MB/P battery care ??

[17luv]

I have been looking but have been unable to find info about care for the new MB/P laptops other than calibration. For instance, when I am I am using it for a while is it better to just leave it plugged up at 100% charge or better to get it 100% then unplug wait till it is about to die and then recharge and repeat as needed? Side note, is it the same for an iPod?? Thanks in advance!!

 

[mad jew]

Better to keep them plugged in when possible.

 

[17luv]

Thanks for the reply! I am assuming then that overcharging isn't a problem then?

 

[mad jew]

Nah, so long as you calibrate your battery monthly, the MacBook will know when to stop charging and when to start again. It automatically stops at 100% and then starts charging again at about 95%.

 

[17luv]

Thanks good to know, didn't want to kill it considering how much better it is than the old Toshiba (r.i.p.) hehe So one final overcharing worry to put to bed, is that the same for the ipod when I leave it on the iHome or similiar charging dock all day?

 

[mad jew]

Yeah it's the same for the iPod. I don't worry as much about calibrating the iPod's battery simply because it's such a simple device in terms of power management anyway. In the half a year I've had my current iPod, I've only calibrated it once and it's left in the Dock almost 24/7. It's battery life (and the one I had before was treated similarly) is fine.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Better to keep them plugged in when possible.

interesting.....I just bought a replacement battery for my ancient G3 500 ibook and the apple store guy told me I should use the old battery if I was going to have it plugged into the power adaptor and save the new battery for when I wanted to run it off the battery......and when I used the new battery i should always let it run down instead of putting it on the charger and recharging it before it was drained.....he said batteries have a limited number of charging cycles so they wont last as long if you recharge them frequently when they still are holding a charge

 

[mad jew]

Good point, although it's equally bad for a battery to remain unused. Of course, in your case it'll still be used often enough for that not to matter. They're kind of extenuating circumstances.

Anyway, Apple says the following here, if that helps:

An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her MacBook Pro on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.

 

[17luv]

Thanks again for the responses