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I have just received my 2015 Retina MacBook. I would really like the battery to last long.

Is there anything I can do to extend the battery life because my retina MacBook Pro's battery got progressively worse over time.

I am not familiar with the battery technology in the 2015 Retina MacBook but on the website its says:

Built-in 39.7-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery

TheLearner
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  • Do you mean the life span of the battery or the time it last between charges? – Maximus May 14 '15 at 09:22
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    Apple provides perfect documentation for this. I guess most people, just like with buying a car, never read the manual. It clearly states how to cycle the battery so all the ions stay in motion, keeping your battery in perfect health. My MacBookPro Mid 2010 already has 800+ cycles and is still at 86% health and easily lasts 4-7 hours for browsing and programming. The key is to let it drain fully at least once per month. Then let it stay turned off for like 2 hours, then fully recharge it overnight. There might be even more precise ways, but just following these basics resulted in this. – User2910293 May 14 '15 at 09:22
  • Thanks for this I will definitely try this. Have you read the manual that comes with the 2015 MacBook? There is no mention of batteries this is why I am asking the question. – TheLearner May 14 '15 at 10:16
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    How do you know how many cycles it has? – TheLearner May 14 '15 at 10:39
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    Can you send me a link to Apple's documentation about this. – TheLearner May 14 '15 at 11:05
  • There's a slightly outdated (but very probably still accurate) answer to this here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/q/12271/38539 – Jaime Santa Cruz May 14 '15 at 12:24
  • To find the cycles the battery has, you should be able to use the System Information app. I go to menu bar > Apple menu > About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Power > Health Information > Cycle Count. – D A Vincent May 18 '15 at 10:53

2 Answers2

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As Allendar's comment said, read the documentation and help. I suspect it will say something along the lines that you should connect the charger whenever power is available, and avoid a deep discharge. These days I suspect the software will protect you as well.

By deep discharge I mean to keep running the computer from battery power beyond the limit recommended for best battery life.

Get the computer to show the battery status in the menu bar, keep an eye on it, and act accordingly. Especially if it says the battery needs to be serviced - when this happens, get the computer looked at as soon as you can.

I have a 2009 MacBook I am still using, and the biggest problem I ever had with it was when its first battery started to fail. The computer warned me about it (via the status in the menu bar) but I, wanting to save money, ignored the warnings. Eventually the battery truly failed, swelling up and causing hardware trouble.

D A Vincent
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Since it's impossible for a battery to deteriorate that quickly for a new unit, let's check several factors to find out who're the battery eaters.

The easiest way to find out battery killer is via activity monitor > energy. There you could find out the energy impact of individual apps. Perhaps you might notice some apps that weren't intended to run in the background were sipping your battery away without you noticing it.

Your habit of using the computer might have a big impact on the battery life.

  • Do you open numerous tabs at one go on Chrome/Safari? Make sure you only have those required opened.
  • Use HTML5 if possible instead of adobe flash
  • Close applications by "quitting" them instead of closing the windows, i.e. "CMD+q" instead of clicking the red 'x' or "CMD+w"

Hope this help.

Robin.

Robin Lee
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  • Hi Robin. Thanks for this. I was looking for ways of extending the physical life of the battery as appose to the actual usage. If that makes sense. I see Yosemite does tell you which apps are draining the battery when you click on the battery icon in the title bar. – TheLearner May 14 '15 at 10:18