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Apple changes default MacBook charging behavior to improve battery health

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

#101

Post by satysin »

rubber_duck wrote: post #53

I got a top spec 15 MBP a year ago and I have to say the experience is appalling - 4000$ device that goes full airplane takeoff levels of noise at any serious workload, no ability to control performance (I would gladly throttle the CPU sooner to avoid everyone in the office turning my way when I start an emulator or keep the fans at lower RPM but constantly instead of letting the CPU idle at 60-70 degrees with no fan…

I have almost identical spec laptops from Dell and Apple (XPS 15 and 15" MacBook Pro with same CPU) and on both they ramp up to full fan speed when I do any serious work on them so it isn't limited to Apple laptops.

Pretty much all 15" laptops with 45W Intel CPUs turn into jet engines when under load, at least in my experience.

Also not to defend Apple but I do find the MacBook Pro cools down and gets quieter quicker than the Dell does although that could down to my personal setup (tools, configuration, etc). Could be the more powerful Nvidia dGPU on the Dell although I am talking purely CPU workload however with the shared thermal solution the Dell has it could be a bigger factor than I think?

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

#102

Post by jb775 »

leetcrew wrote: post #82
jb775 wrote: post #44

Why not just get rid of built-in batteries entirely? Not only does it lead to unethical business practices (linking battery life to hardware performance), but it facilitates a privacy nightmare.

the built-in battery is what makes an "ultrabook" possible. lenovo still makes laptops with removable batteries if you really want such a device. consumer choice is not really the hallmark of the apple brand.

how is it that an ultrabook is not "possible" unless it has a battery that cannot be easily removed?

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

#103

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

thanksgiving wrote: post #49
stygiansonic wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nitpick: if 50% was the new 100% then the supercharge option would be to 200%, which sounds even better :)

Another nit: Maybe we never let the user get to 200% by refusing to charge beyond 150% (internally known as 75%?) ever. Better yet, all devices, phones, tablets, notebook computers, headphones, speakers, ... should automatically stop charging at about 75% and then continue to run directly off of the wall. I used to think that's what all devices do because that just seems like common sense to me.

I believe this is approximately how modern rechargeable devices work in order to get so much life out of lithium ion batteries.

Maximum charge state is some percentage below the batteries physical maximum, and maximum discharge is state is above the batteries physical minimum.

There's a bit in this Wikipedia article[1] that state charging Li-ion batteries beyond 80% can drastically accelerate battery degradation.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#Charge_and...

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

#104

Post by atombender »

cmckn wrote: post #80

Why doesn't the UI report 80% as 100%? It seems like exposing this to the user is more confusing than anything, when the cells could be over provisioned and treated politely by a system controller, without the user being part of the decision. Aren't SSD's over provisioned in this manner? You sell a drive with a terabyte of storage, but actually ship more than a terabyte of chips in the case to accommodate degradation…

It's my understanding that modern EVs like the Kia Niro EV or the Chevy Bolt work this way. When nominally charged to 100%, the actual charge is closer to 80%. A 75 kW battery will typically only go to 64 kW.

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

#105

Post by rb808 »

Its amazing how dumb most charging is for smart devices. I plug my phone in every night and it does a quick charge then sits there and does nothing the rest of the night. It even knows my alarm clock time, surely it should be smart enough to slowly charge all night.

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

#106

Post by gjs278 »

copperx wrote: post #85
wrs wrote: post #42

I've noticed that on newer (past few years) MacBook Pros, if their battery runs down too far they refuse to start up, even when plugged into the charger. The battery has to charge for 10-15 minutes with the "dead battery" icon on the screen. It's exactly the same behavior as iPhone/iPad. In past MacBook models, the battery could be dead--or even completely removed--and the charger would power the laptop fine. Anyone…

This is the most irritating thing about the iPhone. Phone shuts down in the middle of an important call? Sorry, you'll have to wait 15 minutes before you can call again. This doesn't happen in my Pixel phones. Plug it it, turn it on. I would be irritated to no end if this happened to my laptop.

manage your battery better. do you routinely run out of gas driving as well?

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

#107

Post by duskwuff »

Lammy wrote: post #97
cmckn wrote: post #80

Why doesn't the UI report 80% as 100%? It seems like exposing this to the user is more confusing than anything, when the cells could be over provisioned and treated politely by a system controller, without the user being part of the decision. Aren't SSD's over provisioned in this manner? You sell a drive with a terabyte of storage, but actually ship more than a terabyte of chips in the case to accommodate degradation…

Reminds me of how they changed Finder in Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) to report disk capacity in base-10 bytes instead of base-2 bytes.

Eh. That was more for consistency with how storage devices are sold -- if a 10^30 byte hard disk is described by storage vendors as "1 TB", it's incredibly confusing to users to have it show up as "931 GB".

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

#108

Post by duskwuff »

rb808 wrote: post #105

Its amazing how dumb most charging is for smart devices. I plug my phone in every night and it does a quick charge then sits there and does nothing the rest of the night. It even knows my alarm clock time, surely it should be smart enough to slowly charge all night.

iPhones will selectively delay charging past 80% if you're at home and if your usage history indicates that the phone will be left on the charger for a while longer.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210512

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

#109

Post by leetcrew »

jb775 wrote: post #102
leetcrew wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the built-in battery is what makes an "ultrabook" possible. lenovo still makes laptops with removable batteries if you really want such a device. consumer choice is not really the hallmark of the apple brand.

how is it that an ultrabook is not "possible" unless it has a battery that cannot be easily removed?

check out this teardown of the new 16" macbook pro: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+16-Inch+2019+Tea...

everything inside the chassis that isnt pcb, heatpipe, or fan is part of the battery pack. it takes up almost all the otherwise unused space inside the device. how would you design a battery door for this chassis that doesn't decrease the size of the battery or make the whole thing much bigger?

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

#110

Post by nix0n »

rb808 wrote: post #105

Its amazing how dumb most charging is for smart devices. I plug my phone in every night and it does a quick charge then sits there and does nothing the rest of the night. It even knows my alarm clock time, surely it should be smart enough to slowly charge all night.

> it should be smart enough to slowly charge all night

I have a Sony which does this (XZ1c, stock firmware)

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