Should You keep your Mac Plugged In? Ultimate Battery Guide!
But “Never” ever do this
Confused about your MacBook’s battery, let me clear your doubts!
Let me first discuss the technology behind the MacBook’s battery. Traditionally, Apple places Lithium-Ion batteries in their Macs and general devices because they hold a lot of charge that makes the machine let for quite a long time.
So, how does a Li-poly or Li-Ion batter hold charge?
A lithium ion battery consists an anode and cathode separated by 2 electrodes, and an electrolyte that fills the remaining space of the battery.
The anode and cathode are capable of holding lithium-ion charges. Energy is released when the ions move from an anode to a cathode through the electrolyte, or vice versa.
In an ideal world, the battery likes to stay at 50% of charge. Therefore keeping the battery at 100% state of charge can put stress on the cathode. Every time the lithium ions in the battery move back and forth, the battery loses a extremely tiny percentage of its total battery capacity. This is known as a charge cycle, you complete one charge cycle when you lose 100% of your battery’s charge.
A charge cycle may take place over a number of days. For example, if you use 50% of your battery on one day and then recharge it overnight, and if you do the same thing the next day, you would have totalled one complete charge cycle.
Personally, it takes me attest 4–5 days to complete a full charge cycle, as I do not extensively use my MacBook.
This count is further reduced on the newer M1 chips MacBooks as they sip battery instead of hogging it.
The battery slowly degrades over the years and its capacity starts to fall. Apple claims its batteries to stay at least 80%/1000 charge cycles by the end of 5 years of typical usage(6–8 hours per day).
That means that you will be getting an average of 13 hours instead of 16 hours by the end of 2 years on an M1 MacBook Air.
There are some other factors such as temperature, but charge cycles is one of the most contributing factor that affects the longevity of a battery.
Temperature
Keeping you MacBook cool, does play an important role in making the battery last longer. You should avoid using it in hot and wet environments, such as using it in direct sun. This can also include letting you MacBook Pro render while sitting on a bed with all of its vents blocked.
High temperatures will cause the electrolyte in the battery to breakdown, causing accelerated degradation. But do not be afraid to do CPU or GPU intensive tasks on the computer, as
That is what it is meant for!
Though, colder temperatures, such as leaving the MacBook in snow can also cause the battery to discharge quickly, but as it heats up again, the battery regains its true capacity.
Leaving your MacBook Plugged into the Charger?
It is OK to leave you MacBook plugged in for long amounts of time, even if you have a desk setup.
macOS is a great operating system that has an auto-shutoff charging feature, as well as an optimised charging gimmick.
The MacBooks automatically shuts off charging when the battery is fully charged, so instead of running on battery, it runs on the power adapter that is charging it. Though, if you will be leaving your MacBook for many months without charge, Apple recommend you to top up the battery.
Furthermore, leaving you battery plugged in will lead to fewer charge cycle which may allow your battery to degrade slower over the years. At the end of the day, I would recommend against keeping the battery plugged in at all times.
It is a laptop, use it like one! What is the point of a battery without letting it drain. Without portability, a laptop turns into a Desktop.
So don’t spend your whole day stressing and worrying about a battery, because a specialised team of engineers have made sure that everything stays pixel-perfect; without a glitch.
A Laptop is a tool, use it like a tool. It has to wear out eventually, like any other machine.
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