The MacBook is known for its excellent battery life, but especially with intensive use, it must still be connected to the charger regularly. Fortunately, there are several ways to get more out of the battery. In this guide we have listed 12 MacBook battery tips.
MacBook battery tips: 12 tips to extend the battery life
A big advantage of the MacBook is of course that you can take it with you with you. In many cases, you can even leave the charger at home, thanks to the long battery life of Apple’s laptops. Yet there are still plenty of small tips and adjustments you can do to extend the MacBook battery life a bit further. Handy if you are almost home but still have to do something important with those last few percent of your battery percentage.
1. Download the latest updates
It goes without saying, but many users forget to update their MacBook with the latest software. However, it is recommended that you do so as Apple regularly releases updates to macOS to optimize the operating system. In addition to better battery life, these updates also ensure that your Mac is protected against the latest bugs and security holes.
For example, macOS High Sierra is again a lot more economical than its predecessor and you as a user get more hours out of the MacBook battery. Checking whether a new macOS update is waiting for you is very easy: you simply open the Mac App Store and click on the ‘Updates’ tab.
2. Check the condition of the MacBook battery
If you have problems with the battery of your MacBook, it is useful to check its condition. You do that as follows.
- Click on the Apple icon in the menu bar;
- Choose ‘About This Mac’;
- Click on System overview;
- Select ‘Power supply’ in the left menu bar to request information about your battery.
With a properly functioning battery, condition should read ‘Normal’. If not, we advise you to contact Apple. The battery may need to be replaced.
3. Decrease the screen brightness
Just like an iPhone or iPad, the screen of your MacBook is a major energy consumer. It is therefore useful to turn down the brightness of the screen a bit if you know that you will still need the MacBook for a long time. In addition, your eyes soon get used to the lower brightness and you no longer notice the difference after a while.
4. View the various macOS battery options
We also advise you to play around with the various battery options of OS X. These can be found in the ‘Energy Saver’ preference pane and let you put hard drives to sleep, for example, if possible. In addition, you can choose to dim the brightness of the screen based on the battery consumption. There are enough options available to extend the battery life.
5. The backlight of the keyboard
The lighting of the keyboard can also be an drain on the battery of your MacBook. Although the light is useful when you often work in the dark, it is of course unnecessary during the day. Therefore, turn off the keyboard lighting as much as possible, which you do with the buttons that can be found on every Mac. If your MacBook suddenly gets very hot, it can also help to switch off this lighting.
6. Turn off bluetooth
Another small but useful tip is to turn off bluetooth on the laptop. If you are not using a wireless mouse or other accessory, it is not necessary to activate the bluetooth connection. Just like the Wi-Fi connection, you can turn off Bluetooth by clicking on the corresponding icon in the menu bar at the top.
7. Do not use unnecessary devices
If you often use your MacBook to charge an iPhone or iPad, be aware that this also has consequences for the battery life of the laptop. Therefore, disconnect unnecessary USB devices and remove charging cables that you are not using from the USB ports. Charging an iPhone via your MacBook can drain your MacBook battery at a rapid pace.
8. Close unnecessary applications
As with the iPhone and iPad, open applications remain active, even when you are no longer using them. We therefore recommend that you regularly check all open programs and disable as many as possible. You can do this by using the key combination CMD + Q or by clicking on the Apple icon at the bottom left of the menu bar and then choosing ‘Force stop’. After this you will see a short list of all active applications.
9. See which apps consume a lot of power
Another useful tip is that macOS indicates which applications use a lot of power. You can find out by clicking on the battery icon at the top right. Google Chrome, for example, is an application that is fatal for the battery of your MacBook. It is therefore advisable to use Safari or look for another alternative.
10. Turn off Time Machine if you are using the battery
Time Machine is a valuable feature because it allows your Mac to back up your system in the background. However, this costs a lot of energy, which does not benefit your MacBook battery life. Therefore, set Time Machine to make a backup only when your MacBook is connected to a power outlet. You do that as follows.
- Open System Preferences;
- Click on Time Machine;
- Choose Options to disable automatic backups.
11. Use hibernation mode
This tip may be obvious, but should not be missing from this list of MacBook battery tips. Hibernation is a handy way to let your Mac lend a hand independently. You can enable this option via System Preferences> Energy Saver> Battery. Here you can set when the screen turns off and whether you want to use Power Nap. With this, your Mac uses hardly any energy, but it remains active.
12. Turn off screensavers
Screensavers look nice, but mainly consume unnecessary battery percentages. Just let your Mac screen dim itself automatically with sleep mode and turn screen saver off from now on. You do this as follows:
- Click on system preferences;
- Choose Desktop;
- Click on Screen Saver;
- Select ‘Never’ at ‘Start after’.
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