Charging your Mac while it’s in use can become quite common. And in these situations it is possible that it has crossed your mind if you are doing the right thing or in case this is something that can pose a risk to the computer battery. Can it really become dangerous or not to use the charger while you are working or enjoying leisure on your MacBook?
It was bad before, not now
Thinking that using a Mac while charging is inappropriate is a thing of the past. Batteries that were used several years ago had to follow several recommendations such as making a first charge, or removing it from the charger as soon as possible. Now all this has changed and safety systems have improved along with general battery technology. These systems make the fact of charging a Mac while it is being used is not something dangerous as it happened with MacBooks of more than 10 years ago that did not incorporate lithium batteries.
Among other things, these new systems make it possible to intelligently stop charging so that no more energy is managed. It is true that it must be taken into account that in these cases when managing energy the general temperature of the equipment is increased. This, coupled with heavy tasks like video editing, can be thought to be dangerous. It should also be borne in mind that before something serious happens the system will automatically stop charging or stop the amount of energy that is administered. Likewise, it may be advisable to always have it connected.
The importance of charging cycles
Batteries, of course, have a limited life. This is something that is limited through what are known as charging cycles and that are present in all lithium batteries such as those that a Mac has. It is precisely this value that will determine that a battery ends up spoiling or have a long life. As a reminder, the charging cycle is one that goes from 0 to 100% of the useful battery capacity. That is, if the Mac is fully charged and disconnected from the power, by the time it reaches 0% absolute, one of these cycles will have been consumed.
Apple states that the maximum cycles that MacBook batteries have in general is 1,000. In the event that this level is exceeded, it is very likely that the battery begins to give different problems, having a shorter autonomy. That is why, following this logic, it can finally be said that the longer the Mac is connected to the power, the less the battery is going to wear out.
