You're charging it wrong | The "SAFE" in MagSafe

[@SahandRahmdel]

You actually can measure (or monitor) how much power is being drawn through the MagSafe port or any other charging port internally. To do so, do the following: 1- Hold Option and click on the Apple logo on the top left of your screen. 2- Select "System Informations" 3- Choose "Power" from the left sidebar (the same place you check your battery cycle count and health) 4- Scroll down to where you can see the power Wattage, the MacBook is drawing from the adapter. Hope you find this helpful!

[@AZisk]

😎

[@graxxor]

TIL you can option click on the Apple Logo.

[@tytso]

I use AlDente Pro (version 1.24), and it has a very nice popup which shows up much power is being drawn from the adapter when it is plugged in, and how much of that power is going to recharge the battery, and how much is going to power the CPU. If the Macbook is not connected to power, it will show much power is being drained from the battery. So it's quite nice for showing much power you are using, and how much is getting drained from the battery.

[@boshi9]

For me it just displays the power rating of the adapter, not the current power draw.

[@SahandRahmdel]

@@boshi9 it's probably drawing the full potential of the adapter then?

[@TrollerSK]

I have a second monitor that has 60W power delivery and always thought to myself that it is quite low, and sometimes I saw battery dips when I was doing demanding tasks for CPU+GPU like you said. I wanted to switch to magsafe for this very reason but I did not know that the Mac switches to MagSafe when you connect two power supplies. Thank you for testing it!

[@lululemon0424]

if you install al dente, there is a very nice chart to show you how much power goes into battery, how much goes to Mac itself. you will immediately know whether your charging method provides enough juice to the system.

[@ThePC007]

Do both the free and the paid versions have that feature?

[@shapelessed]

​@ThePC007 No.

[@gergelygombai4530]

I prefer BatFi, I find the free version be better

[@lululemon0424]

@@gergelygombai4530 i heard BatFi might damage the battery somehow (i’m not sure) and i have already bought the paid version of Al Dente.

[@briangman3]

Al dentie is great

[@TomaszBzymek]

I own the M1 Max for over a year (bought at the release). I always used MagSafe. Never charged it differently. My battery also shows 87%. What I've noticed with mine - is a few things that weren't optimized and caused CPU temp rise close to 100 degrees. Since then I've started using TG Pro with settings that turn my fans when temps rise above 70 degrees and I think it helps the battery and the laptop is just slightly louder (only during heavy-duty tasks)

[@m1ar1vin]

Are those 70 degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit?

[@TomaszBzymek]

@@m1ar1vin As most of the world after 1960 I use Celsius ;)

[@m1ar1vin]

@@TomaszBzymek Thank you, just making sure ;)

[@haivanhuynh]

so many people praise magsafe but don't use it. of course they're going to drive Apple to remove it yet again. fwiw, i use it exclusively.

[@antondubkov]

even when you connect your mac to a monitor at home/work via usb-c which also charges it, so you connect both usb-c and (redundant in this case) mag-safe?

[@VincentLeong-bb4vn]

There is only 1 reason why I use MagSafe almost every time. I want my USB-C ports free for my SSD, and Sidecar display, and sometimes for a Mic and Camera as well. I use an M2 MacBook Air and there are only 2 ports. MagSafe is also a more satisfying way to charge your MacBook because of how easy it is to attach the cable and the indicator lights that tell you when to unplug in case you leave the lid closed.

[@rnwy600]

it's been a while since you wrote this comment but I still want to reply from a different perspective, with all due respect. honestly, I much prefer to have the MagSafe port exchanged for another Type-C. I'm using my MacBook Air in a slightly complicated work environment where I have to connect a USB mouse, an external display via HDMI, an external SSD, an ethernet cable and also have to charge my phone time to time. now add on top of that the fact that I don't want to carry my main MagSafe cable around just for the work, so I need a different charging setup at work for convenience purposes. since a new MagSafe 3 cable costs a hefty $65 in my country where I only make about $625 a month, I have to use a Type-C to Type-C cable; which I struggled a lot doing so because there are only 2 ports. I eventually made it work with a USB hub which does all the things I want (it connects my monitor + mouse + SSD + it charges my Mac with 22W) and a Type-C adapter for ethernet. but if there was another Type-C port instead of the MagSafe 3 port, I could've done these with much less effort; f.e. my SSD could've run at full speed, or my home monitor could've run at full 1440p 165 Hz because I could connect it via a direct HDMI to Type C cable, or I could've charged my MacBook from a different port with more consistent power (that 22W drops to 8W when I try to charge my phone too) etc. etc... it could've opened a lot of opportunities, just one more Type-C port instead of a charge-only port. for charging speeds: since USB PD 3.1 supports up to 240W, I don't think it would've been a necessary problem. I hope Apple gets rid of MagSafe 3 on MacBooks and replaces it with another Type-C, as much as it's iconic, it takes a lot of functionality away.

[@antondubkov]

@@Taxiway_Alpha where did you see the word “everyone” in my comment, it’s a question to the OP

[@shapelessed]

"fwiw"...?

[@giomxx]

You can use your USBC power meter with magsafe by plugging it into the power brick end. You can also use coconut battery to see how much power your macbook is taking over time, wether it's coming from battery or not too. from what I understand of MagSafe 3, it's just a proprietary implementation on USB PD, so there wouldn't be any difference between that and using the thunderbolt ports.

