[Mel Dada]

Newbie type question-Does anyone know if it is bad for the battery life to use a powerbook running on AC and charging the battery at the same time? I often do that and the battery continues to charge up while I'm using it. I read on a forum somewhere that it was not good for battery life. It is not mentioned in the Apple manual that came with my 12" powrbook 1.33ghz.
thanks

mel

[Ω]

Not an issue at all, or at least none that I have ever heard of in the 2 years I have been using my PB.

[hldan]

There is nowhere in Apple's owners manual for any of their notebooks that mentions that it's not good to use the computer while the battery is charging. Computer companies know that people need their notebooks on the fly so it's perfectly logical to use the computer during charge time.
While it will slow down the charging time while the computer is being used it will not cause any damage or decrease battery life.
I'm using mine right now while the charging light is on.
Have fun.

[JKT]

What may have confused you is that it isn't a good idea to use your battery once it has fully charged when running off the mains, due to the excessive heat and also due to the inevitable charge/slow discharge/charge cycle that will occur as the battery cycles between ~99% and 100% charged.

Ideally, if you primarily run off the mains and only run off the battery infrequently, it is better to physically remove* the battery from the computer (while the mains is plugged in) when it has a charge of ~70%, and store it somewhere cool. This will extend the overall life of your battery. With Li-ion batteries (in any equipment) the biggest "killer" for them is heat and constant discharge/recharge cycles. It is also better to "shallow" charge them - don't let them run down completely before recharging if you can avoid it.

* Note, this assumes a relatively dust/dirt free environment so that you aren't clogging the internals via the battery bay.

[riverfreak]

Originally posted by JKT:
...
Ideally, if you primarily run off the mains and only run off the battery infrequently, it is better to physically remove* the battery from the computer
...

I'm sorry. I know you mean well, but that is just lame. This question comes up over and over again. Look people, batteries are consumables. They are cheap. I've been using my powerbook for two years now, day in, day out for ~10 hours per day.

This includes lots of charging/discharging. I still get 2 hours, evern when running intensive database-drive applications that suck up all my RAM. Don't worry about your battery. When it starts to go south, as it inevitably will regardless of how much TLC you give it, get a new one. It's like getting a new computer for $100!

[megasad]

Originally posted by riverfreak:
I'm sorry. I know you mean well, but that is just lame. This question comes up over and over again. Look people, batteries are consumables. They are cheap. I've been using my powerbook for two years now, day in, day out for ~10 hours per day.

This includes lots of charging/discharging. I still get 2 hours, evern when running intensive database-drive applications that suck up all my RAM. Don't worry about your battery. When it starts to go south, as it inevitably will regardless of how much TLC you give it, get a new one. It's like getting a new computer for $100!

Um, $100 (or �99 as they are here in the UK) is a lot of money. At least to me it is. So, making the battery in an iBook/PowerBook last as long as it can seems to make good sense.

I have a story though. The battery that I got with my iBook in October 2001 would only hold about one minute of charge by April 2003. My solution? When my girlfriend sent in her old iBook to have the logic board fixed for the third time, I included my dead battery rather than her one (which still held about 2:30 charge). When the iBook was returned, it had a shiny new battery, which, due to being very little used, still holds about 4 hours charge. Hoo-hah.