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Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

sixcolors.com

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Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#31
post #4

I wish they'd give us the option (on the iPhone and iPad as well) to arbitrarily set the maximum charge level. Just like on my Tesla, I'd like to be able to tell my phone not to charge above 80%.

Then 500M people complaining on Reddit that their phones only charge to 80% for some reason.

Easy: make the charge percentage display relative to the maximum configured charge. Just like it already is with battery deterioration over time: if my battery only holds 80% of its design capacity, the phone will still tell me to be 100% charged as soon as the battery hits that 80%-of-design-capacity-brick-wall.

I just want the option to manually move that brick wall down a bit (they're already telling me exactly where it is right now, on iPhones at least, on the MacBook I ask coconutBattery).

Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#32
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then 500M people complaining on Reddit that their phones only charge to 80% for some reason.

They could probably get away with changing what is technically 95% to read as '100' I realised the other day that Macs don't give 'battery time remaining' anymore, although I'm not sure when that was removed Edit: apparently you can still see time remaining in Activity Monitor

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Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#33
post #23

Huh. That explains why my MacBook Air is doing so much worse than I expected from the number of cycles it’s reporting. It’s a mid-2013, so I’m not expecting much, but a few times I’ve seen “100%” when waking it unplugged, only for this to be immediately followed by an emergency shutdown, and when the reboot completes it claims “42%”. It’s plugged in almost continuously these days.

Same. Its in otherwise great condition. I wish it was as easy to replace the battery as ordering one and popping it in.

Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#34
post #23

Huh. That explains why my MacBook Air is doing so much worse than I expected from the number of cycles it’s reporting. It’s a mid-2013, so I’m not expecting much, but a few times I’ve seen “100%” when waking it unplugged, only for this to be immediately followed by an emergency shutdown, and when the reboot completes it claims “42%”. It’s plugged in almost continuously these days.

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Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#37

For people who use their laptops primarily as plugged in machines, there should be a 50% max charge mode.

I keep my MacBook Pro 16" plugged in 80% of the time, but when I want to go work at a coffee shop on battery having 50% would be a big inconvenience. How much longer in terms of battery life are we talking doing 50% charge vs 100%?

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Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#39
Hey Apple, this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the clean USB-C ports arrangement on new MacBooks!

Charging Mode 1) By plugging the charger into the rearmost port, full 100% fast charge please. Charging Mode 2) By plugging the charger into the other, nearer port, I’m indicating that we’ll be here for a while... please trickle my battery up to 50-75% to prolong the battery’s lifespan.

Indicate which mode I have instigated with a difference in “on charge” noises and show an explanatory notification in the MacOS UI. Perfect opportunity to explain what’s going on and espouse your green design credentials.

Re: Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

#40
post #39

Hey Apple, this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the clean USB-C ports arrangement on new MacBooks! Charging Mode 1) By plugging the charger into the rearmost port, full 100% fast charge please. Charging Mode 2) By plugging the charger into the other, nearer port, I’m indicating that we’ll be here for a while... please trickle my battery up to 50-75% to prolong the battery’s lifespan. Indicate which mo…

This is a terrible idea.

Even if you're going to do this it's far better to be a toggle on software rather than tying it to the port you're using.

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