Tips for Get More Life Out of Your Mac Battery

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Fully charged, your Mac notebook can feel like it will last forever. However, we’ve all experienced that moment of annoyance when the battery indicator drops into the red and we desperately need to use the machine for longer.

That’s why we’re going to show you two things: firstly, how to look after the battery in your Mac, which will help it hold its charge better as it gets older. Secondly, we’ll show you some simple ways to squeeze vital extra minutes out of your battery as it runs low – you may well be surprised what a difference these tips will make.

Looking after your battery is important because all modern Apple notebooks have them built in. Gone are the days you could carry a spare in your bag and pop it in when one ran out: now, all you’ve got is what’s in your Mac. Having said that, the modern lithium-ion polymer batteries are much better than the nickel-based ones of yesteryear.

First and foremost, you can safely recharge a lithium-ion polymer battery at any time, regardless of how much charge it’s got left in it. Recharging a half-full battery won’t harm it or reduce its life.

Let’s now introduce the concept of a charge cycle. A cycle is completed when you use up the full capacity of your battery and then recharge it. Importantly though, this need not be in one go. If you run your battery down to 50% and then recharge it, you have completed half a charge cycle. Do so again, and you have completed a full cycle. The effect is cumulative. Lithium-ion polymer batteries do degrade as they rack up cycles, but this process is very slow. Officially, Apple says that the batteries in the latest models should be able to go through 1,000 full cycles and still hold 80% of their original full capacity.

To keep your battery healthy, it’s important to run it through a full charge cycle at least once a month. If you use your Mac notebook at a desk and always leave it plugged in, it can be easy to forget to do this, so it’s best to set yourself a recurring monthly reminder in iCal to unplug your Mac and run down its battery, before giving it a full charge.

Find the Settings to Save Power

Squeeze Vital Extra Minutes Out of Your Battery

Dim the Screen
One of the most power-hungry parts of your Mac is the screen. To save power, turn down the brightness. You can also adjust the brightness in the Displays pane in System Preferences. Just drag the slider as far to the left as you can comfortably work with.

source:http://www.batteryfast.com/