[@lazyman1011]

Makes no difference what port you use. Except working while plugged in.

[@karthikeyanparasuraman9337]

Hey Alex! Blender just dropped Blender 3.5 where the viewport is updated from OpenGL to Metal and Blender claims a big jump in performance. I would love to see you test in your macbook and mac studio and maybe compare the difference between performance of Blender 3.4 and 3.5. Love your videos btw! Thanks!

[@AZisk]

thanks for the heads up

[@karthikeyanparasuraman9337]

@@AZisk Cool!

[@AZisk]

@@karthikeyanparasuraman9337 BTW, is there a demo blender project I can just download and run/render that would demonstrate the difference?

[@0versun0]

I use blender3d every day on mac m1 if you have a questions - welcome

[@AZisk]

@@0versun0 Thanks! same question i guess :)

[@bryans8656]

Thanks for the tip. I've been mostly charging my M2 MBA using thunderbolt out of convenience. Just to be on the safe side I'm going to use magsafe more often, even if this problem turns out to apply to the high powered MBAs only.

[@Mr123Nikola]

I don’t think it will cause any problems on a mba due to its lower power processor. Just make sure you are using a certified brick for the charging and none of the cheap crap you find out there.

[@VincentLeong-bb4vn]

I think the condition he is describing is only applicable to the 16-inch MacBook Pros which can be charged up to 140W. For all other models, USB-C can still charge the machines at full speed as long as your cable and power adapter allows it.

[@Sasoon2006]

You can measure how much energy magsafe is giving in by putting that measuring device on other side of magsafe cable (between cable and brick).

[@AZisk]

nice idea!

[@neetop1557]

Or just using standard power outlet power meter, power drawn should be close to power output (some losses will occur obvs).

[@TheodoroChristopher]

So can you measure please:)?

[@SIRybka]

Or just install Coconut Battery. You can see how many watts are either being charged or being used based on if you're plugged in or not.

[@neetop1557]

@@SIRybka yeah, I'm surprised he doesn't use battery/power tracking apps already.

[@workhardforit]

I’ve been using my 16” M3 Pro Macbook Pro exclusively off of the MagSafe since January. I do work with the mac disconnected from the plug on some weekends until down to 40% (I can never get it to drop any lower because the M3 Pro is just so damn efficient for the battery size of the 16”). 8 months later and 47 cycles, battery health is till at 100%. Optimised charging keeps it at 80% everyday, for the most part.

[@diegotertomartins8240]

Another thing to consider is the size of your machine. If I am not mistaken, the 14” can use the fast charge either way (thunderbolt or MagSafe), on the 16” it doesn’t happen. Only MagSafe get the full wall brick output.

[@MrSoopah]

Not sure if the theory holds. I use my M1 Max MBP almost exclusively via USB C, most of the time with a 60W charger, sometimes with a 100W charger and rarely with the 140W Apple Charger via Magsafe. High Power Mode as well. 16 Cycles, 98% Max Capacity according to Coconut Battery. The computer is 12 months old.

[@sveinjohansen6271]

Ive only been using magsafe on my M1 max from april 2022 and its at 93% health, and Im using it heavy every day. It sits mostly on my desk connected to magsafe, and something like 2 times a week its on the road with me for meetings. I have it connected to a 4k monitor through HDMI which changes signal into displayport for 4k 60hz on my monitor (older 40 inch 4k monitor). Not sure how many hours i get now, but I can say in full speed mode, I can work a full day in the office without plugging it in and still have 20-30% left when I get home. For me its vscode, chrome and simulator that eats most battery.

[@zakkzahariev4637]

So I have an M1Max 64GB Ram. I bought it about 8 months ago and I use it for audio production and video editing almost every day. Since I have also of perifferals I use and external CalDigit TB3 dock which has an external power supply. For the past 8 months I have been mainly keeping the computer plugged it through the day and using the e TB3 port to charge. The result is that I am at 95% Maximum Capacity. Keeping it at Auto Mode. Now I am starting to use the MagSafe more and I am testing out AlDente, which allows me to keep the maximum charge at 80% and can discharge the battery. Let's see in 8 more months.

[@AxelSpark]

Could you provide some updates after one year, please?

[@lespieces]

plz

[@franklynseabra]

One year later, is there a follow up video about it?

[@maximyarmolik1726]

i believe that in another video he mentioned that it had no affect

[@franklynseabra]

@@maximyarmolik1726 thanks

[@satysin630]

Yes the Mac will always pull from the power source with the most wattage (which is the MagSafe). If you're on USB-C PD (90-100W max) and you're doing heavy CPU and GPU work that needs >100W it will pull the extra from the battery and you will see the battery drop even while plugged in. This obviously causes additional wear on the battery for no good reason, if you know you're going to be doing heavy work and need more than 100W sustained then just use the MagSafe and keep your battery a little healthier. Also changing the energy mode to high power is of little benefit in my testing. Leave it on automatic and it will up the power levels when needed and more often than not lower them to low power about 90% of the time which means no loss of general system responsiveness but gives you a nice hour or so of battery life. I gave up trying to act smarter than the Apple power management engineers years ago and just leave power management to automatic now :) Honestly I kinda wish Apple removed those options from the settings UI. Changing them is rarely needed. I feel they should have put them in the pmset utility for those that *really* want/need them.

