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94% battery after 8 months?

Dangerous Theory said:
Damn, 154 cycles in 41 months! Is that because you rarely use it, or it's mostly on AC
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...actually it gets used daily unplugged and plugged while I work in Japan because the base power is 110 50/60 Hz and off base power is 100 50 Hz where I live...I also take that unit back and forth to the USA on trips = I've been very happy with how well the battery has held up (which was the reason I returned the Sandy Bridge 13.3" MBA)!

I really hope Haswell gives the 11.6" MBA's better battery life next year so I can finally pick one up (been lusting for one since 2010 when they were released)!
 
266 cycles, 87% on my 2011 MBA. Purchased about a week after release last year. I'm a medical student and use the battery A LOT... 1 year of heavy use and I have no issues whatsoever.
 
Damn! Didn't care about this until i saw this topic hehe

Just got 4 cycles in a brand new MBA 2012 along 1 month but noticed that battery capacity has go down from 6700mAh (Design - 100%) to 6625mAh (Current - 99%) !

I guess it's normal and don't care too much but just being curious about this topic.How is that posible? I mean shouldn't actual batteries keep all capacity until a lot of cycles?.Because it appears that there is not way about keeping 6700mAh in a single MBA 13"...isn't it? :)

Regards.
 
For a guy who uses an external monitor most of the time, is it best to keep the power charger connected – also keeping the amount of cycles low – or let it use the battery power, for best battery health?
 
This thread is nice confirmation that I am running normally. I got a mid-2011 MBA 13 about a week after they came out, and I am at 150 charges and 87% at about a year in. I only plug in when I need to, and I run the screen and keyboard pretty bright.

But this is interesting:
skitch3000 said:
266 cycles, 87% on my 2011 MBA. Purchased about a week after release last year. I'm a medical student and use the battery A LOT... 1 year of heavy use and I have no issues whatsoever.
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We both bought the same computer at about the same time; skitch uses his heavily, while I use mine about a half-hour a day since I am mostly iPad these days. We both have a battery that is at 87%, so that makes sense, I guess, but he has 266 cycles while I have 150. Go figure.
 
NeonBible said:
For a guy who uses an external monitor most of the time, is it best to keep the power charger connected – also keeping the amount of cycles low – or let it use the battery power, for best battery health?
Click to expand...
Your external monitor is not drawing power from your laptop, so whether you have it connected or not is not relevant to battery use. While you probably understand that, surprisingly some folks don't.

But if you are using an x monitor that implies that you are using it as a desktop, which means it would be a simple matter to keep it plugged in virtually all of the time. And that is a good idea; you will not suffer heat damage because the charger is sophisticated enough to keep that from happening, and you will not incur any cycles because you never run it down (it will cycle among 98-100%, which is pretty benign). That is the perfect scenario for good battery life.

So yes, keep it charging all the time.
 
NeonBible said:
For a guy who uses an external monitor most of the time, is it best to keep the power charger connected – also keeping the amount of cycles low – or let it use the battery power, for best battery health?
Click to expand...
If you run with an external display a lot, you should still unplug and run on battery a few hours every few days, to keep the battery healthy. Read the Battery FAQ link in post #19 for more details.
TyroneShoes2 said:
But if you are using an x monitor that implies that you are using it as a desktop, which means it would be a simple matter to keep it plugged in virtually all of the time. And that is a good idea
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No, it's not a good idea. The battery needs to be used to stay healthy. Read the AC Power section of the Battery FAQ.
 
Ksh said:
Damn! Didn't care about this until i saw this topic hehe

Just got 4 cycles in a brand new MBA 2012 along 1 month but noticed that battery capacity has go down from 6700mAh (Design - 100%) to 6625mAh (Current - 99%) !

I guess it's normal and don't care too much but just being curious about this topic.How is that posible? I mean shouldn't actual batteries keep all capacity until a lot of cycles?.Because it appears that there is not way about keeping 6700mAh in a single MBA 13"...isn't it? :)

Regards.
Click to expand...

The battery capacity does not just go down from 100% - it fluctuates quite a bit up and down. Don't worry about it - what you are seeing is completely normal.
 
TheRealDamager said:
The battery capacity does not just go down from 100% - it fluctuates quite a bit up and down. Don't worry about it - what you are seeing is completely normal.
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear you,thanks.

Just though that if in just 1 month the battery capacity decreased a 1% in 30 months would be absolutely painful hehe
 
Bear in mind its bad for the battery for it to remain plugged into AC all of the time.
Apple themselves recommend you use the battery regularly and charge when it hits around the 50% mark - this keeps the juices inside the battery flowing. Keeping it plugged in all the time does not allow the electrons in the battery to wizz around as per normal, and will kill your battery far quicker.
Im sure there is an Apple article on it also........
 
Just checked my MBP: 85% after 36 months.

So loss of about 5% per year seems quite normal.

-t
 
I brought my 2011 (bought new 7/30/11) to a Genius before my warranty ran out. My battery was down to between 89-92% with a cycle count of around 325. It was down to 95% after just 3 months, and progressively got worse.

They ran a test and determined that my battery was bad and are replacing it under warranty as soon as I can leave it with them for a few days. They also think the memory might be bad, as it constantly runs out of application memory- nearly daily.

I have owned nearly one of every laptop version since the PowerBook 100, and almost every single one has had a warranty repair (or more than one) - so the beat goes on....although this couple of days of down-time still doesn't offset the overall pleasure of ownership.
 
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