Fully charged, your Mac notebook can feel like it will last forever. However, we’ve all experienced that moment of annoyance when the battery indicator drops into the red and we desperately need to use the machine for longer.
That’s why we’re going to show you two things: firstly, how to look after the battery in your Mac, which will help it hold its charge better as it gets older. Secondly, we’ll show you some simple ways to squeeze vital extra minutes out of your battery as it runs low – you may well be surprised what a difference these tips will make.
Looking after your battery is important because all modern Apple notebooks have them built in. Gone are the days you could carry a spare in your bag and pop it in when one ran out: now, all you’ve got is what’s in your Mac. Having said that, the modern lithium-ion polymer batteries are much better than the nickel-based ones of yesteryear.
First and foremost, you can safely recharge a lithium-ion polymer battery at any time, regardless of how much charge it’s got left in it. Recharging a half-full battery won’t harm it or reduce its life.
Let’s now introduce the concept of a charge cycle. A cycle is completed when you use up the full capacity of your battery and then recharge it. Importantly though, this need not be in one go. If you run your battery down to 50% and then recharge it, you have completed half a charge cycle. Do so again, and you have completed a full cycle. The effect is cumulative. Lithium-ion polymer batteries do degrade as they rack up cycles, but this process is very slow. Officially, Apple says that the batteries in the latest models should be able to go through 1,000 full cycles and still hold 80% of their original full capacity.
To keep your battery healthy, it’s important to run it through a full charge cycle at least once a month. If you use your Mac notebook at a desk and always leave it plugged in, it can be easy to forget to do this, so it’s best to set yourself a recurring monthly reminder in iCal to unplug your Mac and run down its battery, before giving it a full charge.
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BearsFan34
February 27, 2012 at 6:06pm
According to Apple's own kb article from their website, battery calibration once per month is not necessary for all unibody MacBooks. I advise Mac users at my work NOT to do battery calibration.
support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
joao_nuno_martins
February 27, 2012 at 4:39pm
I also find very useful an app called gfxCardStatus that lets me choose between my integrated and discrete graphics card. I'm sure there are other apps that let you do the same.