[@tk42won]

I think you have the right answer. Magsafe is literally a dedicated port to supply power. If the computer needs more power than what we are giving it, then it's going to use the battery. USB-C and everything we have connected with it can cause (I imagine) all sort of issues i.e. it draws from the battery to "keep up". That being said, I believe the "optimized battery"-setting is not doing what we expect it to do (if it works at all), which cause unnecessary "frustration". Apple should find a better way to communicate these issues. I recommend everyone to look at your comp maximum power draw (everything connected to it) and what you're feeding it.

[@satysin630]

@@tk42won Optimised battery charging is just Apple's term for 80% threshold charging with some "AI" marketing crap thrown in (just usage pattern match at the end of the day). It is good to keep it left on as it does a decent job of not over charging your laptop if it doesn't need to be which will help long term.

[@tk42won]

@@satysin630 That's what I meant by "not doing what we expect it to do". Because mine is always at 100%. I have actually seen it discharge ( a long time ago before I removed the battery icon so I stopped looking at it and become annoyed) but it was an extremely rare thing. And yes, I've tried resetting it et cetera. *shrug*

[@edc1569]

There’s no way that chassis can deal with 80W of dissipation for even a few seconds, the high power supply rating is to allow for rapid charging.

[@supercellex4D]

@@edc1569 Yeah it can, that's what high-power mode engages. The gaming laptop fans.

[@mxrius1739]

I have a MacBook M2 Pro and it's 1,5 years old and still has 98%. I run it on a daily basis and it still manages to keep up. I play a lot through crossover and other heavy workloads and my 67w Charger is sufficient for most of the time. I also got a 100 Watt charger but I really recommend using al dente. Even the free version provides a charging limit to 80 percent. it's great when using the MacBook a lot on charge. but its also important to get your battery to 20-30% and then recharging. Staying on a constant charge isn't good for the battery either but a healthy mix of driving your mb on a power brick and draining its charge sometimes really keeps your battery healthy. at least in my experience.

[@atorbtech]

Awesome content as always 👍🏻

[@AZisk]

Appreciate it!

[@FreakyDudeEx]

its heat... its not the charging method... since you charge and do work and still gaining battery percentage, it means the power draw from the wall is more than the power used by the SoC.... but it does not take into account the heat generated by everything in the enclosed space and the heat generated by charging the battery.... its also probably the usb hub fault... its not using the correct handshake to monitor the battery temps and just shoving it more power when its temps are too high... you need to plug out the cables and plug back in to reset the handshake and correct the charging values every now and then so it could refresh the charging handshake since probably the usb hub does not relay the information both ways so the wall adaptor could adapt and lower the wattage when needed to prevent battery over heat....

[@jayzn1931]

Charging with higher wattage is commonly known to be worse for battery health, I don‘t see why this should be an exception here. I see the Macbook preferring the magsafe for two simple reasons: -higher power -dedicated charging port.

[@ILoveTelecasters]

Sure, but if you end up charging the machine slower than the battery drains, you end up using battery power

[@jayzn1931]

@@ILoveTelecasters You do that anyway, as the power is „passed through“. You can see this by looking in the battery health settings or using third party apps. I have used my Macbook for a few months now almost exclusively plugged in, and the battery degrades. It cannot bypass the battery.

[@nathandias6771]

​@@jayzn1931 The problem with always plugged in batteries is that they naturally lose charge to 99% then get recharged to 100% right away, degrading part of the cells. It's inevitable, even if you can bypass the battery, because the system will connect to it when the charge eventually drops. The only solution is removing the battery altogether.

[@jayzn1931]

@@nathandias6771 Modern systems should be smart enough to prevent this. Also there was a time I was using my macbook very regularly a few days in a row and the macbook kept the charge capped at 80% because of optimised charging. If I use it on battery power for a few charging cycles, I know the battery stat will go up again.

[@kaushalnasit]

To measure current on MagSafe port try it on the adapter side. It might be negative to indicate direction but should be more or less same amount if current

[@LuigiSalemme]

One of the issues is that Apple's Optimised battery charging is a bit flawed, every time you disconnect the laptop from the charger or change the way you use it a bit, it needs time to understand when to stop charging it and will keep pushing it to 100%. I use AlDente to keep my battery from charging over 80% when working at my desk, and let the battery discharge to ~20% once a month. Might be worth checking out

[@agj03921]

I also use AlDente. Tell me: did your battery degraded? Battery capacity?

[@LuigiSalemme]

@@agj03921 On my old MacBook I got down to 87% health in 1.5 years relying only on Apple's optimised battery charging. Since I got my M2 Max I've been using AlDente, still very early to say anything but I'm at 100% health.

[@agj03921]

@@LuigiSalemme thank you, Luigi 👍

[@scifithoughts3611]

Your analysis is spot on regarding mag safe versus thunderbolt. Like you, I preferred the convenience of the thunderbolt. AFAIK, I’m not requiring the MagSafe wattage as long as I’m not training an LLM.

