At 4:01 PM -0400 4/20/2011, John Callahan wrote:
What is the best way to operate a laptop when on the AC adapter, with the battery in place or removed?
in place.
Am concerned with battery life and number of cycles. Battery is always down a little after a shut-down and restart on the power source, does this constitute a "cycle"?
No. A "cycle" is a whole discharge/recharge cycle. It's accumulative. If you run the laptop on the adapter all the time, then it will take months to complete a battery cycle. Of course, this is a Bad Thing -- Li-Ion batteries need to be cycled now and then - to keep the electrons moving - or they end up with shorter lives. If your norm is to run on the adapter all the time, then it is recommended that you intentionally cycle the battery once a month or so.
The Power Manager and the controller chip in the battery are "smart", but the percentage display in your menu bar is sortof a dashboard idiot light - often inaccurate by quite few percent. IOW, don't get upset when you see it straying off that 100% mark.
In System Profiler, btw, you can view the cycle count of your battery. A good read: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10332097-263.html - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
