What's the best way to charge your macbook pro?

Apple is very sensitive to the quality of components in its products and this also applies to batteries. Offline time MacBooks work much more than other laptops, however, over time it slowly begins to decline. To ensure that this moment comes as late as possible, there are several simple tips, following which you can keep the battery in excellent condition throughout its entire service life, right up to the purchase of a new MacBook.

We will divide all recommendations into two categories, the first will help take care of your battery in the short term, that is, they are aimed at extending time battery life from one charge; the latter are more forward-thinking and more concerned with preserving battery life over a long period of time.

Part 1: Increasing battery life

Using Energy Saving Options

The power saving settings in OS X are essentially minimal, but they work and this is also one of the ways to increase battery life.

Open system settings and go to the section Energy Saving. Using the sliders, we specify the time after which the display will turn off and your Mac will go into sleep mode. Also here you can specify whether to wake the computer from sleep mode to access the network and disk slowdown, which also affects energy savings.

In addition, you can use the scheduler to set it to automatically turn on/off, go to sleep, or reboot at specified times and days. This will be useful if you don't have to keep your MacBook constantly on, for example if you need to connect to it remotely when you're away from home.

Disabling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and dimming brightness

Wireless interfaces are those features and technologies that continue to run in the background even when you're not using them, so you can safely turn them off if you don't need them. this moment. This way you can save about half an hour to an hour of battery life for tasks that do not require network activity. Experienced users know how to turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but for beginners, I’ll remind you that this can be done by clicking the corresponding icons in the menu bar (you can also turn them on again there).

In addition to this, it is worth mentioning the brightness of the display, which also puts a significant strain on the battery and reduces battery life. If you have the auto-brightness option disabled, I recommend turning it on. Well, don’t forget about manual adjustment function keys. Sometimes, in emergency cases, you can reduce the brightness level to the minimum comfortable level and last 30-40 minutes longer.

Disabling unnecessary peripherals

Obviously the food peripheral devices connected to your MacBook puts additional strain on the battery, reducing battery life. All USB flash drives, hard disks, disk drives and other equipment, it is advisable to turn off if you do not need them at the moment. If you have an internal SuperDrive installed, be sure to remove the drive from it as well.

Upgrading to OS X Mavericks

The current version of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, introduced last fall, is literally packed with features that are aimed at increasing energy efficiency. There is no point in listing them now, since we described in detail all the functions of Mavericks in large review, but take my word for it that even old MacBooks after an update get a “second life” in terms of battery life.

If for some reason you have not updated yet, I strongly recommend that you do so, especially since the update is completely free and you can easily download it from the Mac App Store.

Part 2: Extending Battery Life

Battery diagnostics and monitoring

It is very important to monitor the health of your MacBook's battery, so you need to take care of this first. Any specialized utility is suitable for these purposes, for example Battery Info, which will tell you literally everything about your battery: initial and current capacity, battery health, number of cycles and much more. After installation, the application icon will be placed in the menu bar, from where you can find out the most complete information.

Using Battery Info, in combination with other tips in this article, will allow you to identify various problems that in one way or another affect the battery life of your MacBook and its battery life.

Impact of temperatures

Operating temperatures have a significant impact on battery life. They usually depend on how you use and store your MacBook. Apple clearly indicates these temperatures, for example, for my MacBook Pro (and for yours too), the operating temperatures in which operation is allowed are in the range from +10º C to +35º C. It is emphasized that the best temperature is considered to be as close as possible to room temperature, that is +22º C. Basically, these recommendations are followed “automatically”, since we are all living people and we are also uncomfortable working at high or low temperatures. However, this should not be completely neglected, since there are people who like to lie with their MacBooks on beds or soft sofas, where they feel “hot” surrounded by pillows and due to the lack of natural air circulation. In such cases, it would not be superfluous to use a hard surface, a special stand or table.

Prevention

It is believed that modern lithium batteries do not require maintenance and therefore do not require special attention to charge-discharge cycles. However, some experts still recommend adhering to reasonable rules, namely: avoiding deep battery discharge and long-term operation from the network. With a deep discharge, I think it’s clear that this has a detrimental effect on the battery capacity. But periodic disconnection from the network and operation from the built-in battery is necessary because the MacBook is constantly connected to the network, the battery works under more difficult conditions than with slow charging and discharging in the range of 40-80%.

