[calrobear]

Hi everyone --

I just want to preface this post by saying that I've just had to bury my previous Thinkpad after 3yrs and 3mnths of faithful service . . .

I've recently purchased a new MacBook . . . and in the process of baby-ing it, I've come to a question on when to plug it in. And do I need to shut it down before I do so (I had sparks issues with IBM). And is it better to plug in the AC adaptor into the electric socket prior to connecting it into my Macbook -- or the other way around?

Do I let it sleep all the time? Do I shut it down at night? And leave it plugged in then?

And the battery . . . how often do I discharge it?

Like I said -- I'm just a *bit* paranoid.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
R

[walkerjs]

I don't know what's necessarily 'best' but I can tell you what I do.

I plug in the adapter to the wall (or power-strip) socket first, then let the mag-safe connector click-in. Sometimes I do it before turning on/waking it up, sometimes I wait until it's started booting/asked for password but I always plug in the adapter to power first. BTW my adapter occasionally sparks when plugging in, and it does this regardless of whether the other end is connected to the Macbook. Sometimes it trips the 'brown power' alarm of my UPS briefly. It looks like the brick takes the spike of power on plug-in so having the mag-safe connected to the Macbook when you plug it in doesn't matter. I just have formed a ritual where I always plug in to power first.

I sleep my Macbook when I take it to work, keep it on during the day, and let it stay awake all night. Also Mac OS X likes to run regular maintenence scripts at odd hours of the morning, and if it's sleeping, these scripts won't get run. Essentially I only sleep it if I'm going to transport it, or don't have handy access to wall power. They go to sleep instantly, and wake up instantly. No problems with sleeping. I only restart it if an update that requires it happens, or shut it down for hardware upgrades.

You can keep it plugged in for as long as you want, and you don't necessarily have to 'exercise' the battery. I've kept mine mostly plugged in, and still get pretty good battery life when I can't. I've had it for six months.

[mduell]

Plug it in whatever order is convenient. No laptop should have sparks flying.

Sleep it all the time. Does anyone shut down laptops anymore?

Put at least 1 cycle (1 full cycle or 2 half cycles or 4 quarter cycles or a half cycle and two quarter cycles, etc) on the battery each month.

[ghporter]

Your AC adapter is not just some stupid transformer and rectifier gadget. It's highly advanced and will not provide power to the MagSafe plug until it's properly plugged in. Apple's instructions are for you to plug it into the WALL FIRST, then to the computer. As an electronics technician for a long time, that kind of bothered me at first, but after doing some reading I'm comfortable with it.

I shut down my laptop when I leave school for a few reasons, not the least of which is that I like to not have it asleep in my pack-where it may sit for a day or two. I also go from one wireless network to another in the process of coming home, and I like making things easier on my AirPort card. But turning it off is not absolutely required.

If you leave it plugged in on your desk all the time, I would turn it off (and even unplug it) because even just sitting there asleep it does pull a little current, and so does the adapter all by itself. Every watt you don't need and don't use is another watt that doesn't need to be generated and some ounces of carbon not emitted into the air.

[walkerjs]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Plug it in whatever order is convenient. No laptop should have sparks flying.

No sparks on the laptop. Sparks between the plugs on the power brick and the socket. You can't see it, more like hear it.

Lots of transformers will spark when plugged into an outlet. There's probably a capacitor in there getting insta-charged when first plugged in, because it doesn't do it all the time. And once again, no sparks on the laptop itself.

You're probably right, anything can be plugged in in any order one likes; I just happen to have established an order. It also keeps me from leaving accessories behind when I reverse the order to unplug.

[acoustix]

If you want to be ultra safe when you are using a power strip, plug everything in with the strip turned off and then power up by turning the strip switch on.

[ghporter]

Those "sparks" are harmless. They are caused by the plug not being in contact on both sides at the same time. You get the same thing plugging in a lamp that's turned on. ANY current flow that's possible when the plug is first inserted will cause this. Again, it's harmless-as long as you're not in some explosive atmosphere anyway!