Mid-2012 Macbook Air Battery Replacement

boberts0227 said:

I have a mid-2012 Macbook Air that has been seeing a reduction in battery life. The machine currently has a cycle count of 432 with a full charge capacity of 5272 mAh. I was wondering if it would be worthwhile for me to invest in replacing the battery. If so, should I bring it to the Genius Bar or install it myself? I know there is a large cost difference and am not afraid of the technical work, but am a little weary about hardware failure.

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I recommend you take it to Apple.

Service Answer Center - Mac notebooks

Mac notebooks purchased after 2009 have built-in batteries and require Apple Authorized battery service.

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11-inch/13-inch MacBook Air, $129 (excluding taxes)

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The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions, including tips for maximizing battery performance. If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

boberts0227 said:

Thanks for the info. I have Applecare and am below the 80% - 3 year threshold, so am going to see if they will replace it for me.

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Good idea. They should have no problem doing that.

boberts0227 said:

I have a mid-2012 Macbook Air that has been seeing a reduction in battery life. The machine currently has a cycle count of 432 with a full charge capacity of 5272 mAh. I was wondering if it would be worthwhile for me to invest in replacing the battery. If so, should I bring it to the Genius Bar or install it myself? I know there is a large cost difference and am not afraid of the technical work, but am a little weary about hardware failure.

Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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So long as your battery health is Normal or Replace Soon then the battery is fine just, in the latter case, it'll have reduced time on battery (Service Now batteries have internal errors and should be replaced irrespective of cycle count/mAh'%).

So long as you follow best practice you could find you battery health even improves over time (yes, it can happen) => Also see;

http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-fix-macbook-battery-problems-replace-mac-battery-3522985/

and

http://www.macyourself.com/2011/01/23/check-your-macs-battery-health-to-see-if-it-needs-to-be-replaced/

Older removable batteries were prone to mis-calibration issues resulting in non-linear values in the battery monitor. From 2010 notebooks with built-in batteries came pre-conditioned and no user conditioning is necessary (or possible?). Having Apple, or Apple-approved tech support, replace the battery includes pre-conditioning of your new battery, replacing it yourself (even with a new Apple-branded battery?), apparently, does not.