Thus, it is advisable to unplug your MacBook at least once a week and work on the battery, discharging it to 40-60%. And twice a year it is necessary to carry out a full cycle of discharging up to 20% (when the poppy itself asks for charging) and charging up to 100%.

Long-term storage

Poppy farmers rarely part with their pets for more than a few hours, but there are still situations when we have to go somewhere for a long time, leaving our aluminum friend with a bitten apple at home. In this case, as in operation, you need to adhere to simple rules.

Firstly, do not forget about the temperature regime. Apple allows storing its devices at temperatures from -25º C to +45º C, however, it is recommended that the temperature be as close as possible to +22º C. That is, you should not leave them in the summer sun on a windowsill or in an unheated room in winter.

Secondly, you need to remember about the battery, since during long-term storage it is the battery that suffers the most. Before leaving your MacBook for a long time (more than 6 months), discharge it approximately halfway and store it in this state; charging it to 100% is not recommended. And, of course, don’t forget to turn it off completely to avoid deep discharge and possible loss of your data.

Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions? Welcome to the comments - I'm always happy to chat and help. Stay tuned, there is still a lot of interesting things to come!

With a little attention, you can increase your laptop's battery life (how long it can run on a single charge) and its lifespan. The most important thing is to use your Apple laptop within the acceptable temperature range (see Laptop Temperature Range). Do not leave your laptop in a closed case in summer as it may overheat.

New laptop

New Apple laptops use the latest chemistry technologies to significantly increase battery life. Built-in battery for MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air will withstand up to 1000 full charging cycles before its capacity decreases to 80% of the original. In addition, adaptive charging technology has reduced battery wear - now their service life is up to 5 years. When you turn on your laptop for the first time, be sure to fully charge the battery and update software. Apple periodically releases updates that can help optimize power consumption.

Standard routine maintenance

For supporting lithium battery in good condition it is necessary that the electrons in it are periodically in motion. Apple does not recommend keeping your laptop plugged in at all times. From this point of view, the ideal owner is a person who uses a laptop in transport and then puts it in the office to recharge. This way the battery does not stagnate. On the other hand, if you work on a desktop computer and only use your laptop occasionally when traveling, Apple recommends fully charging and discharging the battery at least once a month. Do you need to be reminded of this? Create an event in your iCal. If you find that the battery capacity is no longer sufficient for operation, you can replace it. Built-in batteries can only be replaced by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Long-term storage

If you know you won't use your laptop for more than six months, Apple recommends storing it with the battery at 50% charge. If stored with a completely discharged battery, it may enter a deep discharge state and lose its ability to charge. Long-term storage with a fully charged battery can lead to a partial loss of its capacity and a reduction in operating time. Always store your laptop at the proper temperature. (See Notebook Temperature Range section.)

Optimal settings

You can use your Apple laptop to get the longest battery life possible.

Energy. The Energy Saver panel has several options that let you determine the energy consumption level for your Apple laptop. Your laptop can detect when it is connected to the network and change its operating settings accordingly. When the laptop is running on battery power, the screen brightness decreases and all other components are used more sparingly. If you change the settings to ensure maximum performance, the battery will drain faster.

Brightness. Reduce the screen brightness to the minimum comfortable level, then the battery life will increase. For example, when watching a DVD on a flight with the cabin lights turned off, full brightness probably isn't necessary.

Wireless connection AirPort. When AirPort is turned on, more power is consumed - even when you're not using it. wireless connection. This function can be turned off on the relevant control panel to reduce energy consumption.

Bluetooth wireless connection. Likewise, you may want to turn off Bluetooth to improve battery life because the feature consumes power even when not in use.

Applications and peripherals. Disconnect any unnecessary devices and close apps you don't use. Remove CDs and DVDs if the laptop cannot access them.

Also, to save power consumption, you can reduce or turn off the keyboard backlight when it is not needed, for example, during the day.

You can select and purchase a MacBook in this section of our online store.

All new MacBooks, in which familiar interfaces have been replaced with newfangled ones USB Type-C, can be charged both from the mains and using external batteries (aka charging banks).

This was the deciding factor for me in abandoning the MacBook Pro 2015 and switching to the MacBook Pro 2017.

Now even the longest journey is not scary for me, because to the 8 hours of autonomy from the built-in battery, I managed to add the same amount from just one charging bank. And this is a victory.

