Does anyone have any official recommendations directly from Apple on whether it is best for the MacBook battery to use the MacBook plugged in or not?
On the one hand, if you use your MacBook plugged in most of the time, and you click on the power indicator on the menu bar, at times it will tell you something like
82%. Rarely used on battery
Which means that macOS knows that usually you use your MacBook plugged in, and probably automatically adopt how the battery is charged according to that.
But on the other hand, Apple’s web page Maximizing Battery Life and Lifespan says that having your Mac fully charged for long periods of time is not a good thing:
Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50%. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life.
Yes, I realize that Apple’s recommendation to not store the laptop fully charged for long periods of time doesn’t contradict the fact that macOS can adopt charging according to user’s human customs.
But nevertheless, I would prefer to get the official answer from the Apple itself, not my own guessings. Apple Support doesn’t operate in our country, so it is not possible for me to call them (which would be the best option) or even visit local App Store. But maybe someone else here already asked them and can told this to the rest of us?
I have had good results with the pro version of the AlDente battery app. I put my M1 MacBook Air into service in May of 2021. After almost 4 years, my Mac’s battery has 519 charge cycles on it and reports 83% capacity remaining, according to Marcel Bresink’s Battery Monitor app.
If you follow the advice, it suggests that if you use it regularly connected to a charger (dock or otherwise) it’ll only charge to 80% which would maximise the value of the battery life (versus it being constantly charged to 100%
When they talk about not charging it regularly to 100% they mean doing that then powering it down and leaving it charged to 100% as this damages the battery. If your MacBook is on, macOS will manage this for you.
I can’t easily find anything which would definitely address leaving a laptop connected all of the time while using it.
Hello, thanks. It seems the most important part is this:
Optimized Battery Charging: This feature helps to reduce the wear on your battery and improve its lifespan by learning your daily charging routine. It delays charging the battery past 80% when it predicts that you’ll be plugged in for an extended period of time, and aims to charge the battery before you unplug. In System Settings, click Battery in the sidebar, click “i” by Battery Health, then turn on Optimized Battery Charging.
It is turned on by default.
And therefore it seems (but I nevertheless can be wrong here) the answer is: Yes, if most of the time you use MacBook at home, it is best to use it plugged in.
I think that this is a language translation issue. Using it plugged in all of the time isn’t “best” but if you need to (e.g. you use external monitors) then Apple’s got you.
So you mean that if nowadays I work from home and I don’t use external monitors, it is best (I mean for the battery health) to use it not constantly plugged in?
On Intel chips it did make a difference, many of their processors would throttle when on battery to extend the battery life.
On Apple silicon I don’t think it matters a lot unless your workload regularly maxes out the processors. You’ll easily get 6-8 hours out of a battery which is at 80% so you could unplug it for half the day and then recharge it.