apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just had to replace my 3 yr. old macbook's battery because it would hold absolutely no charge. They told me it's because I never let my battery discharge, and always left it plugged in. Ugh.

^^ yeah, basically it's healthy to keep the battery / power cycle exercised. so if you get up to walk around the house or go to starbucks then just take the notebook with you.

if your's lasted 3 years before it wouldn't hold a charge it did better than mine. i got about 1.5 years before i had less than 10 minutes of battery life (if i unplugged it i immediately got a warning to plug it back in)

My almost 2 year old Macbook Pro has maybe 15 min of battery life if I unplug it.

i keep my MBP plugged in all the time. it's a little over two years old and still has 80% health left according to istat. the ibook i had before it's battery would only stay charged for about 30 minutes, but i had it for over 4 years and unplugged it much more often.
crossing my fingers that the next MBP will have blu-ray. then i'll upgrade.

You should also follow the Apple guide for 'recalibrating' the charging system monthly.

my macobook pro is about two years old, too. it lasts one minute unplugged, max. i'm going to eventually spring for a new battery. someday.

I used to top it up then unplug it. The problem with that is that batteries have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles. In my case, the oem batteries for my notebook have a 300 charge/discharge lifespan. I just had to splurge for battery number three for this computer, and I'm going to minimize the number of discharges I put it through.

On the plus side, since this is an older model (Dell XPS M1210) the only batteries left were the larger nine cell size. I can get three times as long off a charge with this battery than I could from the smaller six cell size!

Same experience as a few mentioned above. I use my macbook pro like a desktop and kept it plugged in and fully charged at all times. After just over a year the battery can only last maybe 4 or 5 minutes. It's out of warranty so I had to buy a new one. Now when I don't use it I charge it to 40% and store it in my fridge, they supposed to last the longest that way. And I just use the laptop with no battery when it's plugged in.

I could be mistaken, but I think the reason for recalibration of battery is because the circuitry that stores battery charging info go out of sync over time. Using a app such as CoconutBattery I notice the max capacity decrease every time I recalibrate, so I would recommend not to calibrate more frequently than specified.

I leave my laptop plugged in pretty much all the time. HP recommends that you drain the battery to 50% and remove it if you're going to use their laptops this way, so that's what I do. So far, so good.

wouldn't you solve the issue at home by using a dock?

That way you can actually work with a real keyboard and mouse and have a big screen as well.

Flobo,

"You" who? What "issue"?

I don't want a larger screen, my laptop has a full-sized keyboard with keypad, and my trackpad actually works better for me than a mouse, because I can use it with both hands.

As far as I can tell, the only thing a dock would help with is to reduce cable clutter, which is not a big deal for me. Maybe I'm missing something?

ShellyIN,

Typing on a laptop keyboard, regardless of if it is "full size", is not at all ergonomical. (IMO, any laptop with a true full size keyboard has at least a 15inch screen, usually bigger, which defeats the purpose of a laptop - portability).

Same goes for a mouse. Using the track pad is in no way ergonomical. Also, the area of your track pad is comically miniscule compared to the area of your desk. I can do in, one smooth comfortable motion, what it takes you to do in 4, 5, probably more, thumb swipes.

But hey, it's your body. Abuse it as much as you like!

Marm0lade,
Not everyone needs to carry their computer everywhere with them. I needed something that was large enough for everyday use, but was small and self-contained enough to *occasionally* take with me. A 17" laptop suits my "purpose" perfectly.

I'm finding far fewer ergonomic issues using a laptop keyboard and track pad than with a mouse. Ergonomically speaking, mice are really bad news. FWIW pretty much everyone I work with who has had carpal tunnel surgery has been switched to a laptop keyboard with trackpad or joy stick by our ergo folks.

And, nothing you said explains why using a dock will magically solve people's "issue." I still don't know what Flobo's point was.

"I'm finding far fewer ergonomic issues using a laptop keyboard and track pad than with a mouse."

Yea, arthritis and complications usually take a few years to set in. Don't worry, you'll get there. Just think of how efficient and furgal you are *now*, keyboard and mouseless!

Or should I have said "dockless"? Since we are being nit-picky with terminology. Damn, we need an edit button.

@marm0lade ..completely aside from the topic, but yes, I agree we need an Edit button!

I was completely oblivious about the battery life until recently, I kept it plugged in all the time, I don't think there was any damage done since it can go for about 3 to 4 hours before the battery runs down, and that's good enough for me. My Laptop is only 2 years old though. Usually now I take the battery out and just use the ac power.

But using a dock, with a full keyboard and large screen kind of takes away the point of replacing a desktop with a laptop. You need a place to keep that large screen and full size keyboard, someplace like, oh, a desk. If I had space in my small apartment for a dedicated computer desk, I wouldn't have bought the laptop, which I use, on my lap, on the couch. Maybe not the most ergonomic thing to do, but it's not like I do a ton of typing or other computer work.

I had to replace my PC laptop battery after about a year, but the new battery is already at about 2 years. I haven't noticed a degradation of battery life in that time--it keeps a charge for several hours. So I guess the batteries have improved quite a bit.

I unplug it mainly because I almost never use the laptop at my desk but rather carry it around the house to use, in the kitchen, in bed, in my favorite rocking chair, etc.

But now I've probably jinxed it by writing about it! Whattaya wanna bet that in a week I have to buy to new battery?!?

After having always left it plugged even when the battery was fully charged, for a year with my Dell laptop that is now 2,5 years old. The battery life went from 2 hours to 20 minutes. So yeah whatever the makers say. I will now ALWAYS unplug when my battery is fully charged, or take out the battery alltogether. Dont listen to the Dells of this world that say you shouldnt use your laptop with the battery not inside. This is just a trick to make more money on selling more batteries!!!

Marm0lade,
People are not cookie cutters, so what may be ergonomically bad for you is not necessarily bad for me, and vice versa. I'm sorry, but I'll take the advice of my physical therapist and our ergo folks over some random person on teh interwebs. Besides, if I'm not having problems after 20 years of intensive, daily keyboarding, then I'm probably doing something right.

My experience seems to be different from most others. I have a refurbished Mac Powerbook G4, which I got in 2002. It had a 4 hour batter life at the time.

I left it plugged in at full charge all the time, and I only unplugged it when I had to take it where there weren't enough outlets available (cord wouldn't reach, etc.). Now that it's been 7 years, of course my battery life has gone down, but it'll still last at least an hour. An hour and a half, I think. And I only started noticing a significant drop about a year and a half ago (as in, two to three years ago it'd still hold its charge for about 3 hours).

Not too shabby for an old computer that I leave plugged in (and use) almost constantly. Did it make a difference that I rarely shut it down (a few times a year) and usually just put it to sleep when I was done?

To all of you who have MacBooks... I suggest calling Apple and asking the genius on the phone how you calibrate your battery. I was informed that it should be done monthly. This will help extend your MacBook battery's 8hour life.