In just a few steps you can maximize how long it is before you have to replace your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro battery and how many hours of use you can get out of your battery each day.
William Gallagher for AppleInsider:
Every battery in the world has a certain number of times, or cycles, that it can go through before it is considered to be spent… Whether it’s in a MacBook, an iPhone or any other device… a battery is a physical and chemical process. How it’s used affects how it works and how it lasts.
If you have a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with built-in batteries, Apple will replace the battery for around $130, and if your keyboard needs replacing, you get a battery replacement as part of the same procedure. Let’s just make that as rare a service repair as we can.
MacDailyNews Note: Charge your Apple lithium-ion battery whenever you can. There’s no need to let it discharge 100% before recharging.
Apple lithium-ion batteries work in charge cycles. You complete one charge cycle when you’ve used (discharged) an amount that equals 100% of your battery’s capacity — but not necessarily all from one charge. For instance, you might use 75% of your battery’s capacity one day, then recharge it fully overnight. If you use 25% the next day, you will have discharged a total of 100%, and the two days will add up to one charge cycle.
Apple might also include options in macOS where it only charges to 90% or something over night, and then tops up to 100% in the morning or at a selectable time. This way the battery is at highest voltage less often, and so aging over time is reduced (this is in addition to cycle dependent aging). I think I heard in a WWDC video that they want to include this in iOS 13. Why not MacOS? (maybe they will).
Currently sitting at 1,436 cycles on the battery of a mid-2012 MacBook Pro. I get 6-8 hrs of hard use on the battery. No complaints whatsoever. Guess they don’t make them like they used to.