[@frostgodx]

MagSafe always overrides anything else plugged which seems to make sense to this theory. The wattage is exactly why you can’t have a high power mode on the 14” since it’s hard limited to 96watts no matter what’s plugged in you simply can’t pull more wattage to the chip. Reason the 38-core graphics on a 14” is about 15% lower then a 16” version. The juice isn’t there. So take the 96w brick to an m2 max 38 gpu 16” and boom you’ll see under heavy load your battery DOES in fact drain a few % before going back up. (Side note 38-core runs cooler then the 30 in the new 14” because it’s the first time it’s hard throttled via software/hardware limitation. Less use = less heat so the folks saying don’t get the 38 in a 14 it’s a hot mess are incorrect it’s better than the 30 in my testing) Of course you need a sustained load of over 5mins straight to do this but you will in fact find it.

[@iforgot3942]

The MagSafe charging port “over rides” the Thunderbolt4 port when using both the Magsafe cable & a Thunderbolt4 connected self powered dock (96watt OWC 11 port) for the power source/charging? I’m trying to figure out if it is safe to use my Apple Magsafe 140w power brick while using a 96watt self powered dock at the same time. Thanks.

[@frostgodx]

@@iforgot3942 correct, if you plug both in it will only charge and use the MagSafe and ignore/not take power delivery from the input on the thunderbolt port.

[@DarkAngel56666]

The Mac will simply ALWAYS prefer the solution providing the most energy that is currently plugged in, and only drain energy from once source at a time. So as Magsafe is 140W from your brick (and as Apple used USB PD through the USB C, thus limited to 100W) Magsafe will always be preferred when plugged in. Try to connect a 100W adapter through USB C and a 60W adapter from magsafe and you'll see that the USB C charger will remain in use and the Magsafe one will be unused.

[@sonodima]

I have been using a 10C M1 Pro for 13 months, and the battery is now at 87%. I usually just hit the CPU really hard during my workflow, and I am also using an OWC TB dock with 60W to charge it.

[@PeterEmery]

AlDente Pro on my 15-in M3 MacBook Air tells me there's no difference in charging rate when using the Mac's charger connected via USB-C or via MagSafe 3. I specified the 70W charger with my M3.

[@kevinmensah5785]

I think my cycle count is moving faster because im not using MagSafe. Considering switching to using the MagSafe charger. I had a usb c charger from my old Mac and didn't want to break open a new charger

[@matts7327]

1:49 Is that the icon for the VS Code nightly edition? That might explain why it has leaks or issues.

[@hassan7569]

nah, that's green, this is a custom icon

[@dennismunsie2161]

I personally love MagSafe, but most of the time I use my laptops at one of four places docked, which also provides power at the same time. Add in the amazing battery life of these things, and I rarely find myself using MagSafe at all. But if I do need to charge while out, that’s what I have in my bag.

[@antondubkov]

that's the most sensible use, I do the same

[@vinisasso]

My MacBook Air M1 doesn't have a MagSafe port - Thunderbolt is the only option. I only use the charger that Apple bundled with the machine, and its bundled cable. I use my laptop like a desktop in my home office - I rarely run the machine on battery, but when I occasionaly do that, the battery lasts around 7 hours - seems fine. And while I do let the machine turned off without charging once in a while, it is usually connected to power. I have seen no issues for now - it will be 3 years with it soon. But there's one kind of charging I don't trust a lot, which is charging with a thunderbolt hub (I've got one from Baseus) that does Power Delivery. Some people say that using a hub is fine, but I suppose it's the same as relying on the thunderbolt port alone, or maybe it doesn't charge as quickly - the Power Delivery might be slower than the machine's capacity. So I basically don't use that because I am affraid it won't charge as quickly or even damage the battery's lifespan in the long run. Thanks for the useful info. Next time I buy a Mac, I'll look for a machine with the MagSafe port.

[@SIYAKSARESAI]

Hey Alex, I've been following your content for a while now, and I absolutely love it! Your videos are always so informative and helpful. I've been thinking, it would be fantastic if you could create a comprehensive guide on using MacBooks. From simple tasks like closing the lid and charging to more advanced features, your expertise would definitely help a lot of people get the most out of their MacBooks. Looking forward to seeing more amazing content from you!

[@blackcatooow]

it doesnt matter if you use c or MagSafe, apples c to c is usually rated for 240watts as long as your wall brick can support 90 or 100 its fine. the reason the brick they provide with the max is 140w is probably to allow use at full power while also charging the battery relativelyquickly. I have an unbinned m2 pro and the max I've seen it draw was maybe 65 or 70 watts (using AlDente to monitor) and it comes with a 91w wall brick

[@mattg7947]

Interesting. I noticed this with an Intel Mac I had a few years back before M1. I would occasionally use it plugged into my monitor putting out 15w. I had to replace the battery early and I suspect using the 15w contributed to that. With my current M1 machine, I always make sure to plug in the high-wattage brick before plugging in the low-wattage thunderbolt to monitor cable. I’ve checked system info and when I plug it in first, I can guarantee the higher wattage power brick is used over the low one. When I plug them in in the other order, I’m not sure how long it takes the Mac Book to switch from the low to the high power source.

