macbook air battery question

hypertc13 · Dec 17, 2012, 11:34 PM

My macbook air is about 14 months old. The battery has 336 cycles on it and my battery capacity is already at 77%. Aren't these suppose to hold 80% capacity after 1000 cycles?

Also every now and then I'll be doing something whether it be surfing the web or streaming music and applications pause and it says my hard drive is full and I must make room. Then I'll restart my computer and check how much space I have and it shows I have near 20 GB of space left on the ssd. Does anyone else ever experience this?

di1in · Dec 18, 2012, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypertc13

My macbook air is about 14 months old. The battery has 336 cycles on it and my battery capacity is already at 77%. Aren't these suppose to hold 80% capacity after 1000 cycles?

Also every now and then I'll be doing something whether it be surfing the web or streaming music and applications pause and it says my hard drive is full and I must make room. Then I'll restart my computer and check how much space I have and it shows I have near 20 GB of space left on the ssd. Does anyone else ever experience this?

If you have Apple Care you could perhaps check it out with them, they might give you a solution?

wolfpuppies3 · 10:06 AM

If I had only 20 GB remaining free space, I would be shopping for a larger SSD. Especially if you have minimal memory installed, Virtual Memory can suck up a lot of storage space in a heartbeat.

My MBPro is used every day for the past two plus years, has 69 cycles and the battery remains at 96%. I guess it is all in how you use your machines.

Johnny Alien · Dec 18, 2012, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfpuppies3

My MBPro is used every day for the past two plus years, has 69 cycles and the battery remains at 96%. I guess it is all in how you use your machines.

So you never use it on battery power? I don't see how it's possible to use it every day for two years and only cycle 69 times unless it was rarely used on battery power.

CoMoMacUser · Dec 18, 2012, 10:27 AM

How do you look up the number of cycles and percentage?

AndyWong · Dec 18, 2012, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoMoMacUser

How do you look up the number of cycles and percentage?

Hold option and click your

logo->System information->Power.

krravi · Dec 18, 2012, 11:20 AM

You see to have two issues. One with the battery and one with the hard disk space.

Regarding hard disk space I am wondering if your local Timemachine backups are eating up the disk.

First do a time machine backup of your machine.

Then open "Terminal" and type this,

sudo tmutil disablelocalbackup

If that doesnt work

sudo tmutil disablelocalbackups

Not sure about the "s" at the end.

What that will do is disable your machine from making local backups till you connect it to your time machine drive.

Then restart and see how much space you have.

hypertc13 · Dec 18, 2012, 08:11 PM

thanks for some of the info guys. However I do not have AppleCare, I had it on my first macbook pro and only had to use it once on my power cord because it was fraying. I tried with my macbook pro battery but back then they were only rated to hold so much for the first 300 cycles. So I didn't see the need to get it with my mba.

micrors4racer · Dec 18, 2012, 10:57 PM

Since you are only 2 months out of warranty I would bring it in and see if they can do anything about it since that is a faulty battery if it is reporting below 80% and under 1000 cycles. You might get lucky and they might replace it.

If not then you can have them replace it for about $130 or do it your self (not that hard just get the right screw drivers and open the bottom then unscrew the old battery pack and pop in the new one.)

jmgregory1 · Dec 19, 2012, 09:35 AM

My '11 13" Air is 15 months old with 215 cycles and its gone from 92% to 79% as of this am. I regularly use it off AC power, but lately it has been dropping 1-2% every couple of days it seems. I'm taking it in for a "genius" appt today to see what they'll do. It's definitely not performing to the specs they publish, so hopefully I can get a replacement free of charge. I'll post back what happens.

wolfpuppies3 · Dec 19, 2012, 11:51 AM

Yes I do, two days a week. M-F it is plugged in at my desk connected to a 27" monitor.

jmgregory1 · Dec 19, 2012, 03:28 PM

Took my Air in today and they offered me nothing. He reset the battery manager while running their diagnostics and suggested seeing if that has any positive effect on my battery health. Their test showed my battery at 85% and I'm now seeing 81%, not much of an improvement from the 79% I saw this morning.

He said if things don't improve I could pay $130 to get a new battery installed. If I see no improvement, which I don't expect to, I'll go back and press to get it replaced for free. They shouldn't publish that batteries should last through 1000 cycles and be at 80% if that isn't the case - or that they'll replace those that fail within the first 500 cycles (mines at 215 now).

