With many people working from home, their laptops have become more important than ever as their primary source of watching Netflix. And maybe being productive. With the constant need to move around your living room or study to change your view and then plugging your charger in and out, it can take a toll on your battery life.
This is something which Apple is going to be addressing as they introduce a new feature (as reported by The Verge) to most of their MacBooks called “Battery health management.” It’s going to be available today for developers and will roll into the future macOS Catalina 10.15.5 update. The new feature is hoping to increase the life of batteries by reducing the rate of chemical ageing. It does so by not charging the battery all the way up to the maximum in certain cases. Fully charging a battery puts a strain on it that can more rapidly reduce its longevity over time. Some phones now avoid charging all the way to 100% until just before you wake up for this reason.
So what this will essentially mean is that in certain cases, seeing 100% battery life in your menu bar may not necessarily mean it’s at maximum charge. Instead of charging the laptop to 100% of what the battery could take, it will now mean it’s charged to 100% of what the battery should take, to maximize its lifespan. And if that sounds confusing, it’s because it is. Just know that it’s for the good of your laptop battery.
It’s a useful update that should have a positive impact on the battery life in your MacBook, though Apple has not been able to say by exactly how much they hope to prolong batteries for. Given that MacBook batteries cost a fortune though, you would most definitely want to save money wherever possible.
Last Updated: April 17, 2020