[@garynagle3093]

Great video. Loved the included input/suggestions from others. All good solid thoughts. Can’t wait for results about Magsafe. I have using usbc for convenience

[@almeidainf]

Perhaps MagSafe is prefered (when multiple power sources connected) just because it's a dedicated port for charging, and there's likely a dedicated charger on the other end. It's a simple decision that may avoid: - Pulling power from a connected USB-C device that has a battery - Charging from a hub/monitor that *may* not provide all the juice it needs and is also trasmitting data - Just charging from an underpowered source when the user clearly made sure to give it dedicated one I think that as long as it's getting the power it needs from USB-C, it's fine. Anecdotally, I powered my 14" with the 87W brick (it comes with a 96W) from my old MacBook for a couple of weeks. Didn't do much heavy lifting but I actually have a couple of pretty hungry devices (custom hardware for work) that feed from my MacBook's USB-C ports, and it was fine. I eventually swapped the charger, just to be sure, but it still goes through a USB-C hub.

[@wza360]

very interesting. I used my M1 Pro Max with 80 charger with USB-c for about 6 months. My settings "Automatic" on battery and on power. I still have 100% of health. About two weeks ago, I switched to Apple Dual-usbc 35 watt charger when I am connected / charging at home and use my 140w MagSafe only when I need to charge it quickly on the go. Still 100%. That being said, my loads most often using less than 35watts (monitored it with iStat menus), as I use my macbook at home with lid closed (screen takes about 8-10watts) and not doing much heavy loading (i.e. exporting some longer videos few times per week via Compressor or directly via FCPX, which is using about 35watt at peaks).

[@AttilaSulyok]

Hello there! Usually how do you use your MacBook Pro? Do you leave it all day in charger? Do you shut down or sleep? Do you plug out the MagSafe when you don’t use it like at night? Thanks in advance!

[@Motivatedfriendd]

i am new in apple's eco, charging fully m3 air will not harm battery??? I am tired to keep it from 20 to 80

[@DojoOfCool]

I keep my MBP on the magsafe when I'm working and disconnect it when I'm done so not always on the charger. My gut feeling is Apple's battery management can control charging on Magsafe and might not be able to monitor control charging as much on USB-C. Both my MBP and my iPhone the Apple management shuts off charging at about 80% to preserve battery life. Also living in the desert it gets hot in my apartment and Apple battery management will shutoff charging if battery is getting too warm. So seeing all that makes me think the Magsafe give Apple more control of charging.

[@BeyondOneSoul]

I think you could measure MagSafe plugging that device directly to the charger and then plug the MagSafe cable to the output of the device?

[@vrajpatel3139]

here I am getting around 7.5 hour m1bp {77 cycle count 100% capacity } but on Monterey I was getting around 8.5 / 9 hours , Ventura is indeed is main culprit

[@anon_369x]

Hello, good sir. I just switched from windows to Mac OS. I am a fresh MacBook user and I am currently watching videos on how to properly take care of my device. There are lot of things that I need to know, I guess, but there is one thing that I wanna know for sure, for now - which is the best method when you are not using for MacBook: 1. just close the lid; 2. put it on sleep mode; or 3. shut it down? I really hope that you'll notice this comment. Thank you.

[@Kitulous]

just close your lid

[@masudimran7868]

I also noticed the battery drain with VS Code and Skype, usually when I am not working on development( using vs code ) or joining long meeting battery lasts much longer. But in recent times VS code drain seemed to have increased quite a bit, I tried reinstalling it recently but I do not notice any improvements.

[@hawolex2341]

Sitting on a MBP 2021 M1 14" with the m1Pro chip. have been working on it all day. several teams calls. VS code open most of the day 36% battery left now and the estemate is 3:52 of battery left.... Can`t complain. battery health is 95% after 11 month of use.

[@atechlee8427]

Hey Alex. AS usual a great video. I was wondering what mic you used for this video. Many thanks in advance

[@crearg8259]

If this is 2015, I will definitely still the fan of MagSafe. But after so many years with external hub with PD, I’m ok with both. Probably MagSafe in Laptop mode and 100W PD Hub in clamshell mode.

[@NN010]

Yeah, I'm not sure about this one. I've almost exclusively been charging using the MagSafe cable & after 8 months my 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro is down to 87% of it's maximum capacity. So I don't think it's the USB-C thing. I do have a lot of Electron apps open on my Mac at any given time (VS Code, Spotify, Discord, Messanger), so that could be an issue. But it also could be a myriad of other factors...

[@Usertest-gs8fq]

i have a theory and that is thunderbolt port is absolutely for transferring data and not actually for charge and when you plug-in mag-safe for charging logically disconnect from thunderbolt port for better transferring speed.

[@dimitris70080]

You can use a custom icon for every app in MacOS. He's not using any "special" version of VScode.

[@SirPoofyPants]

Would it ever be possible to have a MagSafe connection that allows data transfer? If so it’d be great to have that for phones so that there’s no more dust concerns in the port.

[@podlinux]

I have a M2 MacBook Air and use it on my lap a lot, because of that I can’t rely on MagSafe because it always gets knocked off so I need a more secure connection like USB-C.