Dec 17, 2012, 11:34 PM	#1
hypertc13 macrumors member Join Date: Jun 2009	macbook air battery question My macbook air is about 14 months old. The battery has 336 cycles on it and my battery capacity is already at 77%. Aren't these suppose to hold 80% capacity after 1000 cycles? Also every now and then I'll be doing something whether it be surfing the web or streaming music and applications pause and it says my hard drive is full and I must make room. Then I'll restart my computer and check how much space I have and it shows I have near 20 GB of space left on the ssd. Does anyone else ever experience this?
	0

Dec 18, 2012, 10:00 AM	#3
wolfpuppies3 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Virginia, USA	If I had only 20 GB remaining free space, I would be shopping for a larger SSD. Especially if you have minimal memory installed, Virtual Memory can suck up a lot of storage space in a heartbeat. My MBPro is used every day for the past two plus years, has 69 cycles and the battery remains at 96%. I guess it is all in how you use your machines. __________________ 2012 MBA 13, 2 Ghz i7, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD; 2011 MBA 11, 1.8 Ghz i7, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD; 2010 MB Pro 15, 2.66 Ghz i7, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD; two iPad 3s and a mini, two iPhones and a bunch of iPods Last edited by wolfpuppies3; Dec 18, 2012 at 10:06 AM.
	0

Dec 18, 2012, 11:20 AM	#7
krravi macrumors 6502a Join Date: Nov 2010	You see to have two issues. One with the battery and one with the hard disk space. Regarding hard disk space I am wondering if your local Timemachine backups are eating up the disk. First do a time machine backup of your machine. Then open "Terminal" and type this, sudo tmutil disablelocalbackup If that doesnt work sudo tmutil disablelocalbackups Not sure about the "s" at the end. What that will do is disable your machine from making local backups till you connect it to your time machine drive. Then restart and see how much space you have. __________________ 27" iMac - 3.4 Ghz Core i7,32 GB RAM, 1TB. Many iPad's,iPhone 4s,Apple TV,rMBP 2012 15" 2.6 Ghz 512 GB 16GB(refurb),MBA 2012,2.0 Ghz,8,256
	0

Dec 19, 2012, 11:51 AM	#11
wolfpuppies3 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Virginia, USA	To Johnny Allen Yes I do, two days a week. M-F it is plugged in at my desk connected to a 27" monitor. __________________ 2012 MBA 13, 2 Ghz i7, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD; 2011 MBA 11, 1.8 Ghz i7, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD; 2010 MB Pro 15, 2.66 Ghz i7, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD; two iPad 3s and a mini, two iPhones and a bunch of iPods
	0

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Dec 18, 2012, 10:27 AM	#5
CoMoMacUser macrumors regular Join Date: Jun 2012	How do you look up the number of cycles and percentage?
	0

Dec 18, 2012, 08:11 PM	#8
hypertc13 Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Jun 2009	thanks for some of the info guys. However I do not have AppleCare, I had it on my first macbook pro and only had to use it once on my power cord because it was fraying. I tried with my macbook pro battery but back then they were only rated to hold so much for the first 300 cycles. So I didn't see the need to get it with my mba.
	0

Dec 18, 2012, 10:57 PM	#9
micrors4racer macrumors 6502 Join Date: Apr 2012	Since you are only 2 months out of warranty I would bring it in and see if they can do anything about it since that is a faulty battery if it is reporting below 80% and under 1000 cycles. You might get lucky and they might replace it. If not then you can have them replace it for about $130 or do it your self (not that hard just get the right screw drivers and open the bottom then unscrew the old battery pack and pop in the new one.)
	0

Dec 19, 2012, 09:35 AM	#10
jmgregory1 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2010	My '11 13" Air is 15 months old with 215 cycles and its gone from 92% to 79% as of this am. I regularly use it off AC power, but lately it has been dropping 1-2% every couple of days it seems. I'm taking it in for a "genius" appt today to see what they'll do. It's definitely not performing to the specs they publish, so hopefully I can get a replacement free of charge. I'll post back what happens.
	0

Dec 19, 2012, 03:28 PM	#12
jmgregory1 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2010	Took my Air in today and they offered me nothing. He reset the battery manager while running their diagnostics and suggested seeing if that has any positive effect on my battery health. Their test showed my battery at 85% and I'm now seeing 81%, not much of an improvement from the 79% I saw this morning. He said if things don't improve I could pay $130 to get a new battery installed. If I see no improvement, which I don't expect to, I'll go back and press to get it replaced for free. They shouldn't publish that batteries should last through 1000 cycles and be at 80% if that isn't the case - or that they'll replace those that fail within the first 500 cycles (mines at 215 now).
	0