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3 Month old MacBook - 51 battery cycles - is this bad?

C

cameronfield

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2009
93
0
3 month old 13" MBP
51 battery cycles
90% battery health

Is this bad? I've been doing my best to get the battery health back up, and I got it up to 94% but then 2 days later it dropped back down to 89%.

How many cycles do you have? And how old is your MB/MBP? Just want to compare to others...
 
C

cameronfield

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2009
93
0
I'm trying to take care of it now so that in the future it stays healthy so I can:

1) Have the best battery life
2) Keep the cycles down so that it takes me longer to get to 300
3) Prolong the actual health of the battery so that it performs well

Just because it falls into the "over 80%, under 300, less than a year old" category doesn't mean I should just not worry about it. I want to be sure that I keep it healthy now so that once it's over 300 cycles/over a year old I'm not screwed.
 
miles01110

miles01110

macrumors Core
Jul 24, 2006
19,260
36
The Ivory Tower (I'm not coming down)
cameronfield said:
Just because it falls into the "over 80%, under 300, less than a year old" category doesn't mean I should just not worry about it. I want to be sure that I keep it healthy now so that once it's over 300 cycles/over a year old I'm not screwed.
Click to expand...

You can only do so much, and changing your usage just to squeeze a couple extra weeks out of a component that is designed to be replaceable is silly. If you refuse to go through the numerous other battery threads, almost all of them link to this page which gives you instructions on how to maximize your battery life.

Or if you really want to keep it in great shape, just lock your computer away in a safe deposit box and never turn it on.
 
C

cameronfield

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2009
93
0
I guess I'll just keep it plugged in more whenever I'm at home and the plug is right there - that will cut down on the total cycles and there's no point in not having it plugged in when I'm home.

So bizarre how I've read completely opposite things for charging.

On batteryuniversity it SPECIFICALLY says that it's TERRIBLE for your battery to let it run all the way down and then completely recharge it...yet in the huge battery thread there are multiple people who say they usually just let their MB/MBP completely die and then recharge it all the way...and some of them have 1000+ cycles with 100% capacity.

It makes no sense at all! I just dont wanna get burned a year or 2 down the road when me mis-using it now comes back to bite me in the ass :/.
 
G

glavoie84

macrumors regular
Jun 23, 2009
101
0
At the price we pay those machines, I'd just say to use the battery and don't mind about it. Anyway, if it dies prematurately, Apple will replace it. Also, leaving the computer always plugged isn't good for the battery. Lithium batteries wear out faster when they are left completely charged and it's worse with heat (and yes, temperature is higher than ambient temperature in the body).
 
soberbrain

soberbrain

macrumors 65816
May 9, 2008
1,268
2
Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time. An ideal use would be a commuter who uses her MacBook Pro on the train, then plugs it in at the office to charge. This keeps the battery juices flowing. If on the other hand, you use a desktop computer at work, and save a notebook for infrequent travel, Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month.
Click to expand...

http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.htmlhttp://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

No point in buying a laptop to keep it plugged in most of the time. Just use your MacBook as a portable machine and charge it when needed.

Make sure to get AppleCare, it's more important for portables, especially if you're concerned about battery replacement in the future.
 
ayeying

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
Just use it as is, if you always keep it charged, it'll die faster. I have 260+ cycles on a 4 month old system and I'm still over 90% health
 
miles01110

miles01110

macrumors Core
Jul 24, 2006
19,260
36
The Ivory Tower (I'm not coming down)
cameronfield said:
On batteryuniversity it SPECIFICALLY says that it's TERRIBLE for your battery to let it run all the way down and then completely recharge it...yet in the huge battery thread there are multiple people who say they usually just let their MB/MBP completely die and then recharge it all the way...and some of them have 1000+ cycles with 100% capacity.
Click to expand...

Battery university is also slightly outdated. Where does it say this? I wonder which type of battery they are referring to.
 
N

nOw2

macrumors regular
Sep 1, 2009
168
2
icedd said:
5 months
15 cycles
100%
Click to expand...

1 year and 1 month
14 cycles
100%

Not sure why work gave me a laptop really :)

Anyway, I also have another unit on 150 cycles after two years which is still near perfect; it has been allowed to fully run down maybe 5 times.

I don't believe that there is any need to specially treat these batteries by running down fully or such. On personally experience, the battery will typically outlive the useful life of the machine.
 
JoeG4

JoeG4

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2002
2,843
518
You'd be surprised, many batteries will be that way out of the box. Sometimes, it comes perfect, and then goes lower.. I find the best way to maximize a laptop battery is to run it full to empty, and then back a few times. Over that, you'll gain a few hundred mAh, but here's the most important piece of advice for you:

Don't ever let your laptop battery sit around with no charge on it.

Seriously. Every time I've left an Apple battery sit with 0 charge for more than a day or two, it dies and won't work again. Any other brand is no problem, but the Apple ones just won't come back to life! Drives me nuts, and it doesn't matter if you have 200 cycles or 700!

I've had batteries with ~750 cycles still have 80% of their capacity, lol.
 
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