Your MacBook’s battery is not like other ordinary batteries. The battery in the MacBook is highly sophisticated and somewhat more delicate than the other pieces of equipment. That is why you should know how to use your Mac’s battery and when to charge it.
You can figure out how long it will work and when you need to charge it. All of which is handy, but only if you know how to properly calibrate the power of your Mac’s battery.
However, if you have a brand new MacBook, the battery comes calibrated. But that’s not the case when it gets older. With usage, the battery of your Mac drifts out of sync, and you must re-calibrate it to get the maximum benefit.
Hence, in this comprehensive guide, we will show you how you can re-calibrate the battery of your Mac like a pro.
Why should you Calibrate the Battery of your MacBook?
The main reasons to calibrate the MacBook battery are summarized below:
- A calibrated battery provides more accurate battery readings.
- Calibration helps to condition the Mac’s battery.
- Calibration helps the Mac’s battery to work at its fullest capacity.
We agree that you can easily view the battery’s crucial readings, such as how many hours and minutes are left before you need to recharge the battery. There are many options to view these battery readings.
But, all these readings and information are only accurate if your MacBook’s battery is properly calibrated. If not, your system will show you inaccurate details, and some customization options will not perform as they should.
In some cases, you might notice sudden depletion of your system’s battery even if it shows you plenty of time and charge.
How to Properly Calibrate your Mac’s Battery?
If you have the latest MacBook, MacBook Airs, or MacBook Pros, no need to calibrate the device manually as it happens automatically. All you need to do is to let the battery drain out completely and shut off your Mac.
Then after some time, you can turn it on again and let it charge up to 100%. The Mac’s battery will recalibrate seamlessly.
However, the calibration process is a bit more complex if you have older models and involves a few stages. Here are some things to remember:
Completely charge your Apple MacBook’s battery even if you are using it using your MagSafe power adapter. Once the MagSafe connector light turns steady green, it is fully charged.
Once your device gets fully charged, you can use your Mac even when plugged into the AC power outlet. You can comfortably use it for up to a couple of hours in this way.
After two hours, we advise you to unplug your MacBook from the AC power outlet. Next, keep using the device while it is running on battery power. After some time, you will see a warning stating that power is running low and you must save your work.
When you receive this warning, save all the pending work but keep using your MacBook. During that time, we recommend you save your work at regular intervals. Keep using the device until it goes to sleep. And when you see the device in sleep mode, hold the power button and turn it off.
Lastly, you should wait for about four to five hours, and then you can turn it on again. However, you cannot use it in this position. Wait till it gets fully recharged.
The process is finished now, and your Mac’s battery is properly re-calibrated. Now you can view the accurate information in the battery menu bar items or via System Preferences.
Some vital points to remember during the calibration process:
Keep your Mac Unplugged and don’t use it
Once your device enters the sleep mode automatically, you must leave it for at least 5 hours, or you can leave it unused overnight if possible. This will ensure that your battery gest drained out completely.
Charging the Battery
After draining your MacBook’s battery, you can plug in your power cable but don’t use the system. Instead, allow it to charge fully. When your battery gets charged fully, the operating system will calibrate it automatically (not applicable to all Mac systems).
After calibration, we recommend you set the energy saver settings to get the maximum battery life from your Mac system. Try to maintain the optimum balance between power consumption, saving, and performance. Mostly, the balance is dependent on your exact usage. You can also read this How to Free Up Space on Mac?
How to Reduce the Battery Power for your Mac?
Now you understand how to calibrate your Mac correctly to optimize battery life. But did you know there are many other simple things you can do to drastically reduce power consumption of your Mac and preserve precious battery life?
The very first thing is to visit the Battery pane System Preferences (known as Energy Saver in some versions of macOS).
Via this option, you can adjust or lower screen brightness. You can also adjust the display sleep time. Both of which save battery life.
Some other things that can reduce the battery power usage are as follow:
Disconnect all the Peripherals that are not in Use
If you are using any external hard drive or USB with your machine, and the device doesn’t have its own power source, your Mac will provide power for those devices.
Here you need to ensure that your Mac gets all the power from the mains, or else it will take power from the battery, and it will drain quickly. The same applies to other devices such as USB microphones, webcams, and memory cards.
Shut Down Browser Tabs
Every opened tab in your web browser consumes your Mac’s battery and CPU cycles. In simple terms, unused tabs can drain your battery power needlessly.
Identify greedy apps via battery menu bar items:
You should identify power-consuming apps. To do so, go to the battery menu bar and find the displays apps. Here you can see the power that apps are using.
Shut down the apps that are not in use to save power. In some cases, you can also restart apps that are hung or are consuming a lot of energy due to an error situation.
Remove Unnecessary Login Items and Launch Agents
Apps and processes that start with your Mac and run in the background consume a lot of power. Thus, if you don’t use them, you can shut them down to save your Mac’s battery.
For this purpose, you can also use Apple’s CleanMyMac X’s Optimization feature. It can help you in preserving battery power. Here is how to use it:
- First, download and install CleanMyMac X on your Mac and launch it.
- Now, look for the Optimization Option in the sidebar.
- Next, select the ‘View All Items.’
- Check all the boxes and Launch Agents and then press the Remove button.
Once the process is finished, all unnecessary login items and launch agents will be removed. Moreover, you can also use the CleanMyMac X to uninstall unused applications. Alternatively, the app can also bring them back into their default state if they are consuming a lot of power.
In the End
Mac’s battery is smart, as it shows you how long you can work and when it will drain out. Plus, you can also optimize the battery’s charging schedule as per your precise use and extend the battery’s life.
However, to do that, you should know how to calibrate the power of your mac properly. For this purpose, we advise you to follow all the steps given above and keep your Mac’s battery in tip-top condition for many years.
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