Although most Macs last a while before running out of power, some factors can cause Mac’s battery to drain quickly. Computer-intensive activities such as running heavy games or watching videos for a long period of time – especially the famous marathons on Netflix – can greatly reduce battery life. To learn more about how to improve your Mac’s battery life and keep it going a little longer, we’ve selected 20 of the best tips to save or give you a lifetime boost.
Table of Contents
1. Know the battery life of your battery
Before you start making improvements to your Mac’s battery, we advise you to first know your original capacity and see if it is actually fulfilling the promise. On the technical page of the Apple website, you can search for the Mac model you purchased and check the duration.
If you are noting that the battery lasts much longer than expected, we suggest that you seek the assistance of Apple Authorized Service to check the problem. If the change was slow, some of the tips below may help.
2. Use SSD instead of HD
If you have the money to invest in an upgrade to increase the durability of your Mac, a tip is to switch your HD to an SSD if you do not already have one. Although the HD has more available storage space and is generally cheaper, the SSD compensates for performance and energy savings. That is, although SSDs are more expensive and have less space, your computer will work faster and spend less battery power.
3. Keep your Mac up to date
Current editions of Apple’s operating system also bring improvements in the durability of Mac’s battery. Both Mac OS X and Mac OS Sierra receive updates frequently, improving their life.
4. Avoid clogging your storage disk
Regardless of whether you use an HD or SSD on your Mac, be sure to leave at least 10% of free disk space. The fuller it gets, the more you’ll need to be uninstalling and installing things, wearing down your computer. To better organize your Mac files, be sure to check out this space-saving tutorial on Mac.
5. Decrease screen brightness to the lowest possible
The more brightness, the greater the battery life of the computer. That’s why we recommend using the least possible brightness, something that will extend the life of your Mac’s battery and still lessen your eyes. To do this, press the F1 key and move the brightness bar to the lowest setting.
6. Set the Battery Saver mode
One tip from Apple itself is to set the Power Saver mode when your Mac is not plugged into the charger. Just open the System Preferences application, choose Power Saver, and on the Battery tab, reduce the time for the computer to go to sleep when not in use, and leave all options in this window checked.
7. Turn off Bluetooth
A common recommendation to save battery power also on smartphones and tablets, turning off Bluetooth will yield a few extra moments of use. Click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar and select Turn off Bluetooth to save your Mac battery. We suggest that you turn on Bluetooth only when it is necessary to use it.
8. Use Disk Utility to check for corrupted files
Corrupted files may end up using your Mac’s memory, thus requiring more battery life. So it’s healthy to run Disk Utility to scan your computer for these corrupted files, deleting them and improving the overall performance of your computer.
9. Turn off WiFi when it is not needed
This is a hint that will hardly be used. However, turning off WiFi gives a battery life. In places with no signal available – as on most planes – or tasks that do not require the use of the internet, it is best to turn off the receiver. On air travel, the tip is still more useful on long trips, allowing you to use your MacBook for longer.
10. Leave the sound mute
Another difficult option to turn off, but which can extend the battery life of the Mac. Just like in WiFi, we recommend muting the sound of the computer in specific situations, like being without headphones in a public place or performing tasks that do not care in mute, for example.
11. Do not keep the charger plugged in after charging the battery.
Very common for those who work all day with notebooks, keeping the computer plugged in all the time may mean not worrying about the battery at the moment. However, battery health is maintained according to the fluidity of the electric current. That is, the more electricity comes in and out of the computer, the better for the battery.
Take your Mac out of the charger when the battery reaches 100% and reinsert it only when the power level is low. If you go a long time without turning on your computer or notebook, leave it with about half the battery only. A full battery combined with inactivity can also reduce the maximum time it can hold in the future.
12. Avoid connecting devices when it is not in the charger
Any devices that you connect to the Mac will cause a larger power drain. Drainage is even greater if you are connecting devices like iPhones, iPads or any devices that can be charged with the power of the computer. Therefore, avoid connecting them when the Mac is out of the charger.
13. Turn off your Mac
It seems like an obvious tip, but there are many people who simply keep their handsets on so that they do not have to wait for them to call the next day. However, shutting down the computer allows it to install updates and cleans the system, improving it when it restarts. So shut down your Mac when you’re not using it.
14. Disable apps you are not using
Your Mac runs a number of applications in the background, but they are not necessarily useful. Therefore, it is worth checking the Activity Monitor which are active and turning off the ones that are unnecessary. The more apps you open, the more battery you will consume. To find out which ones are most energy-consuming, go to the tab of the same name at the top of the app.
15. Avoid apps that have heavy graphics when out of the charger
Prefer to use applications that require a lot of off-loading graphics processing, such as video editing software and Mac games. Of all the programs, these are the ones that consume the battery more, diminishing quickly its duration. Ideally, you should use them when loading your MacBook.
16. Increase your RAM if you use heavy apps
If you use apps that require a lot of computers, as in the cases mentioned above, one solution is to increase the RAM of your machine. In this way, the Mac will be better able to process the information with less effort compared to the battery, improving the time it takes to unload. Still, it’s worth considering that these applications will continue to drain a good amount of energy.
17. Watch for the battery cycle to know when to change it.
Each time the battery is discharged, a cycle is counted. Each battery has a maximum number of cycles, indicating its overall service life. By paying attention to the number available, it is easier to predict the best time to look for a new Mac battery to install on your computer.
To check how many battery cycles remain, hold the Option key and click the Apple menuand choose System Information. Then go to the Hardware section and select Power. The number of remaining cycles is located in the battery information, as shown below.
18. Clean your Recycle Bin daily
A good way to clean up busy space on the Mac and still follow the tip shown in item 4 of this list is to clean your trash frequently. Check the files that are in it, and if you do not decide to recover any, clean everything, deleting them permanently from the computer.
19. Minimize the number of icons on the desktop
The more icons on the desktop, the greater the amount of RAM consumed, which is always added to the applications you are using, including those that work in full screen. So, avoid populating your desktop icons because, in addition to consuming more memory, it takes the computer longer to stay functional after you turn it on.
20. Invert the colors of the desktop
The last tip is also a bit more extreme, but black pixels are easier to render than white pixels. That is, white pixels drain more battery than the reverse. If you prefer to use your Mac’s monitor in a darker configuration, this tip is a hand on the wheel.
Set up your Mac desktop to display white color. Then go to the Mac accessibility options and select the Invert Colors option. You can also reverse it using the Control + Option + Command + 8 key combination.
If you need help, have doubts or concerns, do not hesitate to leave a comment in the comment box below and we will try to help you as soon as possible!