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I want to know when my MBP's battery was fully charged it's better to unplug my adapter and use my battery power or still let use adapter power?

I somewhere read that when MBP's battery was fully charged it's just use adapter for power and don't use battery, if it's true it didn't hurt adapter and reduce it's lifetime?

I have Macbook Pro 13" dual core(2.53)

Am1rr3zA
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2 Answers2

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Read what Apple has to say about notebook batteries:

  1. Apple’s Batteries Page
  2. Apple’s Notebook Batteries Page

EDIT for the lazy(es) who don’t want to read the links:

  1. lithium-ion batteries need to be fully discharged and recharged at least once a month. Go ahead and create an iCal reminder…
  2. Leaving it plugged won’t affect it, as long as you remember to do (1) every 30 days.
  3. If you have to “store” and put your battery away for more than six months, you should definitely store the battery with a 50% charge. Reasons are listed in the corresponding link.
  4. Pay attention to temperatures, they can damage and severely hamper battery operation.

I hope this makes everybody happy.

Now… as a final note: the new unibody stuff coming from Apple doesn’t have removable batteries, however, the battery design is the same… those are lithium-ion batteries, no matter how fancy they make it look. Macbooks do not have a nuclear core in there, so the same rules apply, except that… well, you can’t remove it for storage, so more than ever, remember the 30 day rule.

Martin Marconcini
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    I wonder why you've accepted this answer. You don't get your information from this one... I really also want to know if an "always-fully-charged" battery will have his life shortened. IOW, I wonder if, in case of a long plugged period of time, we'd better extract the battery... – Rabskatran Oct 26 '10 at 10:24
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    @Pierre on why he accepted I have no idea, but I believe that the second link is pretty straightforward: "For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery [snip] Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time.” What other information do you need? He has an “old” model, with a removable battery, every Li-On battery must be fully charged/recharged at least once a month. So as long as you do that, you’ll maximize its lifespan. (all this is said in the above links); that’s why he probably accepted the answer. – Martin Marconcini Oct 26 '10 at 13:06
  • Here is an interesting link : http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/91846-notebook-battery-guide.html – Rabskatran Oct 27 '10 at 07:20
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I think the rules regarding battery management are related to the model MBP you have. The new unibody MBPs have much better battery management, and those batteries don't fall for the same ills that plagued the previous pre-unibody models.

I've had a unibody MBP at work since they were first released, I keep it plugged in all day, every day, and the battery has been fine when I go my meetings throughout the week. I have a pre-unibody MBP at home and I've burned through two batteries in less than four years.

Philip Regan
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    I have MBP 13' dual core 13", but I don't get my answer. I want know it hurts battery lifetime (or adapter lifetime) when always plug adapter although battery was fully charged – Am1rr3zA Oct 25 '10 at 16:00
  • It's simple: If it is a unibody Mac, you get better battery performance. If you don't, you have to manage the battery yourself. – Philip Regan Oct 25 '10 at 17:54