Battery+Life

== With a bit of care and by applying some optimal battery settings, you can maximize the battery life (the time your notebook battery will run before it must be recharged) and lifespan of your notebook’s battery. Also, use your Apple notebook in its temperature comfort zone; don’t leave it in a hot environment during the summer or a cold environment during the winter. (See “Notebook Temperate Zone.”)
 * Notebook Temperate Zone.** Your Apple notebook works best from 50° to 95°F. You should store it in places with temperatures of -13° to 113°F. That’s 10° to 35°C and -25° to 45°C, for the metrically inclined. Keeping your Mac as near room temperature as possible (22°C) is ideal.

Your New Notebook
Be sure to fully charge your notebook when you plug it in for the first time, and then run Software Update to ensure you have the latest software. Apple periodically releases updates that may improve battery performance.

Standard Maintenance
For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Apple does not recommend leaving your notebook plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her notebook on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If, on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.

Long-Term Storage
If you don’t plan on using your notebook for more than six months, Apple recommends that you store it with a 50% battery charge. If you store a battery when it is fully discharged, it could fall into a deep discharge state that will not allow it to hold any charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged, the battery may experience some loss of capacity that will result in a shorter lifespan. Be sure to store your notebook and battery at the proper temperature. (See “Notebook Temperate Zone.”)

Optimal Battery Settings
You can take some easy steps to maximize the battery life of your Apple notebook.
 * **Energy Saver:** The Energy Saver pane in System Preferences offers several settings to help optimize your battery life. Options in this pane will vary depending on your Apple notebook and operating system version. Here are some of the items you can enable to save power: putting the hard disk to sleep when possible, automatically reducing brightness before the display goes to sleep, and setting the computer and display sleep sliders to induce sleep of the system or display more quickly.
 * **Display brightness:** Using the F1 (dimmer) and F2 (brighter) keys, dim your display to the lowest comfortable level to achieve maximum battery life. For instance, when watching a movie on an airplane, you may not need full display brightness if all of the cabin lights are off.
 * **Graphics performance:** The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models include a feature in the Energy Saver pane for adjusting graphics performance while maximizing battery life. If your MacBook Pro has a feature called “automatic graphics switching,” it will automatically switch to the best graphics system for the applications running.
 * **AirPort wireless:** AirPort consumes power even if you are not using it to connect to a wireless network. You can turn it off by clicking the AirPort icon in the menu bar or in System Preferences.
 * **Bluetooth:** Likewise, you can turn off Bluetooth to maximize your battery life, as it also consumes power when not in use. You can turn it off by clicking the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar or in System Preferences.
 * **Applications:** Shut down applications when they are not in use, especially graphics-intensive ones such as 3D games, iLife, or professional applications.
 * **Peripherals:** Electronic devices such as printers and digital cameras can draw power from your battery even when you are not using them. Disconnect peripherals and eject CDs and DVDs when they are not in use.

Battery Life Testing
Battery life depends on your notebook model, system configuration, and use. For light productivity activities, such as email and web surfing, you can get up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge with the 13-inch MacBook Pro (Mid-2010). The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processor document with display brightness set to the middle setting.

Battery Status Menu
The battery status menu, located on the right side of the menu bar, shows you how much charge your battery has and whether it is currently charging. You can also Option-click the battery status menu to display your battery’s current condition. This menu is automatically updated every 30 seconds and will change depending on your display brightness settings and whether you are performing light productivity or more intensive tasks.