumable part and the Mac is designed to use it strategically.

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This is good in theory and works well in textbook cases, but in my case this kept failing. I tried to use this for few months and when it was not working right, I gave up. It seems to need to "learn" what your routine is, but if you switch among multiple routines abruptly, it has difficulties to adjust. AlDente allows manual adjustment : next few weeks on charger all the time? = set to 80% max charge and forget about it. Traveling next few weeks? = set limit to 100% and forget about it. The system cannot predict your next needs, you can. That is why manual controls are better for those who care.
I dread future, when smart homes with AI will control everything and based on your past routines decide, that you only need hot water in the evening as you have only taken shower before bed for last 30 days. You decide one dat that you need hot shower in the morning, but AI controlled home will be saving energy by not heating water until evening and you will have only cold shower. Examples abound of why controls based on past experience/statistics/AI/... are not working well with (at least some) humans.

 

[ignatius345]

This is good in theory and works well in textbook cases, but in my case this kept failing. I tried to use this for few months and when it was not working right, I gave up. It seems to need to "learn" what your routine is, but if you switch among multiple routines abruptly, it has difficulties to adjust. AlDente allows manual adjustment : next few weeks on charger all the time? = set to 80% max charge and forget about it. Traveling next few weeks? = set limit to 100% and forget about it. The system cannot predict your next needs, you can. That is why manual controls are better for those who care.

Yeah. To me this all sounds like yet another thing to futz with. I get the logic, but it's just not for me.

The way I see it, because these M-series Macs have such better battery life, I'm putting way fewer charge cycles on mine anyway and frankly I suspect I'll end up upgrading long before the battery isn't getting me though my day. And if I didn't, I'd pay a whopping $159 to get it fixed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[dukebound85]

Since this post, I have tried. The store I went to would not replace the battery, even if I offered to pay, unless it was under 80%

 

[davidg4781]

Since this post, I have tried. The store I went to would not replace the battery, even if I offered to pay, unless it was under 80%

In a way, I kind of like that. That's like going to a mechanic and asking them to change your oil every 2,500 miles just because. It's a waste of resources.

Now, I'm curious how @petsk was able to recover battery capacity. My M1 MBP is about 2.5 years old. coconutBattery is showing 95 charge cycles and 87% battery health. I keep it mostly plugged in, let macOS do its optimized battery charging, but don't really worry other than that.

I know batteries are consumable but it would be nice if I can preserve or get back some of that capacity.

 

[petsk]

Now, I'm curious how @petsk was able to recover battery capacity.

That I don't know, I've just had AlDente set at 50%.

The old 16" Intel is now my secondary machine but I use it every day, battery health 88-89% with 440 cycles.

I also have a MBP 16" M1, it's almost two years old now, battery health 100-101% with 62 cycles.