[@buttibuli9677]

I've had an M1 Pro 16" for 1y 6 months now. My battery life is at 93%.. It's my main computer for work. I do storyboarding, animation and video editing. Almost always have it connected to the wall.I only use the MagSafe charger. My laptop keeps charge topped at 76-79% on daily basis.

[@markmansur9268]

Solution = vim

[@KelvinKMS]

What is that?

[@diracflux]

@@KelvinKMS vim is the most awesome screen-based text editor (some may disagree with this). vim is "Vi IMproved", a clone of vi, a name derived from the shortest unambiguous abbreviation for the ex command "visual".

[@web]

I recently got suggested helix. After almost two decades of vimming I switched

[@diracflux]

@@web Helix looks interesting.

[@michaelsegal3558]

What’s vim?

[@rydmerlin]

I have M1 Max MBP and it’s been plugged into a T3Plus dock the whole time and it’s show capacity at 100% Cycle count shows 5. I have settings on Automatic.

[@GarryReyom]

Pretty sure it prefers MagSafe because if you have peripherals, those could draw power, or maybe it assumes that if it’s plugged into something that’s a dedicated charger, maybe it’s more consistent or something. There’s also the chance that maybe the maximum power input is what is getting from MagSafe and it’s preventing overcharge.

[@flottenheimer]

So is the "clean cable setup" with my M1MBP plugged (closed lid) into my Studio Display via USB for both connectivity and charging a bad thing for my battery?

[@sirjohn2924]

Hey Alex, which tool do you use for mobile testing? Was that Browserstack?

[@benjaminwestcott5622]

I have only used the MagSafe on both my Air and Pro. I’ve bothered the Air tends to have better battery life, but I do tend to do less intensive tasks than on my Pro. My MacBook Air tends to last around 19 hours and my MacBook Pro around 13.

[@Zoddex]

I'd say they prioritize magsafe cuz thats the one they ship with the mac. I personally use dell docks. And have had no issues with using only usb-c.

[@big__ben]

You should pay attention to what power can deliver cable itself. I was using Apple 140w adapter with genuine Zens USB-C cable - turns out this cable provide only 60w even if power adapted rated to 140w. I tried another USB-C cable from Baseus and its provided only 96w. So from now on I`ll be using only Apple USB-C to MagSafe as the only cable I have that can charge up to 140w. The wattage of the cable can be visible in System Information -> Power -> AC Charger Information: Wattage (W)

[@Koorczuu]

I think that macsafe is first choice for apple because if you plug in some usb c cable with less power chargong or display with usb c macos could not recognize charging source properly.

[@laughingvampire7555]

there is an app called al dente, is meant to keep your battery charged in the sweet spot to get the longer life possible for the battery

[@xristianmatos]

My MacBook M1’s battery was damaged, and I suspected my 65W docking station might be the cause. Although Apple replaced the battery, the issue reoccurred six months later. I never definitively confirmed the docking station was at fault, but I’ve since switched to using only the MagSafe charger. I’ve given up on the convenience of a single-cable connection, but so far, there have been no further problems.

[@bandito241]

What docking station did you used? So we don’t buy it 😂

[@neilrichardinniss]

At some point I had terrible heating and battery drain on my Air M3. Turned out there was a crazy memory leak in a certain R Studio version.

[@jjy365959]

I am currently using m1 pro 16'. the max tdp i observed on this machine is 60w. so it's showing i need more than 60W to not to drain the battery and charge the battery. If I use the usbc like your experience i get 80W by the anker hub but when i use mag safe i get 140W but do I really need 140w? The answer is no unless you need to charge your mac really fast. For any max m chips, I expect them to have much higher tdp so probably 80w is not enough. but I remember apple introduced new 240w cable that could use full 140w in USB c?

[@tomscott88]

So what do you do if you have a studio display and use the machine like a desktop attached to it most of the time?

[@JBoy340a]

Interesting. I have never even unwrapped the Magsafe charging cable or charger that cawe with my M1 and M2 MBPs. I USB-C charge all the time since I have USB-C chargers and cables in most rooms of my home/office. So far no issue with the battery drain, but the M1 does drain noticeably faster than the M2. Perhaps I can get by with this because I buy the base MBP models and usually have a just a few projects under development because my brain needs a memory upgrade.

[@AZisk]

😆 it may also have to do with my heavy use of the gpu+cpu

[@bricecenter]

Couldn't you measure the MagSafe power delivery by putting your USB-C power monitor into the Apple wall brick and then plugging the cable into the power monitor? Or does the monitor only work in one direction?

[@Just-Alexiel]

My M3 max MBP is 90 % of the time in desktop mode , and i always let magsafe on it even if the studio display is plugged in also , and i've noticed that mt charge cycles do not move unless i take it away , a good Al dente replacement is Batfi , Free and i limit the charge to 80%

[@leavealegacy9854]

IStat Menu will help you a lot with a ton of details you were looking for in this video. Power draw, watts in, detailed battery usage overtime.

[@joandaa]

I used an M1 Macbook Pro for iOS Development and Xcode for close to a year now, and throughout those time I have been using an external monitor cable (USB C) as my power source. I was shocked to see that my battery maximum capacity went down to 84% with 298 battery cycles in less than a year of usage.

