Battery at 100% plugged in vs. having it from 40%-80% charging all the time.

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EvilHamster

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Jun 9, 2012
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Hi all. I know it has been discussed way, way, way too much. But I am still confused. I have read up on this question quite a lot. But people seem to contradict each other sooo much.

Does anyone know, if it is better to let the Laptop be plugged in all the time, keeping the battery at 100%, or to let it charge to 80%, than disconnect, use it on battery and let it go down to 40%, again charge to 80% and use to 40% etc.

Assuming it makes no difference in effort to the user. Which one is better for long desktop-replacement type use? (Btw. battery is not directly removable. It would void my warranty, so I will not yet do that).

Cheers.
 

isa.milis

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Oct 14, 2017
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OPTION 2. I have tried this with my used laptop (macbook pro) for few months. The battery capacity is even increased a bit (2-3%). However the cycle is also increased (mine is 2 cycle per week) - which is still better than losing battery capacity.

Source: Many articles and experience Tesla owners manage the battery.
 

lifecoderonak2016

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Nov 21, 2017
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I have done the max charge to 80%. So can I expect my battery life to be about 4-5 Years. Should I allow battery discharge often?


 

henkpoley

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Feb 4, 2018
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MacBooks built since 2010 seem to be specifically designed to have a high capacity for exactly(?) 1049 cycles. After that they seem go into a safer charging and discharging regime (limited to approx. 80% of their remaining capacity, or 60% of their original capacity)

Examples with this behaviour:


Recent year MacBooks rarely have proper statistics for >1100 battery cycles. So they are not included in this list.

Examples which don't:


For some of the >=2010 models it might be that there are just not enough statistics. Or maybe people can figure out a reason why Apple would include a different grade battery or charging regime in those laptops?
 
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