Maintaining Battery Life The Right Way

[contacos]

Does it hurt to keep the newer MacBook Pro plugged in most of the time? I am usually working 8 am to 5 pm from home (I hate using my DELL laptop from work!) and I see no reason to unplug it since I am working from my desk. Obviously I will make sure to use it unplugged occasionally. The wall plug it is attached to also turns off automatically by 6 pm and turns on again at 8 am.

For reference. My MacBook Pro from 2012:

 

[chabig]

The battery in a Mac requires no thought or management from the user. Use the machine normally. Plug it in whenever you want. Leave it plugged in as long as you want. Run it from battery whenever you want.

 

[Mike Boreham]

The battery in a Mac requires no thought or management from the user. Use the machine normally. Plug it in whenever you want. Leave it plugged in as long as you want. Run it from battery whenever you want.

Well yes, I agree the whole subject receives undue importance in these forums, and in nineteen of my twenty one years of owning Mac laptops I never bothered about it and was quite satisfied with battery longevity.

However it has become widely known in the last few years that lithium ion battery longevity is improved by not keeping it at 100% for long periods, such that most computer manufacturers, including Apple now provide means of reducing time at 100%. Apple's Optimised Charging is intended to detect that the Mac is mostly plugged in and keep the charge level to 80%. This has never happened for me. For many it does and your advice applies.

Because after 2 months my mostly plugged in M1 MBA was never held at 80% I started using AlDente Pro app to do the job. It has more control and I keep mine at 60% most of the time.

So I agree with your advice, subject to checking that Apple Optimised Charging is working. People for whom it works say it can take a few weeks to start.

 

[CarbonCycles]

The App Optimised Charging does indeed work. I typically leave my laptop plugged in and every so often I will catch the system switching over to battery so as to maintenance cycle it.

Basically, Mike above hit it on the head...plug it in and let the system do its thing....

 

[white7561]

Yeh the apple one seems kinda random. Since it only sees it if you're always doing the same thing every day. But imo AlDente is better. Since you can just always cap it to say 80% (at the maximum. Best of both worlds I guess. Good capacity retention and higher capacity so it's faster to charge when you need to or when you need to use it ASAP) .

Tho if you only plug it in for days on end. Set it to 50%. And make sure to calibrate it every month or so...

@Mike Boreham anyways, does AlDente works on these MBP 2021? I've been waiting for them to update their website compatibility list. Haven't gotten my MBP too so can't test it out. Thanks!

 

[Mike Boreham]

@Mike Boreham anyways, does AlDente works on these MBP 2021? I've been waiting for them to update their website compatibility list. Haven't gotten my MBP too so can't test it out. Thanks!

@white7561 I don't know but AlDente Pro had an update this week to 1.09, mainly for Monterey I think. I would expect it to be OK with the new M1 Pro and Max due similarities with original M1, but very few people can know for sure at this point.

When your new Mac comes, you could give Apple Optimised Charging a chance to see if it works for you. By the time you know the answer it will be well known if AlDente has any issues with the new MBPs

 

[white7561]

@white7561 I don't know but AlDente Pro had an update this week to 1.09, mainly for Monterey I think. I would expect it to be OK with the new M1 Pro and Max due similarities with original M1, but very few people can know for sure at this point.

When your new Mac comes, you could give Apple Optimised Charging a chance to see if it works for you. By the time you know the answer it will be well known if AlDente has any issues with the new MBPs

Yeah it's just a matter of which comes first

 

[JCHH]

AlDente works on my M1 Pro 14".

 

[white7561]

AlDente works on my M1 Pro 14".

View attachment 1880856

Does the discharge works too?? I've been eyeing the pro features since it's really useful

 

[JCHH]

Does the discharge works too?? I've been eyeing the pro features since it's really useful

Yes it does! I was at 100%, hit the discharge and let it drop to 80%. I might even buy the Pro version just to support the dev and get the calibration feature.

 

[white7561]

Yes it does! I was at 100%, hit the discharge and let it drop to 80%. I might even buy the Pro version just to support the dev and get the calibration feature.

