MacBook power: Can you leave it plugged in on the charger, or is it better to cycle the battery?

Today's MacBooks boast excellent battery life, which is mainly due to the efficiency of their Apple Silicon chips. At the same time, Apple has significantly improved the macOS operating system in this area in recent years. The system is now much better optimized for battery saving, which is helped by the so-called option Optimized battery charging. In this case, the Mac will learn how you actually charge the Mac and then only charge it up to 80% - the remaining 20% ​​will only be charged when you really need the laptop. In this way, excessive aging of the battery is prevented.

Despite this shift in the field of endurance and economy, one fundamental question has been resolved for years, around which many myths have appeared. Can we leave the MacBook connected to the power supply practically non-stop, or is it better to cycle the battery, or always let it charge and then disconnect it from the power supply? This question has probably been asked by most apple growers, and therefore it is appropriate to bring answers.

Nonstop charging or cycling?

Before we even get to a direct answer, it is worth remembering that today we have modern technologies and batteries at our disposal that try to save our batteries in practically all situations. Regardless of whether it is a MacBook, iPhone or iPad battery. The situation is almost the same in all cases. After all, that's why it's more or less okay if we leave the device connected to the power supply all the time, which we also do in our editorial office. In short, we keep our Macs plugged in at work and only unplug them when we need to move somewhere. In that regard, there is no problem with it at all.

The macOS operating system can even recognize itself what is needed at a given moment. So if we have a Mac charged to 100% and still connected to the power supply, the laptop will start to completely ignore the battery and will be powered directly from the source, which is also reported in the top menu bar. In that case, when we click on the battery icon, like Power source will be listed just now adapter.

Efficient battery settings in macOS

macos_big_sur_system_preferences

manage_battery_life_macos1

battery_macos12_2

battery_macos12_1

Stamina degradation

In conclusion, it is worth pointing out that whether you constantly charge the battery or cycle it fairly, you will still encounter a degradation of endurance after a while. Batteries are simply consumer electronics and are subject to chemical aging, causing their efficiency to decrease over time. The charging method no longer affects this.