I have replaced my iMac 27inch and my old Intel Macbook Pro with a M1 Macbook Pro and Apple Studio display.
When I am working, I tend to work from home so most of the time my Macbook Pro is docked with my Apple Studio Display and therefore it is always plugged in.
I assume it can’t be good for the battery health to always be charged to 100%. I wanted to know what other MacPowerUsers are doing to manage battery health in this situation. I have come across Aldente Pro which seems to offer what I need but I am not sure how good it is
Doesn’t macOS manage this for you now? I could swear mine keeps it around 80% unless I tell it to charge fully, and it cycles the charging. I don’t think there’s much you need to do, to be honest.
Also, worst case in a few years you can always throw a new battery in it.
My MacBook Air M2 is virtually always docked and connected to external power when I am using it. I do switch it off and disconnect the power cable when I am not though. Battery seems fine this is the screenshot from the power menu bar.
Yes, if it’s literally always plugged in, the system will figure it out. Aldente is great (and safe) but only helpful here if you unplug just often enough that macOS can’t learn to keep it at 80%.
Battery management kept my M1 MBA at 80% for a few weeks then stopped working. It now stays at 100% and I pull the plug every 10 days or so to discharge the battery.
We debated this a couple years ago. Everything I wrote then is still true. Both macOS and Aldente change the target battery percentage in the SMC key, and then the low level system and the hardware do the hard work of adjusting the voltage in either case. macOS uses their adaptive machine learning to set the SMC key target and Aldente lets you set the target manually. Whichever is best for your battery depends on how you use the computer and how well macOS is able to predict that.
My MacBook Pro currently is used mainly on power, because when at home it is connected to a display via USB-C and is charged, at work this is also the case. It is almost always charged to 100%, sporadically I see a that charging is “On Hold” at 80%. Cycle count is 110 and battery health is at 99%. The MacBook is 14 months young.
I never worry about this and do not use any special tools, macOS seems to handle this fine in my case.
thank you for sharing your experiences, I have checked and my Optimised Battery Health is turned on but it still seems to charge to 100%. I turned it off and back on again so will monitor it over the next few days.
I would rather not install another app if the OS can take care of it for me.
Mine is plugged in a lot. I don’t ever see that “on hold” descriptor. My MacBook Pro (M1 Max) seems to always be at 100%. I am not worried about it, because I understand the software/hardware is designed to take care of itself. But I thought I’d check in since some of you seem to be seeing their Macs hold steady at this 80% level. (I have optimized battery charging enabled.)
how do you get to this screen, I am running the latest Ventura bulld and try to find this from settings and search for battery but could not see similar display
Right. This window is for a Mac with Optimized Charging turned on that has somehow “learned” to suspend charging at the 80% mark. If your Mac has not figured that out, then you won’t see this window.
After two years, Apple still has not figured out that:
I mostly use my M1 MacBook Air unplugged.
I always have an electrical outlet handy when I need to charge.
I prefer not to charge my Mac’s battery to 100%.
And why would it figure that out? How could it?
So I’ve learned about the AlDente battery app, purchased, installed, and configured it. I think it is going to be just the thing I always hoped that Apple’s Optimized Charging would be (but never was).
