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DeepSix

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 4, 2022
810
890
I just need to clarify a few things. Some people do care about cycle count when buying used laptops. When I sold my previous 3 laptops (1 gaming laptop, 2 surface pros). The buyers asked about the batterys cycle count and took the time to verify the exact cycle count on the battery.

I have a 2nd Anker power bank that I may decide to carry with me too just to minimize the cycle count on the new Anker prime battery. It only outputs 30 watts so it really can't charge the Air...it takes way too long. The new prime battery is expensive and according to Anker is good for 350 full cycles before it retains 80% of the battery capacity.

Will be using this battery with the laptop only to minimize wear and tear and if I get a good deal again, I may buy a 2nd prime battery of the same capacity, so that I have two batteries to bring with me. This way I can rotate the use of the two batteries and the cycle count on both will be reduced by 50% on each battery. In the end because of this, they will last me twice as long before needing a replacement. But I don't really need a second one unless I got a really good deal on it.

I don't mind carrying battery banks with me. I always have a 10,000mah Anker bank with me all the time so I constantly charge my phone throughout the day. I top this up too throughout the day whenever I can to reduce the cycle count.

I also have two Anker C300's portable battery stations that I bought just a month ago for a great deal, they are a lot bigger than the Anker prime banks. But they're not too heavy, just under 9lbs each. I bought these for other use cases but since I have them and paid $500 for the pair, if I ever need to use the Macbook away from power for a whole day,I will plug it into the C300 as no way the Air can last a whole day with heavy usage. And if needed I can always bring both C300's with me as I got a bag for it that can fit both in and with all the cables.
 
Last edited:

Alpha Centauri

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2020
1,436
1,136
This post has to be a troll, and every reason why the whole premise is ridiculous and wrong, has been posted over and over, yet it keeps going. One more time:

  • You don't need a new laptop (Air or otherwise) because the battery is weak.
  • It doesn't cost anywhere near $500 to replace the battery; it's $159 in the US.
  • You're nearly doubling the weight by constantly using a spare battery.
  • They intelligently charge anyway. I've had my M1 Air since 2020 and battery life is fine, and I've given zero attention or thought to preserving battery health.
  • I don't give two poops about the resale value of my laptop.

🥱
Off course it is. And has reached the phenomenon on here, whereby it's become a runaway thread with no further interjection from the OP.
 

sdwaltz

macrumors 65816
Apr 29, 2015
1,086
1,742
Indiana
"Why do people even drive their cars? Don't they realize that every mile they drive reduces the value of their car?"
 
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IG88

macrumors 65816
Nov 4, 2016
1,116
1,645
I would still like to keep the cycle count down. A laptop with high cycle count is not easy to resale unless you're selling at a heavy loss.
Keeping your battery at 100% charge all the time isn't any better for its lifespan than charge cycles. In fact, it's probably worse. I have Coconut Battery history for my M1 MBP to back up my claim.

After installing Al Dente and limiting the charge to 80%, the battery has stabilized and recovered a bit of capacity.
 

DeepSix

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 4, 2022
810
890
Power banks are cool, but I really doubt this theory works with modern MacBooks. When Mac is being used on charger it simultaneously drains power from the battery and constantly “upcharges” it to hit 100% mark. It is both inefficient and detrimental to battery health since substantial amount of heat being produced due to processor/GPU not being throttled as much as on battery.

Also there is a higher chance of overcharging and “pillowing” the battery if it is not used/not drained which would make resell value close to 0, especially if the bloated battery cracks the motherboard

Okay fair enough. If say I use the Air on it's battery, the biggest benefit of the power bank is that I can recharge the Macbook at max speed on the go. The power bank isn't heavy at all, the size and weight of a cup of coffee or 1L water bottle. Almost everyone carries a water bottle with them throughout the day.
 

Ameer_1

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2023
440
579
Boca Raton, Florida
Each time you put a cycle count on it, it lowers the resale value of your Air. It also shortens the lifespan of both the internal battery and the laptop. Simple way to prevent it, is by buying and using a battery pack on it when needed. I did this, got an Anker prime 27650mah portable battery bank and for any times that I need to use the Air on battery, I run it off here instead so that I don't put any wear on the internal battery. Much cheaper to buy a new battery bank than a new Air.