Apple does not have any official explanations regarding charging the MacBook with external batteries. Therefore, we decided to create something like a guide based on personal tests, trial and error. Please.

What does Apple itself say about charging the MacBook Pro? Apple insists that to charge new MacBooks you should use power adapters that match the power of those that it itself includes in the kit.

61 W - for 13-inch MacBook Pro 87 W - for 15-inch MacBook Pro However, the service Apple support emphasizes that lower or higher power sources can be used to charge new laptops.

When charging with less watts of power for full use The MacBook will simply not be enough.

When charging with big amount There will be no harm to the device up to 100 W. Further - only at your own peril and risk.

If you are using a USB-C to VGA Multiport Adapter or USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, the built-in "C" port will not charge more than 60W - this may not be sufficient for full-fledged work on a 15-inch MacBook Pro.

If you connect several power sources to your MacBook Pro at once, it will use the most powerful one, regardless of the order in which you connected them.

Is it possible to charge a MacBook Pro with a regular can? Roma Yuriev shared his experiences in this direction. Then he was actually unable to fully use the charging banks with the 12-inch MacBook.

I tried using a USB-C to USB-A cable to connect the most common Xiaomi charging bank for 10,000 mAh (we’ll talk about the meaning of this and other similar values later in the text), which can produce no more than 15-18 W (this is indicated on its back side).

The 2017 MacBook Pro notified me that there was a network connection connected to it. Charger, but its capacity did not increase from 71% in a couple of hours.

Note that I'm also not saying that capacity dropped during two or three hours of low-performance work.

It turns out that due to its low power, such a charging bank simply cannot charge a 13-inch MacBook Pro. However, it is able to power it and significantly increase the battery life of the laptop - by approximately 20-30%.

The figure is not very high, but it’s already something. It turns out that several of these cans on the road will not be useless for work or entertainment, which I will also try to check during the next train journey, which will take about two days.

In the end, it works. And that's great.

Which banks are best suited for charging a laptop? But for charging new MacBooks, of course, special solutions that are already appearing on the market are better suited, including in the not-so-expensive segment.

One of best solutions today - the ZMI 10 charging bank (consider it made by Xiaomi), which Kolya Maslov wrote about not so long ago.

For example, it is capable of delivering power not just 15-18, but already as much as 40-45 watts. And this is already enough to fully power a 13-inch MacBook Pro.

When working with text and Adobe Photoshop it recharged my laptop battery by 1% in about 1-1.5 minutes. And its total volume was enough for me to charge the device from 0 to 100%, and I didn’t let it go completely.

New technologies used in such a bank allow it to be charged incredibly quickly. Imagine a 20,000 mAh monster (this is with charging iPhone) can be completely filled in 3-3.5 hours when used standard block power supply from MacBook Pro 2017.

Remember how long it took to charge banks of this volume before - I once tried to fill a 16,000 mAh Xiaomi power bank with standard charging from an iPhone. 24 hours was not enough for this - the process took 35-40 hours.

How many times can a MacBook Pro be recharged with 20,000 mAh, 16,000 mAh, 10,000 mAh - all these are marketing indicators that really have a right to life, but they do not tell exactly how many times a power bank can fill a particular device.

The thing is that the battery capacity actually changes at different voltages at which charging occurs.

For example, the top-end external battery ZMI 10 claims 20,000 mAh at 3.8 V, at 5 V its capacity already reaches only 12,000 mAh, and at 7.2 V it is already less than 10,000 mAh.

The battery capacity is also determined in Wh. For example, the 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro with and without Touch Bar it is 49 Wh and 54.5 Wh, respectively.

The manufacturer claims that ZMI is capable of delivering 70.2-72 Wh. It turns out that he can charge such a laptop more than once. Almost, but not quite.

There are still nuances. The declared capacity of an external battery is usually greater than what it is actually willing to give away. There are losses that depend on a variety of indicators beyond our control.

Therefore, in the end it turns out that we can only approximately guess how many times you can actually charge external battery one device or another. And the same ZMI 10 can fill my 13-inch MacBook Pro 2017 with Touch Bar from 0 to 100% and about 20% more. Normal

Our thoughts on the quality of all accessories USB Type-C is a public standard, for the use of which you do not need to be certified by Apple or any other bodies.

That is why you need to be very careful with it, because if you connect something of poor quality through it, you can simply ruin the same MacBook.

