Maintaining A MacBook’s Battery Life 9

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Maintaining A MacBook’s Battery Life

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MacBook batteries (including Pro’s) will eventually die out. As with any battery they need to be used in a sensible manner to keep the battery health as long as possible. I have mentioned before about calibrating batteries. But the this post is going to be about making sure you get the most out of your battery.

One program that you should download is coconut battery, it easily shows you the health of you battery as well enabling you to record the life of your battery. It is very useful to see how well you battery is performing.


Some tips:

1) Only use the battery as needed. For example the less you use the battery the long it will last. Instead of using the battery only a little and then recharging keep it plugged in.

2) Drain the battery down. Although it is not as need as much, it has shown (on my battery) that by draining the battery down and then doing a recharge it seems to make the battery last as long as possible.

3) Keep your battery cool. Batteries are designed to run at around 15 degrees Celsius. So if you keep your battery really hot, for example using it outside all day, or two cold (inside a fridge). By keeping your battery at a good temperature you may keep the charge longer and more healthy.

4) Calibrate your battery. It keeps it up to date with the maximum and minimum battery capacity and helps you computer work out how to use its charge more effectively.

5) Keep firmware the latest. Download the latest firmwares and it will help. Although you may not see an immediate difference. It will help you keep it in tip top shape.

Finally buy a new battery. If you battery has really died, and has become a lump of metal it might be time to buy a new battery. Until we develop a battery that always keeps its charge you may have to keep replacing them every 18months. If you are looking for a new battery check out Amazon, they usually have good deals which are cheaper than an Apple store.


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9 Responses to “Maintaining A MacBook’s Battery Life”

  1. 1

    Maintaining. Not Maintaing. :)

    Delete this post after it changes, I don’t want to be a grammar nazi.

    Comment By Anonymous on May 8th, at 5:29 am

  2. 2

    Thanks I didn’t notice that.

    Comment By James Powell on May 8th, at 7:41 am

  3. 3

    Hmm, the first two points are the complete opposite of apples battery guidelines.

    Comment By Anonymous on May 8th, at 10:29 am

  4. 4

    I use istat, to see this information about the health of batery. I only do a calibrate after 1 month, and never remove them. In home, I plug the computer in to energy.

    Comment By Miguel Machado on May 9th, at 3:50 am

  5. 5

    My battery capacity is more than its original state

    Comment By bob on December 22nd, at 11:17 am

  6. 6

    I would like to be a bit pushy and translate this into English:

    1. Basically keep your computer plugged in. If you unplug it, use the battery until drained. Then let the computer be idle for at least 5 hrs before you plug it back in, to fully charge… Well, whenever you have time to do this. Fancy word is “calibrating” for those who need to sound smart.

    2. See (1)

    3. Keep battery cold? Hello? Mac Power books get very hot, to hot to sit on bare thighs. I have to lift my wrists off mine because of the heat. Horrible.

    4. See (1)

    5. Whatever. See (1)

    I like the one last final tip. “Buy a new battery.” LOL MacBook Pro battery is a whopping $130-. Three batteries would buy you a netbook like the 10″ Samsung which has excellent reviews for general purpose work. I think this Mac stuff is impractically expensive. Another story.

    And if you want to maintain a tip top battery, you probably need to buy 2-3 of them every couple of years. I do this calibrating business and the battery life is still lousy and I carry BOTH battery and the bulky transformer.

    To bad one can’t travel >without a battery at all< with these macs, since the plug comes to easily out of the socket. Working with a bunch of books in a library, you accidentally place the book on the plug shutting everything down! Arrrrgh! Not very smart! Another design flaw. I have actually resorted to duct-taping the plug while working to keep the electric plug fixed, because these heavy notebooks sure are lighter without another whole pound of battery.

    Thanks.

    drCronex

    Comment By drCronex on February 25th, at 3:00 am

  7. 7

    #1 is the worst suggestion that can be given. That’s a SURE way to kill your battery life VERY fast. Lion batteries need to be charged and discharged regularly to maintain peak battery life.
    http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

    Comment By the correct one on August 18th, at 12:04 am

  8. 8

    ‘Working with a bunch of books in a library, you accidentally place the book on the plug shutting everything down! Arrrrgh! Not very smart! Another design flaw.’

    How is it a ‘design flaw’ if you are dumb enough to let books get onto the plug? You might as well criticise Apple for designing a keyboard that doesn’t function properly after coffee is spilled all over it.

    Comment By Carlos on June 1st, at 3:55 pm

  9. 9

    @drCronex,

    you dont buy something you cant afford especially if maintenance for it is really expensive (in your opinion), so stop complaining

    Comment By Range on February 3rd, at 1:18 pm

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