Yep true. I usually prefer to have a powerbank at bed charging the MBP to reduce battery cycle since I'm usually just watching when chilling at bed. So with 80% limit it should be nice. And the calibration feature is so convenient tbh

 

[Xenomorph]

Yes, if you babysit your battery, you'll get more life out of it.

How much more? Hard to tell. If you have two identical systems and micro manage ones battery and not the other, after 5 years the one that you obsessed over might last a little bit longer, but it may not be a significant amount.

The most important thing for a battery is to not leave it at 0% for extended periods.

If you want to try and get the battery to last 10 years or more, get something like AlDente and keep the battery between 20% and 80% at all times. Then once or twice a year do a full "100% to 0% to 100%" calibration cycle.

 

[UBS28]

You can live it plugged in. Mac OSX takes care of your battery automatically.

 

[matrix07]

Apple's Optimised Charging is intended to detect that the Mac is mostly plugged in and keep the charge level to 80%. This has never happened for me.

It's only for at night when you don't use your laptop that it will hold the charge at 80% until the time it think you will need to use it. For example if you normally use your computer at 8 am it will hold the charge all night but allow the charge to get full at around 5 am.
On day it will be allowed the battery to go full 100% all day long.

The basic idea is you're using your Mac like an iPhone, which is possible with AS. You use it unplugged all day and at night you plug it in and in the morning it will be 100% waiting to be used.

 

[Mike Boreham]

It's only for at night when you don't use your laptop that it will hold the charge at 80% until the time it think you will need to use it. For example if you normally use your computer at 8 am it will hold the charge all night but allow the charge to get full at around 5 am.
On day it will be allowed the battery to go full 100% all day long.

The basic idea is you're using your Mac like an iPhone, which is possible with AS. You use it unplugged all day and at night you plug it in and in the morning it will be 100% waiting to be used.

That's how the iPhone Optimised Charging works. People for whom Mac Optimised Charging works say it holds it at 80% until told to charge up to 100%.

Unlike Macs, no-one keeps their phone plugged in all day, and most people need all the charge they can have at the start of the day.

The Optimised Charging algorithm is different Macs and iPhones.

 

[8CoreWhore]

Well yes, I agree the whole subject receives undue importance in these forums, and in nineteen of my twenty one years of owning Mac laptops I never bothered about it and was quite satisfied with battery longevity.

However it has become widely known in the last few years that lithium ion battery longevity is improved by not keeping it at 100% for long periods, such that most computer manufacturers, including Apple now provide means of reducing time at 100%. Apple's Optimised Charging is intended to detect that the Mac is mostly plugged in and keep the charge level to 80%. This has never happened for me. For many it does and your advice applies.

Because after 2 months my mostly plugged in M1 MBA was never held at 80% I started using AlDente Pro app to do the job. It has more control and I keep mine at 60% most of the time.

So I agree with your advice, subject to checking that Apple Optimised Charging is working. People for whom it works say it can take a few weeks to start.

Seems to me if the feature isn't working, the customer should call Apple and start a ticket. If I'm going to end up with a warranty claim, I don't want their diagnostic tool showing that I used 3rd party software to manage the battery. They'll say how do we know Apple failed to manage it?

Those who still have warranty left should check to see if the OS is managing it, if not, report it to Apple and cover your butt. If they can't fix it, you might be able to get a new battery free if it goes bad up to a point after warranty runs out.

Al Dente Pro costs $35 over three years, consider if you rather apply that to a new battery. Al Dente Free can achieve the 80% limit for free though, but again, I don't want that to screw up a warranty claim, potentially.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Seems to me if the feature isn't working, the customer should call Apple and start a ticket. If I'm going to end up with a warranty claim, I don't want their diagnostic tool showing that I used 3rd party software to manage the battery. They'll say how do we know Apple failed to manage it?

Those who still have warranty left should check to see if the OS is managing it, if not, report it to Apple and cover your butt. If they can't fix it, you might be able to get a new battery free if it goes bad up to a point after warranty runs out.

