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thechidz

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 25, 2007
1,886
1
New York City
since I use my macbook pro primarily as a desktop replacement, is it possible to run it without the battery therefore saving the health of the battery???
 

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
since I use my macbook pro primarily as a desktop replacement, is it possible to run it without the battery therefore saving the health of the battery???

You can run it, but your processors will be crippled. It's one of the "features" of Apple. The adapter doesn't provide enough power to fully power the laptop without the battery.
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
since I use my macbook pro primarily as a desktop replacement, is it possible to run it without the battery therefore saving the health of the battery???

You can, but it will run at 1GHz.

As for how it affects battery life, I don't believe it will affect its total life span. You can run off battery every month or so, but even the effect of that is up to debate.

I've been running mostly in "clamshell" mode, with ACD and BT mouse/keyboard for over 6 months now. I use it on battery every week or two (actually using it portable), then swap the batteries every so often. I think their total life will be the same, though, no matter what I do.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
36
That does not mean it's crippled. It's still faster than most laptops out there even when running without battery.
 

iToaster

macrumors 68000
May 3, 2007
1,742
0
In front of my MacBook Pro
Yeah, it'll run at half speed, but lemme tell you, I don't use my battery a lot, I've only got 23 cycles on mine, it's about 6 months out, and health says 93%. I get the feeling I should calibrate it, but using your battery is a good thing, it keeps it healthy I think.
 

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
Don't pay so much attention to the battery; it's going to die whether you use it or not. Enjoy it!
It's not worth running your laptop at 1ghz in order to squeeze a few more cycles out of the battery.
 

a4abt

macrumors regular
Jan 14, 2008
167
0
Miami
Instead of removing the battery, you should leave it there and run on the battery once in a while to drain it!
 

NKA

macrumors member
Jan 15, 2008
40
0
You can run it, but your processors will be crippled. It's one of the "features" of Apple. The adapter doesn't provide enough power to fully power the laptop without the battery.

That's an undelievable design flaw IMHO. You need a battery to run a MBP from the mains or you get penalized. It sounds laughable if it was not true. No wonder the power supplies are so small.

My current 4 year old laptop has about 2 minutes of battery life, and the battery is only every used once in a blue moon. So to save the battery when I got my MBP, this time I was going to remove it unless I needed it. This sucks big time!!
 

Radio Monk33

macrumors 6502
Dec 4, 2007
309
0
That does not mean it's crippled. It's still faster than most laptops out there even when running without battery.

Seriously? Please explain.

Lemme guess, Magical Steve Jobs Power and the Holy Apple Trinity's powers of superiority over anything made by heathen PC manufacturers, provides more efficient processing power..
 

thechidz

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 25, 2007
1,886
1
New York City
Instead of removing the battery, you should leave it there and run on the battery once in a while to drain it!

thats what ive been doing... I think I will just keep doing that...

its just that battery health is already down to 95% after only 20 cycles...
 

verticalled

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2008
6
0
poland
1GHz? Then it has to be software/Mac OS related issue, cause on Bootcamp XP I cant spot any difference (and 2.2/1 is a huuge difference running Crysis). I remove battery cause the fans work less as it seems the whole machine seems to give away heat faster that way.
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
1GHz? Then it has to be software/Mac OS related issue, cause on Bootcamp XP I cant spot any difference (and 2.2/1 is a huuge difference running Crysis). I remove battery cause the fans work less as it seems the whole machine seems to give away heat faster that way.

Hardware Monitor and others display the actual clock speed. Both cores are still operating, but at 1GHz (test done on 17" 2.33GHz MBP).
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305336

I'm not familiar with Crysis, but I presume it's more GPU intensive, than CPU. I'm not sure about the effect on GPU performance w/o battery in OS-X.

I would guess the lower fan speed and less heat are a result of the slower CPU clock [in Windows].
 

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
1GHz? Then it has to be software/Mac OS related issue, cause on Bootcamp XP I cant spot any difference (and 2.2/1 is a huuge difference running Crysis). I remove battery cause the fans work less as it seems the whole machine seems to give away heat faster that way.

Install something like Notebook Hardware Control when you're in XP, and you'll see the speeds. They're throttled down.
 

yippy

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2004
2,087
3
Chicago, IL
That can't be true, the power adapter has to have enough power run the computer at full without help from the batter.

Think about it, you can charge the battery and use the computer at full speed at the same time. That means that the power adapter CAN supply MORE power than the laptop needs.

However, I wouldn't run without a battery because it would be playing with fire. If you pull the cord (easy to do with Magsafe) your computer shuts off like a power outage to a desktop. Not my idea of a good way to take care of your computer.
 

skyrider007

macrumors 65816
Aug 5, 2007
1,388
1
Bangkok
Yeah, it'll run at half speed, but lemme tell you, I don't use my battery a lot, I've only got 23 cycles on mine, it's about 6 months out, and health says 93%. I get the feeling I should calibrate it, but using your battery is a good thing, it keeps it healthy I think.

wow, we have exactly the same stats!
 

heatmiser

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2007
2,431
0
That can't be true, the power adapter has to have enough power run the computer at full without help from the batter.

Think about it, you can charge the battery and use the computer at full speed at the same time. That means that the power adapter CAN supply MORE power than the laptop needs.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305336

This isn't something we're just saying; you can see it right @ Apple.
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
That can't be true, the power adapter has to have enough power run the computer at full without help from the batter.

Think about it, you can charge the battery and use the computer at full speed at the same time. That means that the power adapter CAN supply MORE power than the laptop needs.

However, I wouldn't run without a battery because it would be playing with fire. If you pull the cord (easy to do with Magsafe) your computer shuts off like a power outage to a desktop. Not my idea of a good way to take care of your computer.

It has to do with surge current. The battery acts like a large capacitor. Although the power supply can handle the continuous current requirements of the MBP, there could still be surges (such as harddrive spinup) which could exceed the capabilities of adapter. With the battery installed, it can provide the extra current during those surges.
 

yippy

macrumors 68020
Mar 14, 2004
2,087
3
Chicago, IL
Oh, I see, it can supply enough for use plus battery but not enough for spikes or if you are drawing as much power as possible (probably need usb and firewire powered things plugged in and a DVD going). So they clock it down to guarantee you won't overdraw even though 99% of the time you won't.
 

kingicon1

macrumors newbie
Jul 22, 2002
25
0
However, I wouldn't run without a battery because it would be playing with fire. If you pull the cord (easy to do with Magsafe) your computer shuts off like a power outage to a desktop.

Thats exactly what I was going to say. I do like the magsafe connector, but it comes out way to easily.
 
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