611 charge cycles in 20 months, Is that bad?

[AreYouIn?]

This is my main computer. The only other computer in our house is a 1991 gateway that still runs only because it was never plugged into the internet. Although I did get it working on wireless a week ago and its actually quite fast.

Anyway, this is the main computer in my house. Everyone uses it so it gets charged quite a bit and used a lot. How bad is this on my battery?

 

[flopticalcube]

The health looks good but 500 cycles is considered the average lifespan so be prepared to buy a new one.

 

[-tWv-]

This is my main computer. The only other computer in our house is a 1991 gateway that still runs only because it was never plugged into the internet. Although I did get it working on wireless a week ago and its actually quite fast.

Anyway, this is the main computer in my house. Everyone uses it so it gets charged quite a bit and used a lot. How bad is this on my battery?

You have 97% capacity after 611 cycles? That's actually really good. I have 97% on my macbook after 90 cycles

 

[mkrishnan]

The health looks good but 500 cycles is considered the average lifespan so be prepared to buy a new one.

You have 97% capacity after 611 cycles? That's actually really good. I have 97% on my macbook after 90 cycles

I've always wondered about this... not too long ago, both notebooks and cell phones used relatively similar Li-Ion batteries (and increasingly both use similar Li-Poly batteries). On the computer, it was assumed that 300 charges back then was about all one could expect. But we would all routinely have cell phones that we'd run down every second day, and use for two years this way, straight, which comes out to 350-400 cycles, and they would still have little, if any change in capacity.

Based on your usage stats, you're essentially using the battery for a full charge every day. I dunno. Maybe there's some benefit to this regular use vs. most of us who are always using our notebooks on wall power. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

In the worst, you're getting excellent use out of your battery and if/when it does go bad, you just buy another one and get this one recycled.

 

[AreYouIn?]

Thanks. I also meant to ask about battery calibration. I know there are a lot of post on this but I'm still using tiger and I didn't know if the steps are the same.

Do I stop using the computer when the message pops up saying I am now on reserve power or do I let it die completely? Then do I need to let it rest dead for awhile or plug it straight in? I've never done before. I just started using macrumors a week or two ago and first heard about it reading some post.

 

[macbook yes]

It is the same for tiger. Ignore the warning and let it die completely. Keep it dead for 5 hours before you plug it in.

 

[CANEHDN]

I'm at 91% on 114. This is after 6 months. I wonder if that's good.

 

[geoffreak]

I'm envious of your battery. I'm at 86% at just over 100.

 

[AreYouIn?]

Ok once my battery is charged I will use it until it dies. This scares me. My dad forgot to plug it in last week and it died and my hard drive crashed at the same time. What are the chances of this happening again? I just put a new one in and actually just got it back this morning. Hey maybe that counts as a calibration???

 

[mkrishnan]

Ok once my battery is charged I will use it until it dies. This scares me. My dad forgot to plug it in last week and it died and my hard drive crashed at the same time. What are the chances of this happening again? I just put a new one in and actually just got it back this morning. Hey maybe that counts as a calibration???

I would go with the don't bother... your Cocoanut shows you're at 97% life, right? What is your actual battery life like? Is the notebook running for about as long as you expect it to, or is it only lasting a couple of hours?

Assuming that you're getting somewhere around the rated life... this situation is like those people who are 102 years old and have been smoking for 60 years. Yes, smoking is bad for your health. No, you should not smoke. But if someone has lived in excess of what most people lived, already doing what they're doing, then one way or another it's worked for them.

You've used your battery in excess of what you should expect from it, and the battery seems to be functioning quite well. If you're getting the hours from it you expect, I'd say, why change anything? Just do what you're doing.

 

[AreYouIn?]

I get really good life on just battery. I guess I can stop worrying. Thanks everyone!

 

[iJamesBS]

How is that possible? 379 cycles in 14 months? No sleep -> dead?

I'm having the real "dead" problem where the computer warns me it's low on batteries and then poof, computer dies just like somebody held the power button down...

coconutBattery says I've got 379 Cycles for 14 months and I'm at 86% capacity.

I think it's pretty unlikely that I've actually cycled once per day. I use the MBP a lot but not full cycles, unless it's somehow counting something when it's plugged in and fully charged? So how is it possible that the counter is reading 379? What are some explanations?

Apple said I can take it in and get it tested. But after a year I don't think it would be cool if they wanted me to buy a new battery... And I don't think under any condition should the laptop shutdown without sleeping first. Is this so hard for them to figure out?

 

[ftaok]

I'm having the real "dead" problem where the computer warns me it's low on batteries and then poof, computer dies just like somebody held the power button down...

coconutBattery says I've got 379 Cycles for 14 months and I'm at 86% capacity.

Personally, I don't think Coconut Battery uses the exact right information. You can check the info that Apple would actually use by going to "About This Mac" and selecting "more info". There's a tab or window that shows the battery's statistics. I remember when my MB's battery was acting like your's, Coconut and System Profiler had different information.

Apple said I can take it in and get it tested. But after a year I don't think it would be cool if they wanted me to buy a new battery... And I don't think under any condition should the laptop shutdown without sleeping first. Is this so hard for them to figure out?

This problem is actually pretty common. Apple even had a quiet warranty extension on this. The issue is that they had a bad batch (several batches???) of batteries. One of the cells would die prematurely. If one of the cells in the "middle" dies, the Mac thinks that you have 100% capacity and then when it goes to the bad cell ... the system shuts down with no sleep or warning. On my MB, whichever cell kicked in at around 35% was the bad one. You'd be cruising along and when the battery hit that mark, zap.

Our MB was over 2 years old when it happened, so I just bit the bullet and bought a new one.

The battery extension recall is now expired, but perhaps the Apple Store will give you a new battery anyways. By any chance, does your battery have any bulges? If so, stop using immediately.

 

[mosx]

The health looks good but 500 cycles is considered the average lifespan so be prepared to buy a new one.

Thats not true and thats just Apple's bad marketing meant to confuse people.

Lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries are generally designed to retain 80% capacity after 500 cycles. 500 cycles is not their total lifespan, just that their designed to retain that much capacity after that much use.

Apple's claim that batteries only last "300 charges" needs to be proven wrong because its entirely misleading and downright false.

 

[Chappers]

Thats not true and thats just Apple's bad marketing meant to confuse people.

Lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries are generally designed to retain 80% capacity after 500 cycles. 500 cycles is not their total lifespan, just that their designed to retain that much capacity after that much use.

Apple's claim that batteries only last "300 charges" needs to be proven wrong because its entirely misleading and downright false.

Where do Apple claim this - I can't see it on their website.