Al Dente Pro costs $35 over three years, consider if you rather apply that to a new battery. Al Dente Free can achieve the 80% limit for free though, but again, I don't want that to screw up a warranty claim, potentially.

Yes that is certainly a valid approach. I took the view that prevention of the problem (by another means) was the better option. But it could backfire on me if my battery health goes bad and if Apple try to avoid a claim due third party.
After 11 months and 55 cycles of being plugged most of the time my Apple reported health in Sys Prefs and System Info is 100% and health from ioreg (used by the third party apps like Coconut) is 95.3%. I am not claiming this is due to using AlDente, I may just have got lucky with a higher than nominal capacity when new.

 

[Mike Boreham]

That's how the iPhone Optimised Charging works. People for whom Mac Optimised Charging works say it holds it at 80% until told to charge up to 100%.

Unlike Macs, no-one keeps their phone plugged in all day, and most people need all the charge they can have at the start of the day.

The Optimised Charging algorithm is different Macs and iPhones.

I think I need to qualify what I said above. If you use your MacBook like most people use their phones, ie charging at night and unplugged by day, then what you say is correct. It learns your routine and finishes off the charge to 100% like with the phone.

But if you leave it plugged in most of the time including the day, it is supposed to detect this and hold the charge at 80% and report in the menubar drop down that "charge is on hold, rarely used on battery" with the option to "charge to full now".

These two distinct modes (daily routine and rarely used on battery) are explained the Apple article on the subject.

The OPs question was about the rarely used on battery mode.

 

[zarathu]

I love it with people who can call apple and start up a ticket! I live 175miles from an Apple Store(more than a 3 hour drive, there and back requires staying over night for a 72 year old!) . There are no tickets for me.

 

[CarbonCycles]

The new MBPs have user serviceable batteries...no need to baby them anymore.

 

[tis]

Well yes, I agree the whole subject receives undue importance in these forums, and in nineteen of my twenty one years of owning Mac laptops I never bothered about it and was quite satisfied with battery longevity.

However it has become widely known in the last few years that lithium ion battery longevity is improved by not keeping it at 100% for long periods, such that most computer manufacturers, including Apple now provide means of reducing time at 100%. Apple's Optimised Charging is intended to detect that the Mac is mostly plugged in and keep the charge level to 80%. This has never happened for me. For many it does and your advice applies.

Because after 2 months my mostly plugged in M1 MBA was never held at 80% I started using AlDente Pro app to do the job. It has more control and I keep mine at 60% most of the time.

So I agree with your advice, subject to checking that Apple Optimised Charging is working. People for whom it works say it can take a few weeks to start.

Limiting your charge, whether on an iPhone or MacBook, makes no rational sense at all. If you only charge your devices to 80%, you are using your device as if the battery has already degraded to 80% of its original capacity in an effort to stop it from degrading. It makes no sense.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Limiting your charge, whether on an iPhone or MacBook, makes no rational sense at all. If you only charge your devices to 80%, you are using your device as if the battery has already degraded to 80% of its original capacity in an effort to stop it from degrading. It makes no sense.

No. Preserving max capacity means it is there for the occasions when i want to use it. It also may delay the day when an eventual replacement is required.

 

[white7561]

No. Preserving max capacity means it is there for the occasions when i want to use it. It also may delay the day when an eventual replacement is required.

True. It is limited to 80% when charging but if you want to charge fully just let it go to 100% (apple and AlDente made a one time button to do that thing)

So the limit only applies when I'm charging and just technically docking it at home etc . When I know I want to go in a few hours I'll just let it go to 100%. So I don't lose battery life

 

[Mike Boreham]

The new MBPs have user serviceable batteries...no need to baby them anymore.

I have not picked up on that...what does it mean? ....user replaceable?

 

[MrGunnyPT]

The App Optimised Charging does indeed work. I typically leave my laptop plugged in and every so often I will catch the system switching over to battery so as to maintenance cycle it.

Basically, Mike above hit it on the head...plug it in and let the system do its thing....

Yeah it works pretty much, I got mine plugged in 8h a day with my Thunderbolt dock and it manages it alone.