by Helen Highfield
Did you know that Apple does not recommend leaving your laptop plugged in to power all the time? We don’t recommend it either. In order to maintain good battery life, it’s actually helpful to let your battery run all the way down from time to time before fully charging it. This is called cycling the battery and its especially important to do when you first set up a new laptop.
Once a month or so, leave the computer open and let the battery drain completely overnight. You may have to change some preferences so it doesn’t just go to sleep. To do this, open System Preferences (located in your Applications folder and the Apple menu and/or the Dock) and click on Energy Saver (lightbulb icon) and change the settings for battery, sliding both bars to never sleep. The next morning, plug into a power outlet, change the settings back, and unplug after you reach full charge.