[@MinKiu410]

My previous Macbook Pro 13 inch also went from 100% to 86% in just 8 months too. I didnt know why it happened cause i keep it plugged in all the time. I suspect its because i use an external display that works just by connecting to macbook with a single USB Cable for both power + data. So its probably the reason

[@ivanmilov]

@AZisk have you tried apps like BatFi or Aldente to keep battery state on ~80% and consume only energy from adapter or usb-hub?

[@charlesc2095]

Awesome info, exactly what I was looking for. Ive been curious about how reliable (or potentially dangerous) charging through thunderbolt was. The magsafe charger's cables have been notoriously flimsy and Id love to eke out as much longevity from them as much as I can. I was thinking of leaving my magsafe charger exclusively for home use, and then a usb-c/thunderbolt cable on a powerbank when using away from home. Would it be safer to use the thunderbolt port for charging while the macbook is *not* in use?

[@arkabhowmik7832]

So I have a LG display which supports USB C display output and charging. I've kept my M1 Pro MacBook 14 plugged in all the time and Apple has limited the max charge to 80%. After 4 months of use, the battery health is still at 100%. Let's see how this continues. Another way batteries degrade is if you're charging frequently from a low charge state (0-20%). It will generate more heat initially and heat does degrade the battery. That could also be an issue. I'm interested to find out about your experiment with only using MagSafe. Fingers crossed for better results! 😄

[@agedvagabond]

I always use the auto power mode, using vs code and 10x safari tabs, docker and running intermittent backtests that use about 30% CPU for 5 to 10 mins and I get atleast 12 hours, I only use the magsafe charger... I have deliberately kept my apps as minimal as possible because i am always travelling so battery is priorolity, i only have a few very efficient productivity apps like usage to monitor my loads. Using m2 max 32gb. As an electrician I would say only use magsafe to charge even though I never specialised in electronics or battery storage I still think it wouldn't be great for the battery to use a random charger especially if you're slightly discharging then recharging over and over thats not good at all. Magsafe is probably one of the best features of a macbook anyway.

[@totally_not_a_troll]

If you know anything about modern batteries, it's that the surest death is cycles. If you're under-powered and over consuming. You have high drain, using yout laptop at 80-90% capacity, but feeding it 60% capacity, it WILL drain the battery. Because physics and math. Drain = cycles. Cycles = death. Heat should be a non issue, but I don't use the GPU on mine so IDK how hot it could get.

[@mendodave]

I’m not understanding why everyone uses chrome. Seems like it has a few major issues to me like being a resource hog and Google scraping your usage in the background.

[@TheGamingCanadian]

Brave/Firefox ---> Chrome

[@lblchris]

So, one year later, what is the answer? Is it safe to change a MacBook M2 or m3 with usb-c (connected to a monitor for example)?

[@sebuszqo3239]

Hi, as someone who is using mag-safe all the time I can say that it works for me. Rn my MacBook Pro 14 has something about 8 months, and capacity is still 100%, I use it for academic things as Well as coding + internet. The biggest problem is safari, I cannot use chrome because of apple password manager And other devices from apple Or can I? What’s more I’m trying to not exceed 30/40% of battery that problaby helps too. Thanks for video !

[@chadseld]

As a data point, my M1 Pro is 1 year old, it has 90% battery capacity remaining and only 41 battery cycles. I've had it charging via USB-C the whole time. I don't use the GPU in my workload, and at only 41 cycles, there is no evidence of using the battery as supplemental power during heavy use. Maybe the batteries age a lot in the first year regardless of use? Maybe the algorithm used to estimate battery capacity is different or lacking.

[@Office3]

My m1 pro 14" is 1yr++, 95% battery health, 138 charge cycle, using aldente to limit charge to 80% most of time

[@arthuralvarez7253]

I've bought my 16" M1 Pro in December 2021 and have used it daily, always plugged in on the Magsafe (i never use it on battery). My battery health is currently at 92%. I'm not sure if this degradation is normal for 1 year and 3 months... But I don't care much because as I said, I never use it on the battery.

[@rubes3927]

I’m so happy MagSafe is back 😍 2017-2020 MacBook design was a real low point for apple I feel 😒

[@ThePC007]

1:22 He may have simply installed a different icon. In fact, I did the same (with an icon that actually looks eerily simlar to his).

[@maxvamp]

This video keeps haunting me. I am big into all cars, especially EVs, and love my MACH-E. I know today's modern Li-ION batteries usually drop about 5% capacity regardless of use, during the first year ( or about 30k miles in EVS. They then level out and degrade much slower unless you fast charge them aggressively. ) . I have been playing around with a few ways to charge my Mac M1 recently to see if the idea of the weak charging was adding to the issue. What I noticed in the System Information app, under power, is that some TB hubs lie about their power out . I have three. two of them were advertised that they supported 100W, yet the Macs say they only provide 60W. The third I plugged into the MagSafe and while it was rated at 140W, it only reports to the Macs that it supported 100w. So that was interesting. One thing I WILL ABSOLUTELY SAY! As I have tested it, is when the power supply is only 60w, I have found the Mac M1Pro to be very prone to odd crashes, when put under heavily load, like a day of Zoom meetings. Having a 90W or higher supply, even through USB-C charging, the Systems have been more stable, by a LOT. Weirdly enough, I run the Max on high power, and it is more stable in both cases ( low and high power ), than the M1 Pro. At 60W, the M1 Pro will crash or drop audio drivers a couple times a week. at 90w or above, its rock solid. It is something I have not quite figured out why, but I AM working on it. Thank you Alex for putting together a video that piques my curiosity!

