[Matthew Attoe]

Hi,

Right now, I'm using my MBP as a basic media hub for playing various avi's and dvd's.

It is hooked up to my TV and has the charger plugged in full-time. It runs for maybe 1-2 hours a day in closed lid mode and sleeps (still in closed lid mode, obviously) for the rest of the time.

Do you think that this could be detrimental in any way to the MBP?

Hopefully, this won't be like this for too much longer - I'm hoping to get a Mac Mini/Nano/whatever-it-gets-replaced-with in the near to mid-term future.

Many thanks,

Matthew

[ghporter]

There are people who run their computers for a lot more than a couple of hours with the lid closed. It's like it's built to do that or something!

Seriously, unless you put it down on a blanket or do something else that obstructs its cooling, you shouldn't be able to hurt a MBP by just running it, even with the lid closed.

[Matthew Attoe]

Thanks for the reply.

I just also wondered about leaving the charger plugged in all the time - that's so when I do need to use it as a laptop the battery is fully charged and ready to go.

Thanks again,

Matthew

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Matthew Attoe 

Thanks for the reply.

I just also wondered about leaving the charger plugged in all the time - that's so when I do need to use it as a laptop the battery is fully charged and ready to go.

Thanks again,

Matthew

Over the long term, (we're talking months and years here), leaving the laptop plugged in all the time might cause the battery to deteriorate faster. Batteries are made to charge and discharge, and keeping them charged all the time is not meant to be their normal mode of operation, so battery chemistry is not optimized for this. However, keeping it plugged in will not kill your battery, it just might make it lose capacity slightly faster. There are plenty of people who keep laptops plugged in all the time, without noticing any issues, so there are different schools of thought on this.

IMHO, if you're concerned about keeping it plugged in all the time, then running the laptop unplugged for a few hours a month, and occasionally letting it run "empty" and then recharge fully, ought to be sufficient to keep the battery operating at its best. If you're not concerned, then don't bother.

[SierraDragon]

I would not worry about the battery.

Heat is the enemy of electronic components, and MBPs do dissipate heat through the keyboard. Although feasible, closed lid mode has always seemed to me like something to be avoided when possible. For that kind of usage I leave the display open when possible (with brightness turned down).

-Allen Wicks

[Matthew Attoe]

Thanks again for the replies.

Thinking about it further, I guess I could let the battery get around to half capacity and then take it out and just run on the charger, albeit at a reduced performance (which should still be enough for iTunes, Slimserver and Front Row).

Thank you,

Matthew

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Matthew Attoe 

Thanks again for the replies.

Thinking about it further, I guess I could let the battery get around to half capacity and then take it out and just run on the charger, albeit at a reduced performance (which should still be enough for iTunes, Slimserver and Front Row).

Thank you,

Matthew

If I remember correctly, if you're going to take the battery out and store it you should store it in the freezer, at 50% to 75% capacity.

But I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if you're only going to run it this way for a few months before you get a more permanent solution. Leaving it plugged in might reduce the capacity of the battery earlier than cycling it monthly, but the battery will deteriorate no matter how good care you take of it.

[Oisín]

For what it’s worth, my PowerBook has lived most of its 2 1/2-year long life always plugged in. The result of this is that the battery dies after about 60–90 minutes of use when not plugged in. When it was new, it would last over three hours, so that’s almost cut down to one third.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

For what it’s worth, my PowerBook has lived most of its 2 1/2-year long life always plugged in. The result of this is that the battery dies after about 60–90 minutes of use when not plugged in. When it was new, it would last over three hours, so that’s almost cut down to one third.

And over 2 1/2 years might do that to the battery anyway, even if it weren't constantly plugged in.

To the OP: The way the battery charger works is that it waits until the battery is 95% charged until it kicks in to "top it off to 100%" Then it waits until it gets back to 95% before it kicks in again and recharges. After 20 of these down to 95%, back to 100% charges, it will be a full cycle (i.e. equivalent to running the battery down to 0% and then recharging it to 100% once). A battery that can last about 300-400 cycles before being reduced to 80% can withstand the way the computer does charging when constantly plugged in without much noticeable loss of capacity, compared to someone who burns up those 300-400 cycles in 300-400 days, for instance.

To put it another way, it'd take about 20 times longer to go through those cycles if you rarely used the machine on battery power and kept it plugged in all the time.

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

To the OP: The way the battery charger works is that it waits until the battery is 95% charged until it kicks in to "top it off to 100%" Then it waits until it gets back to 95% before it kicks in again and recharges. After 20 of these down to 95%, back to 100% charges, it will be a full cycle (i.e. equivalent to running the battery down to 0% and then recharging it to 100% once). A battery that can last about 300-400 cycles before being reduced to 80% can withstand the way the computer does charging when constantly plugged in without much noticeable loss of capacity, compared to someone who burns up those 300-400 cycles in 300-400 days, for instance.

To put it another way, it'd take about 20 times longer to go through those cycles if you rarely used the machine on battery power and kept it plugged in all the time.

Do you have any documentation on that? I'm not disputing what you're saying, I just haven't ever seen any references to the power-cycling behavior you're describing.

If the battery charging circuitry is smart enough to run the battery from 100% to 95% 20 times while plugged in, it would be equivalent to running the battery all the way down and running it back up again, but I've never heard about that functionality before. I could be wrong ( I frequently am....)

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

Do you have any documentation on that? I'm not disputing what you're saying, I just haven't ever seen any references to the power-cycling behavior you're describing.

This is what I have observed with the various PowerBooks/MacBooks (Pro) I've had over the years, but I'll try to find some documentation.

[shabbasuraj]

You cannot kill something that is not alive per se.

Your computer is a tool.. no more no less... sure you can be become attached to it... but I generally try and avoid developing such relationships with such objects...

... so ya you are not 'killing' your computer by using it in the method that you describe...so keep on using it.

[Dork.]

Stop anthropomorphizing your computers.... they hate that!

[Matthew Attoe]

Thanks once again for you all taking the time to reply.

Looks like I'm ok running how I am so I can rest easy now.

Now all I have to do is wait for Apple to decide what they are doing with the Mac Mini line and I'm away!

All the best

Matthew

[Waragainstsleep]

Not sure why you would say performance would be reduced running off the charger, its usually on battery power that speeds are restricted.
Removing the battery is not a bad idea though. I had one MBP drop a few degrees with the batter removed. That was with the screen open.

[MarkLT1]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Not sure why you would say performance would be reduced running off the charger, its usually on battery power that speeds are restricted.
Removing the battery is not a bad idea though. I had one MBP drop a few degrees with the batter removed. That was with the screen open.

If I am not mistaken, the new MBPs run at half speed when there is no battery installed.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by MarkLT1 

If I am not mistaken, the new MBPs run at half speed when there is no battery installed.

That's what I've heard. I can't say I've seen it, because I haven't tried it. Taking out the battery may not have been the source of the cooling that was noted; it may have been that the machine wasn't flat on a surface anymore and got a bit more cooling air around the bottom. And a few degrees is trivial, not something major.

[imitchellg5]

Without a battery, I've heard that they operate on one core until the other is direly needed (for example exporting video). During regular use, the second core stays off. I'm not sure if that's true or not since my school's MacBook Pro seems just as fast without the battery as it does with. We keep the battery out unless we need to move it somewhere for some reason (which makes me think we should have gotten another iMac, not MacBook Pro, but that's another discussion )