First of all, i know that battery status numbers are approximately relevant and may vary back and forth, but there is a thing that bothers me a bit about my brand new MC374 MBP - after few weeks of usage (5th full cycle to be accurate) the battery abruptly dropped 5% of capacity from 5700 to 5400. What may have caused such issue? Can it be considered normal or i need to worry? I'll try to recalibrate the battery and see what happens with numbers, but i'd like to hear some thoughts from other more experienced users. Thanks in advance.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mid-2010 13 inch MacBook Pro battery issue
- Thread starter Jad3d
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's completely normal. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ
I've read that thread and others, but also seen a lot of pics with 10-20 full cycles where battery is almost 100%. Also i know that approximately 300 charges will cause 20% loss - that means active usage throughout the year. And i have 94% after a month of almost stationary usage. Recalibration shows the same number - 5.4 out of max 5.7. I'm bothered that above described 5th cycle could have made something to the battery (if that's possible)... Or you mean 5% is "allowable error" of measurement and may be ignored in case capacity doesn't continue to decrease?
That's nice. I've seen a lot of pictures in which 1-2 cycles = 94% health. There is reporting error involved, so anything less than 5-10% is pretty meaningless in the first place.
Not in the new batteries. How do you "know" this other than reading and regurgitating?
Exactly. If you really think it's a problem take it to the store and ask for a replacement.
Each person's battery health and life will be different, as no two users treat their batteries the same way.
300 charges does not cause 20% loss. Some have more than 300 charges with battery health still well above 80%. Apple simply states:
... or 1000 cycles for the new built-in batteries. If a battery doesn't have at LEAST 80% health up until 300/1000 cycles, Apple usually determines that such a battery is defective.
I'm not sure what you mean by "stationary usage", but if you mean you've left your battery plugged in all that time, that's not good. Re-read the link I posted about A/C Power.
Cycles don't "do" something to the battery, other than use it and consume a part of the battery's useful life.
Exactly. As the link I provided shows, your health may be 99% one day, 92% a few days or weeks later, then back up to 98% some time after that. If you read all of that post, it really does answer most of your battery-related questions.
I don't. That's why i'm asking). +In our country we have only restricted guarantee, and it's not that easy to do smth even with 100% defective device. Anyway, thanks for response, it looks like i don't need to do anything at this time. Let's see how the battery will look like in few months.
Not all the time, but when i had ability to plug power, i did. Also i didn't consume all the battery's capacity before recharging (the article says that's fine) and didn't turn it off (sleep mode for night is optimal for everyday use; turning off - for 2+ days without usage). Maybe the problem is in fact that at night the power was sometimes connected too? That's the only thing i might consider "bad treatment" - i didn't kick nor threw device to the ground, nor exposed it to inappropriate high/low temperatures/direct sunlight etc.
It's fine to leave it plugged in at night, whether it's on, sleeping or turned off. The point is, you don't have a problem. Your battery is working normally. There's nothing to worry about.
.