[@maxvamp]

BTW, Most auto manufacturer of EVs don't unlock their 100% of their battery capacity for this reason..

[@soknatchan3675]

Hello brother, My MacBook M1 Pro 16inch have issue with MagSafe Charger, can I charge with usb-c ? and it's effect to battery or not?

[@danielkemmet2594]

Was there ever a follow up video for this? I don't see it in the show notes and it wasn't suggested as an end card

[@GeoffHellings]

I might add that I see a lot of people not having a good enough USB charger to allow more than 40-60 watts. Or a cable that also allows higher wattage. USB C seems to lead to confusion here that I have a charger and a cable, it should work right! If you have a nice cable and a nice USB C charger you can get 100 watts easy. I believe the 2023 devices allow up to 140W USB C Fast charging. That should allow to use the correct cable and charger to hit 140W without the need of the magsafe charger. I do believe that the 140W USB chargers are also quite new to market, like in the last 12 months or so.

[@khaledal-dakka975]

I think this theory is applicable for MacBook 16” but if using the the USB-C cable from Apple display it will be ok because power delivery is 96W and it should not have a damage to the battery

[@lazyman1011]

Makes no change which port you use. Except working while plugged in should be deliver more power than you use.

[@tinkerman1790]

Lucky I am, was keep using MacSafe to charge my M1 Max since it launched as I don’t own a USB-C monitor. Do let us know once u measured and found how much the power from MacSafe with your inline usb-C meter. Great content as always Alex 👍🏻

[@hackard312]

You could measure with the inline usb c measure on the other end of the magsafe cable…

[@albyx]

While it is convenient to just charge with a USBC cable, I've always used my Magsafe cable with the Apple charging block when I'm home. When I'm traveling, I've taken the Magsafe cable with my Anker charging block because it is smaller and the battery health has always been amazing (still at 100%). On rare occasions, I've needed to use a USBC cable, but I've always naturally limited the times I charge like this; I much rather put my machine in low power than to charge it with something that I don't prefer. Great video.

[@definingslawek4731]

How are you getting a full days worth of work on m1? I was lucky to get 5 hours on my m1 air if I was using it constantly. Which is still the best battery life I've ever experienced on a laptop, cause my 40w intel laptop before that would get about 2 hours between charges. So for this techy lifestyle of being online all day my m1 would go through like 2.5 charge cycles.

[@soutarm]

I had the exact same problem with Settings Sync on my M1 MBP. The laptop was hot from doing... Nothing. I just removed the plugin altogether as it's deprecated

[@FabrizioCattadori]

Do you think (on a 14'MBP m3) that does make any difference in speed to charge with 96w or 140w adapter? using Magsafe (and the usb c 240w cable) ?

[@battlehunterofficial4586]

which framework you use for app development?. I am using flutter from last 3.5 years

[@kamurashev]

That simply is not true. When it’s slowly drawing some battery when there’s not enough power from external source, it’s not actually adding any recharge cycles. One recharge cycle it’s a full 100-low low-100 cycle. If you really would like the battery to last longer what you need to do is to try as much as you can to keep charge level within 20-80% range. Never discharge it lower than 20. And newer charge it up to a 100 and let it sit long. Battery doesn’t like to be long at those states and it’s aging much faster when it is. Other factor is just randomness. Basically the random battery quality. You can not do anything about it.

[@peterbreis5407]

My issue is with caching. I have a 16gb MacBook Pro M1 Pro and it is pretty obvious that due to the memory being shared with the GPU I frequently hit coincident excessive CPU and GPU usage at which point it heavily caches and really slows down. That THAT happens frequently worries me about my SSD life.

[@DomiaAbrWyrda]

Charging til 80% instead of 100% helps I think, especially if you use your macbook at home and with it plugged in. I know there's a setting that learns your charging pattern and keeps it at 80% but for me I plug the charger in irregularly so I've never seen that feature activate.

[@raymonddsouza8948]

I use AlDente, have an M1Max 16" and use a combo of 75% USB-C dock and 25% MagSafe, the computer is on roughly 18 hrs a day with varying loads, and I have capped the max capacity at 80% when charging. After 18 months of use, my battery health is at 99%. I think limiting the battery to a range from 50-80% or even narrower (if you are always near power) is the single best way to preserve battery health.

[@alexpers]

@@raymonddsouza8948 great tip! Do you have your mac always plugged in? Or do you just charge it within this range and unplug? P.S. Im planning on purchasing a MB and use it in clamshell mode like 90% of the time and was wondering if Im just gonna kill the battery this way.

[@raymonddsouza8948]

@@alexpers I always plug in at my desk at home and work, only run on battery when watching movies at night or other circumstances where I don’t have power. I think if you were to set the charging range to 70-80% and always plug in, you’ll get great battery longevity. Essentially you’re not using the battery and keeping it in a ‘relaxed’ state of charge.

[@alexpers]

@@raymonddsouza8948 thanks a lot for the advice!