MBP Battery Etiquitte

I received my MPB last week, which not only marks my passage into the Apple world, but the notebook world as well.

I take my notebook to work, and have been leaving it plugged in all day, but after a discussion with a veteran mac notebook owner, I learned that this may not be good for the battery. The alternative would be to either charge and disconnect from the power supply, or remove the battery during work hours.

Is there a lesser of two evils here, or was I misinformed?

Also, is it better to let the notebook sleep overnight, or power down?

 

First of all, leaving the MacBook Pro on Sleep overnight is fine...I haven't shut down my MacBook in a week.

Second, it is pretty much okay to constantly use your MBP on AC power. Just use the battery every now and then to keep it "in shape". Lithium Ion batteries have a amount of battery cycles before the battery health starts to drop, so the lower the amount of cycles the better. So if you don't need to, don't use the battery power, but every now and then use the battery (try and really use it up, like down to 10-20%, and not just to 80%).

Removing the battery and running just off AC power is good as well, as this protects the battery from the notebook's heat. However note that when the battery is out the processors automatically underclock to 1 GHz (they do this to ensure there's always enough power to power the Mac). This is okay for most tasks (a browser, iTunes, an IM client, etc.), but for some more CPU intensive tasks like crunching numbers or Photoshop, you'll want all 2.2/2.4 GHz so don't take out the battery then.

And remember to calibrate the battery!

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284

 

Thanks Sam! Sound advice. That's really strange that the CPU automatically underclocks though. Nice to know.

 

The CPU automatically underclocks if you take out the battery because if if there's more power needed than can be supplied by the AC, the Mac will suddenly shut down. So yeah, its just a precaution.

 

yea i recommend calibrate i just did that this morning. and i have mine plugged in alot now and i leave the battery in. its good so (1) normal processor power and (2) if the power goes out you dont loose all your stuff.

 

Actually, you don't lose all your data right away, even if you took out the battery and the power cord got pulled out/there was a power outage (I've accidentally pulled out my power cord while the battery was out ). If the power cord is pulled, plug the power cord back in (or put the battery back in), press the Power button and it will "unsleep". I had no data lost in that occasion.

I don't recommend doing what I did , and I cannot guarantee that your files will also be okay if your power is cut and you have no battery in, but yeah, not always is everything lost if it does happen.