Sup?
I have a general question about battery life and battery usage. See, I'm a developer and I'm thinking of buying this machine as my primary one - this means heavy duty - hardcore use - in stuff like Visual Studio, Expression, XNA, stuff like that. The way I use my current laptop is practically all day long - yes, from 6 am to midnight practically - plugged into the wall outlet. Rarely will I need to use it in a place where I'm not able to plug it in for some juice.
My concern here is with its none user-removable battery (kinda sucks), and to try to max out it's life span. Can somebody tell me if it's a bad practice to use the computer plugged in all day long? Will that shorten the battery's useful life? Any recommended use or "best-practices" in this meaningless but somehow important thing?
Thanks in advanced for any advice
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Battery life, heavy use and power-outlet-mania
I'm not a subject matter expert on this, but I've been told that it's good practice to completely drain the battery at least once a month. This is true for all devices, not just laptops. I practiced this religiously on my Powerbook and saw very little battery decline over the span of 4 years. I'm now practicing the same with my new Macbook Pro! Enjoy your new machine as it does have awesome battery life compared to the previous model. I got about 5.5 hours out of it doing numerous software installs and 3 video encodings. If you can manage it, take the time to pull it from power once in awhile and run it till almost death. :)
Don't fret about the battery, if it is rated for 5 years and that claim is even remotely true, you'll probably be fine, especially as a developer. I doubt you keep your laptops very long, my original MacBook was about the longest held machine I had (it just never started feeling slow), and even that lasted 3 years.
Leave it plugged in all the time, you'll prolong the life even longer. Make sure one a month or so at least to drain down the battery, it's good for conditioning.
Also, like any fixed battery product from Apple, you aren't 'stuck'. If the battery fails during the warranty period, it's replaced for free. Outside of that, there is a battery replacement service available. It will be $40-50 more than what they might have charged you for a battery in the replaceable days, but if it last 2-3 times as long that's a fair tradeoff.
Besides, I really do get 4 to 7.5 hours out of this battery depending on what I'm doing. The LED screen is so bright that at night, I turn the brightness down to about 25% max brightness and it's bright. In the dark at 100% my eyes hurt.
Leave it plugged in all the time, you'll prolong the life even longer. Make sure one a month or so at least to drain down the battery, it's good for conditioning.
Also, like any fixed battery product from Apple, you aren't 'stuck'. If the battery fails during the warranty period, it's replaced for free. Outside of that, there is a battery replacement service available. It will be $40-50 more than what they might have charged you for a battery in the replaceable days, but if it last 2-3 times as long that's a fair tradeoff.
Besides, I really do get 4 to 7.5 hours out of this battery depending on what I'm doing. The LED screen is so bright that at night, I turn the brightness down to about 25% max brightness and it's bright. In the dark at 100% my eyes hurt.
Sounds reasonable enough for me. My concern is that I'm not in the States... not even in North America. I'm buying it in California, but a trip to the "closest" Genius Bar would come quite expensive for me during use :P ...
But you've come up with valid points. Macbook it is then.
But you've come up with valid points. Macbook it is then.
Here's what I know about batteries, and what I do with my laptop. Let it charge all the way, and then use it until it drains. Repeat this process so the battery gets used to holding a charge. Leaving it plugged in all the time will eventually cause a decrease in battery life.
I haven't heard about draining it every month, but like everyone else, I'm no expert.
I haven't heard about draining it every month, but like everyone else, I'm no expert.
I've opened up the case and it's certainly replaceable. Actually, it looks almost exactly like the prior gen aluminum macbook under there, just requiring a few screws to be removed as opposed to a battery door.
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