For example, Apple generally recommends using only the supplied power adapter to charge it and insists that each USB Type-C cable must have a special serial number, which allows you to make sure that it is suitable for a particular laptop.

Marking official USB-C from Apple: If the first three characters serial number C4M or FL4, cable designed for use with the Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter.

If the first three characters of the serial number are DLC or CTC, the cable is designed for use with the 61W or 87W Apple USB-C Power Adapter. My personal practice shows that in addition to official Apple accessories, you can use USB Type-C cables from Native Union, Nomad and other manufacturers that are well-known by everyone without any problems.

In order not to harm your device, just do not use nameless Chinese accessories, which even look just disgusting.

And may you always be pleased with the autonomy of your MacBook. Good luck!

Apple produces high-quality and inexpensive products, and their technologies are quite different from competitors. That's why Apple gadgets require a slightly different approach than similar devices from other manufacturers. In this article, we will answer the most frequently asked questions regarding charging MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, and also provide recommendations to help you keep your MacBook's battery in the best condition.

How to protect and extend the life of your battery - in our new article

The most important criteria for every portable device are battery life, battery life and charging speed. Undoubtedly, Apple products- one of the most reliable, but incorrect or careless operation will shorten its service life. Let's figure out how to increase and extend battery efficiency for maximum time.

When you turn on your laptop for the first time, Apple recommends leaving it plugged in until the setup process is complete, as this process requires more power than normal operation. The charge indicator should reach 100%.
For daily use, it is recommended to run the battery for a few hours and then charge your MacBook from a wall outlet.
If you prefer to keep your laptop connected to the network all the time, then take advantage of another expert advice: completely discharge the device once a month. This monthly cycle of discharging and charging will extend its life.

Extending battery life

Let's remember important information: on average for 1000 cycles. Maximum performance lasts for about 500–700 cycles, after which it wears out, leading to a decrease in operating time. A run-up of 200 cycles is a lot, so let’s see what needs to be done to make the gadget last as long as possible.

Sudden changes in temperature negatively affect the properties of the battery. Try to keep your laptop at room temperature as much as possible.
If you do not plan to use the laptop for a while (for example, you are going on vacation), you should increase the charge level to 50% - these are optimal conditions for preserving battery capacity. You shouldn’t leave the device fully charged: this has a negative impact on the battery, and a gadget that has been turned off for a long time may not turn on at all.
The MacBook battery doesn't like downtime and works much more efficiently with regular use.
To increase your laptop's idle time, use the Energy Saver panel in System Preferences.
The MacBook Pro has a handy "Dim screen slightly when on battery" setting that reduces screen brightness to 75% - use it.
It is recommended to maintain a display brightness level that is minimally comfortable for you. The lower the constant brightness, the longer the battery will last.

Charge MacBook without charging

As we already said, Apple technology differs significantly from analogues in many respects. This also applies to laptop chargers: they have a completely different connector and power than laptops from other companies. This begs the question: how to charge a MacBook if you don’t have a proprietary charger at hand?

There are several ways to charge this way. Let's look at the main ones.

Method 1. Dangerous

Precisely because it is dangerous and will simply “kill” the battery if an inexperienced user intervenes, we will not dwell on it in detail. It consists in the fact that you need to connect the battery contacts with non-branded wires. If you are an electronics repair specialist, this method will suit you; we do not advise anyone else to carry out similar experiments. Those interested can watch a video on this topic on YouTube.

Method 2. Safe

For it we need a BatteryBox - a portable external rechargeable battery for Apple products with a capacity of 50 Wh. It comes with a proprietary MagSafe cord with the necessary connector. With this device you can charge your laptop without charging and even without access to an outlet.

BatteryBox – external battery for MacBook

BatteryBox performance:

MacBook Pro - 6 hours of operation,
MacBook Air - 12 hours of operation.

The BatteryBox weighs 300g, looks almost like an Apple charger, charges via MicroUSB and is rated for 3000 cycles - that is, at least 3 times longer than a laptop battery. Charging time is about 9 hours.

As you can see, charging your MacBook while preserving its batteries is easy. The main thing is to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations and use branded chargers, or, in their absence, specialized devices. If you have any other interesting information about properly charging your MacBook - welcome in the comments!

All new MacBooks, in which the usual interfaces have been replaced by newfangled USB Type-C, can be charged both from the mains and using external batteries (aka charging banks).