Just curious why more don't do this?
How many times can you charge your iPhone with the 27K Anker prime?
 

RiskyScapegoat

macrumors newbie
Jun 6, 2024
4
24
Each time you put a cycle count on it, it lowers the resale value of your Air. It also shortens the lifespan of both the internal battery and the laptop. Simple way to prevent it, is by buying and using a battery pack on it when needed. I did this, got an Anker prime 27650mah portable battery bank and for any times that I need to use the Air on battery, I run it off here instead so that I don't put any wear on the internal battery. Much cheaper to buy a new battery bank than a new Air.

Just curious why more don't do this?
I too often wonder why people use their products as designed. Why not sleep in the backyard instead of inside!? You might scuff a wall and lower the resale value?? It’s only a huge inconvenience.

Why drive your car and put miles on it, it lowers the resale value!? You have perfectly good legs. But don’t wear the shoes because that’ll wear them down.

It’s like 200 bucks to replace the battery after YEARS of wear and tear. Don’t need a new MacBook to do that. You’ve gotta be trolling.
 

kkclstuff

macrumors 6502
Apr 18, 2015
312
206
NYC
People just use their MacBooks as they are. Glad the power bank solution works for you, I’m just personally not sure how big of a % of owners would go through that to maintain their Air’s resale value. Convenience and such.

yes, convenience trumps resale value—especially on an already great budget valued product.
 
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LouisPiper

macrumors member
Jun 8, 2021
74
182
OP's name is "DeepSix" because we're actually all 6 feet under and this entire thread is purgatory.
 

Jumpthesnark

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2022
1,238
5,141
California
I don't know about that, I think you notice the downsides right away. If you drain the battery everyday for a year, it will be at like 75% battery health.

Battery packs are very portable and don't add much more to the Air especially if you are already carrying an ext drive, mouse, SD card reader, USB hub, dongles, lights, mousepad with you (which most people are).

I carried my Air with me on Saturday and on Monday, and all I had with me was the Air itself and (on Saturday) a card reader. As long as the battery lasts, I knew I wouldn't even need the power brick. And I sure didn't need all the other things you refer to (Lights? Mousepad and mouse?) so I don't know where you get that "most people" carry all that stuff with them.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,469
26,072
Okay fair enough. If say I use the Air on it's battery, the biggest benefit of the power bank is that I can recharge the Macbook at max speed on the go. The power bank isn't heavy at all, the size and weight of a cup of coffee or 1L water bottle. Almost everyone carries a water bottle with them throughout the day.

Why carry the weight of a bottle of water when you don't need to? The 30W power adapter weighs only 0.25 lb. I'd prefer to carry a short length of network cable, USB adapter, and wireless mouse.
 

jz0309

Contributor
Sep 25, 2018
11,318
29,880
SoCal
Each time you put a cycle count on it, it lowers the resale value of your Air. It also shortens the lifespan of both the internal battery and the laptop. Simple way to prevent it, is by buying and using a battery pack on it when needed. I did this, got an Anker prime 27650mah portable battery bank and for any times that I need to use the Air on battery, I run it off here instead so that I don't put any wear on the internal battery. Much cheaper to buy a new battery bank than a new Air.

Just curious why more don't do this?
Yea, like you should leave your car in the garage, pampered, so you don’t put miles on it, as that lowers resale value…

come on, it’s a tool, nothing else
 

Siliconguy

macrumors 6502
Jan 1, 2022
408
596
I would still like to keep the cycle count down. A laptop with high cycle count is not easy to resale unless you're selling at a heavy loss.
Who resells them? I run them until they crater.

Besides, the Air is about portability. For real work I have a desktop. If I needed real work and some portability then there is the MacBook Pro.

This MacBook Air was bought in Jan 2021 and has 145 full charge cycles on it. It was not intended as my primary work machine.
 
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