2020 M1 MBA battery health

[danb1979]

This is the stats from my M1 MBA:

Battery Information:



Model Information:

Device Name: bq20z451

Pack Lot Code: 0

PCB Lot Code: 0

Firmware Version: 1002

Hardware Revision: 1

Cell Revision: 2735

Charge Information:

The battery’s charge is below the critical level.: No

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

State of Charge (%): 18

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 44

Condition: Normal

Maximum Capacity: 91%


My battery health is down to 91% and for me, that seems to be very low for my MBA thats only 6 months old!

It's generally plugged into the mains during the day whilst I'm working in my home office and only used on battery in the evenings etc

Is this anything I need to be concerned about; it's still under warranty, so happy to get it back to Apple if need be etc?

 

[robfoll]

My M1 MBP is on 92% after 11 months and 71 cycle count so yours does appear a bit low. Swing by an Apple Store for a chack when you have time, but not critical.

 

[ghanwani]

Check it a few times. The number tends to bounce around quite a bit. I think what you have is normal.

Attached is my history for the 1st 12 months with a 2019 MBA. Used almost 100% on battery, almost never plugged in when in use. I'm at 2+ years now and it's showing 77%.

 

[StoneJack]

Check it a few times. The number tends to bounce around quite a bit. I think what you have is normal.

Attached is my history for the 1st 12 months with a 2019 MBA. Used almost 100% on battery, almost never plugged in when in use. I'm at 2+ years now and it's showing 77%.

77 or 87?

 

[ghanwani]

77 or 87?

77%. My previous screenshot just captured the first year. Attached is the last 9 months.

 

[StoneJack]

77%. My previous screenshot just captured the first year. Attached is the last 9 months.

It is a bit steep. My mbp 2019 was 86% after 330 cycles

 

[ghanwani]

It is a bit steep. My mbp 2019 was 86% after 330 cycles

I'm at 1097.

I was also at 86% after 330 cycles, but that was at 10 months.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have had my M1 MBA since 12/24/2020 and my battery health is still 100% with 29 cycles. I use AlDente Pro to regulate the battery since I leave it plugged all the time.

 

[Honza1]

I have had my M1 MBA since 12/24/2020 and my battery health is still 100% with 29 cycles. I use AlDente Pro to regulate the battery since I leave it plugged all the time.

That could be bit deceiving. I used AlDente for about year (with nice battery health holding) and then when I needed full charges for few weeks (travel), battery health dropped quickly. It is likely batter health calculations needs full charge few times to evaluate max voltage battery can reach or charging profile or whatever they are using across full charge range. Keep in mind that battery health is estimate based on number fo parameters they can measure and it is valid only under conditions it was developed. You may want to run battery few times through reasonable charge-discharge cycle to evaluate real battery health. Or you may be surprised when you eventually want to run long time on battery.

 

[Apple_Robert]

That could be bit deceiving. I used AlDente for about year (with nice battery health holding) and then when I needed full charges for few weeks (travel), battery health dropped quickly. It is likely batter health calculations needs full charge few times to evaluate max voltage battery can reach or charging profile or whatever they are using across full charge range. Keep in mind that battery health is estimate based on number fo parameters they can measure and it is valid only under conditions it was developed. You may want to run battery few times through reasonable charge-discharge cycle to evaluate real battery health. Or you may be surprised when you eventually want to run long time on battery.

Good points.

One to two times a month, I calibrate the battery since it stays 66 - 74%.

 

[lambertjohn]

2020 M1 Air--> 83% after exactly one year and 45 cycles. But I still get about 14 hours of use, so 83% is ok with me.

Edit: My M1 Air has been a great computer for me, and when the battery finally fails, I have no problem paying Apple $129 to install a new one.

 

[pacmania1982]

I've just got an M1 MBA with 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and 7 core GPU (not a gamer or anything). I use my MBA for surfing, listening to music, watching YouTube etc. Occasionally I'll mess with iMovie and I also make sure I close down the two Intel apps when not in use that I have. Those being Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. All other apps are Apple Silicon native.

I've been doing some calculations on the battery consumption on my laptop using the graphs in System Preferences. Each pixel in the green bar equates to 0.5%, so 2 pixels = 1%. There are four green bars per hour, 12 in total for the three hours between the grey lines.

On the blue bars for the minutes in an hour, approx 60 pixels equates to 20 minutes. 180 pixels = 1 hour. So measure the pixels and divide by three to get the actual screen on time in minutes per hour.

It looks like, based on my usage, I'm getting 10% battery usage per hour, but I don't have the screen brightness set to auto, I don't have the screen set to turn off when it's in idle and I have the keyboard backlight on all the time. The screen brightness is 6 up from the lowest. 0 being off.

So I'm not getting the quoted 17 hours of battery life from wireless web browsing but I'm happy with how long I am getting, compared to my old MBP. However, the last time I ran it down to 0% (which I did when I first got it and have only ran it down to as low as 18% and charged to a max of 89%) - the 1% to 0% lasted about 50 minutes. But 10 hours is enough for me to go two and a half days without having to charge, which is WAY better than having to charge every day on the MBP. (Looks like I use it between 3.5 to 4 hours a day).

I also love there is no fan on this machine although I do miss the machine warming up with use the way my MBP did.

My battery is at 98% and has 7 charge cycles on it.

 

[ghanwani]

Is it expected to see a difference in the current level of battery charge between macOS and Coconut Battery? Today, I noticed Coconut Battery is showing current charge of 87.6%. At the same time, macOS Monterey battery status indicator is showing 92%.