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75% battery health, service battery, 243 charges -- bring it in?
- Thread starter thadoggfather
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On OS X 10.7 or newer, you would go into System Information/System Report button, then the Power tab. That window will show lots of battery information, and even info for the charger/adapter
There are other apps/utilities that can show that info, but might as well use the OS X app with that function.
I read somewhere that removing the battery to "use" it and "prevent overcharge" is useless on a Mac (and probably modern PC, too, although old habits die hard), as they do have some logic inside that allows the battery level to slightly fluctuate between 90 and 100%, even when it's marked "full".
Can anyone confirm?
Can anyone confirm?
If you're not already doing so, use iStat Pro (free) or iStat Menus ($16) to get accurate readings of battery health and cycles and computer uptime, among many other things. A forum member has posted a copy of iStat Pro that has been "tweaked" to enhance compatibility with Mountain Lion. You can download it here.
For more info, see the CHECKING STATUS AND HEALTH section of the Battery FAQ.
The opposite is true. Apple battery technology is designed to prevent such short discharge/recharge cycles. You cannot overcharge a Mac battery.
See the CHARGING section of the Battery FAQ.
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This is why i wont buy apple laptops, i got the old Macbook Pro with the removable battery, and so far i am on battery number 3 in 3 yr 4 months, each battery runs fine with 5+ hours of life for the first 50 or so cycles, then nose dives, by month 8 or 9 i was getting an hours life, then at month 12-14 dead "consumed"battery,
the first battery was the worst, and, admittedly probably faulty, it went dead at 32 cycles and 4 months, at that point i had a new Macbook as they didn't know if it was a fault with the charging circuitry that killed the battery or just a faulty battery,
overall not impressed with the quality, i have an OLD Fujitsu laptop that my mother uses, it barely runs windows XP its that old, but the battery life is still upwards of 3hrs on nearly 6 year old hardware,
if i didn't know any better id suspect Apple of purposely making its products last "only" 3 years max so you have to keep buying another...
the first battery was the worst, and, admittedly probably faulty, it went dead at 32 cycles and 4 months, at that point i had a new Macbook as they didn't know if it was a fault with the charging circuitry that killed the battery or just a faulty battery,
overall not impressed with the quality, i have an OLD Fujitsu laptop that my mother uses, it barely runs windows XP its that old, but the battery life is still upwards of 3hrs on nearly 6 year old hardware,
if i didn't know any better id suspect Apple of purposely making its products last "only" 3 years max so you have to keep buying another...
Before my charger began leaking a strange goo, my MBP battery hit 480 cycles and then got a service battery error... what was even weirder was when the genius pre-tech ran tests the cycle count was half.
Depending upon the OP's situation, if there isn't anything "weird" going on ignore the warning but if something serious is going on then yes an appointment could be necessary. In my case it looked like part battery/sensor failure as it showed an incorrect cycle count and non-service battery capacity level.
As far as stretching battery life, if you run off battery to say ~50% twice or so a week your capacity or health should stay above 75% for at least 4-5 years.
Depending upon the OP's situation, if there isn't anything "weird" going on ignore the warning but if something serious is going on then yes an appointment could be necessary. In my case it looked like part battery/sensor failure as it showed an incorrect cycle count and non-service battery capacity level.
As far as stretching battery life, if you run off battery to say ~50% twice or so a week your capacity or health should stay above 75% for at least 4-5 years.
Your experience seems rather odd, and on my part, I keep on advising people ready to buy a new machine to take the Apple dive because their laptops aren't subject to the "Sudden Battery Death Syndrome" (anywhere from 3, 6 months, 1 yr if you're lucky) that plague a very large number of budget PCs.This is why i wont buy apple laptops, i got the old Macbook Pro with the removable battery, and so far i am on battery number 3 in 3 yr 4 months, each battery runs fine with 5+ hours of life for the first 50 or so cycles, then nose dives, by month 8 or 9 i was getting an hours life, then at month 12-14 dead "consumed"battery,
the first battery was the worst, and, admittedly probably faulty, it went dead at 32 cycles and 4 months, at that point i had a new Macbook as they didn't know if it was a fault with the charging circuitry that killed the battery or just a faulty battery,
overall not impressed with the quality, i have an OLD Fujitsu laptop that my mother uses, it barely runs windows XP its that old, but the battery life is still upwards of 3hrs on nearly 6 year old hardware,
if i didn't know any better id suspect Apple of purposely making its products last "only" 3 years max so you have to keep buying another...
Just 50 cycles out of removable battery Mac laptop is definitely abnormal. I would suspect a faulty charge circuit rather than a battery fault.
My mid 2010's Apple Care ended in November 2013. My battery was at 77% and the cycle count was only 517.
The only Apple Store in my area did NOT cover it under warranty. They were willing to replace it at 25% off, so I went ahead and had it replaced.
The only Apple Store in my area did NOT cover it under warranty. They were willing to replace it at 25% off, so I went ahead and had it replaced.