This was the decisive factor for me in giving up and switching to .

Now even the longest journey is not scary for me, because to the 8 hours of autonomy from the built-in battery, I managed to add the same amount from just one charging bank. And this is a victory.

What Apple itself says about charging the MacBook Pro

Apple insists that new MacBooks should be charged using power adapters that match the power of the ones it includes in the box.

29 W- for 12-inch MacBooks
61 W- for 13-inch MacBook Pro
87 W- for 15-inch MacBook Pro

However, Apple support emphasizes that you can use lower or higher power sources to charge new laptops.

When charging with less watts There simply won’t be enough power to fully use the MacBook.

When charging with a lot of watts There will be no harm to the device up to 100 W. Further - only at your own peril and risk.

If you're using a USB-C to VGA Multiport Adapter or a USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, the built-in "C" port will only charge up to 60W of charging power, which may not be enough to fully power a 15-inch MacBook Pro.

If you connect several power sources to your MacBook Pro at once, it will use the most powerful one, regardless of the order in which you connected them.

Is it possible to charge a MacBook Pro with a regular jar?

Roma Yuryev also contributed his experiments in this direction. Then he was actually unable to fully use the charging banks with the 12-inch MacBook.

The 2017 MacBook Pro notified me that it had a wall charger plugged into it, but its capacity never rose from 71% in a couple of hours.

Note that I'm also not saying that capacity dropped during two or three hours of low-performance work.

It turns out that due to its low power, such a charging bank simply cannot charge a 13-inch MacBook Pro. However, it is capable of powering it up and significantly increasing the laptop's battery life - by approximately 20-30%.

In the end, it works. And that's great.

Which banks are best for charging a laptop?

But for charging new MacBooks, of course, special solutions that are already appearing on the market are better suited, including in the not-so-expensive segment.

One of the best solutions today is the ZMI 10 charging bank (consider it made by Xiaomi), which Kolya Maslov talked about not long ago.

For example, it is capable of delivering power not just 15-18, but already as much as 40-45 watts. And this is already enough to fully power a 13-inch MacBook Pro.

When working with text and Adobe Photoshop, it refilled my laptop battery by 1% in about 1-1.5 minutes. And its total volume was enough for me to charge the device from 0 to 100%, and I didn’t let it go completely.

New technologies used in such a bank allow it to be charged incredibly quickly. Imagine that a 20,000 mAh monster (this is when charging an iPhone) is fully capable fill in 3-3.5 hours when using a standard power supply from a MacBook Pro 2017.

How many times can a MacBook Pro be recharged?

20,000 mAh, 16,000 mAh, 10,000 mAh - all these are marketing indicators that really have a right to life, but they do not tell exactly how many times a power bank can fill a particular device.

The thing is that the battery capacity is actually changes at different voltages, at which charging occurs.

For example, the top-end external battery ZMI 10 claims 20,000 mAh at 3.8 V, at 5 V its capacity already reaches only 12,000 mAh, and at 7.2 V it is already less than 10,000 mAh.

The battery capacity is also determined in Wh. For example, in the 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro with and without Touch Bar, it is 49 Wh and 54.5 Wh, respectively.

The manufacturer claims that ZMI is capable of delivering 70.2-72 Wh. It turns out that he can charge such a laptop more than once. Almost, but not quite.

There are still nuances. The declared capacity of an external battery is usually greater than what it is actually willing to give away. There are losses, which depend on a variety of indicators beyond our control.

Therefore, in the end it turns out that we can only approximately guess how many times a particular device can actually be charged with an external battery. And the same ZMI 10 can fill my 13-inch MacBook Pro 2017 with Touch Bar from 0 to 100% and about 20% more. Normal

Our thoughts on the quality of all accessories

USB Type-C is a public standard, the use of which does not require certification from Apple or any other organizations.

That is why you need to be very careful with it, because if you connect something of poor quality through it, you can simply ruin the same MacBook.

Official USB-C markings from Apple:

If the first three characters of the serial number are C4M or FL4, the cable is designed for use with the Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter.
If the first three characters of the serial number are DLC or CTC, the cable is designed for use with the 61W or 87W Apple USB-C Power Adapter.

My personal practice shows that in addition to official Apple accessories, you can use USB Type-C cables from Native Union, Nomad and other manufacturers that are well-known by everyone without any problems.