[malcolm347]

I just bought a new macbook pro, and I want to ensure that I get the longest life out of the battery as possible.

I can't remember what the recommended care for lipo batteries is.

Should I fully charge/discharge once/twice per month?

And then I assume I shouldn't keep it plugged in at all times.

ANy care info is appreciated. Or if someone just has an article i can read, that would be fine.

THanks

[CharlesS]

Don't leave it constantly plugged in, but don't discharge it all the time either. The only thing that discharging completely does for you is to recalibrate the battery sensor. If you think it's giving you incorrect values for the time remaining, then discharge and recharge it, but this won't help the life of your battery (in fact, it'll probably hurt it very, very slightly, but by not by any amount that'll actually matter).

[Big Mac]

It has been my experience that Apple's Lithium Polymer batteries really do hold up to Apple's performance claims and perform considerably better over the long term than the older LiOn removable batteries Apple used to use. I was skeptical when Apple went to non-removable LiPo batteries in its laptops, but they work very well in the iDevices and I'm sure they're doing very well in the newer MacBooks because you see very few complaints about them online.

Don't constantly charge it (like Charles says), and don't constantly discharge it. Charge it more frequently but in general don't worry about it. These batteries hold up very well. I know that personally because my 1G iPod touch still does quite well battery wise.

[mduell]

Don't worry about it too much.

Try not to ever let it go dead unless you're calibrating it.
Run it through at least one equivalent cycle (multiple partial cycles work) a month.

[CharlesS]

I don't even go that far. Since calibrating doesn't help your battery life, but only helps the accuracy of the battery life readout, I just let it get recalibrated "naturally" if I happen to use up the battery while doing something. If you use your laptop a lot, it'll happen every so often that the battery happens to run down... there's your calibration.

[B Gallagher]

For what it's worth, this is Apple's view:

Apple - Batteries - Notebooks
Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance