Battery cycle count macbook pro

[huffy15]

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching 400 cycle counts on my macbook pro battery after 6 months. I see that Apple mention it should last until 1000 cycle counts. I should reach this number in 16 months.

Anyone has more than 1000 cycle counts on their late 2016-2017 macbook pro 15 inch?

I complained enough in the past years that apple replaced my computer twice so i never reached it.

thank you

 

[Faelan]

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching 400 cycle counts on my macbook pro battery after 6 months. I see that Apple mention it should last until 1000 cycle counts. I should reach this number in 16 months.

Anyone has more than 1000 cycle counts on their late 2016-2017 macbook pro 15 inch?

I complained enough in the past years that apple replaced my computer twice so i never reached it.

thank you

400 cycles in 180ish days? Doesn't that mean that you've basically gone from 100->0% twice per day on average or am I misunderstanding something about how battery cycles work?

 

[AppleHaterLover]

400 cycles in 180ish days? Doesn't that mean that you've basically gone from 100->0% twice per day on average or am I misunderstanding something about how battery cycles work?

Seems too high indeed.

 

[Howard2k]

400 cycles in 180ish days? Doesn't that mean that you've basically gone from 100->0% twice per day on average or am I misunderstanding something about how battery cycles work?

Yep that’s right. Though if the OP is using the MBPro battery to charge/power external devices it will (obviously) drain faster than normal.

 

[huffy15]

Actually, I'm charging my laptop 2-3 times a day. The battery barely last 4 hours with photoshop and google chrome. I never reach 0% more like 10% to 100%.

- usage of 16h a day
- 8h usage in coffeeshop / couch / bed
- 8h usage on a desk when it's plugged

I try to compare myself but it sounds like I'm always having more cycle than everyone I know

 

[Fishrrman]

"- 8h usage in coffeeshop / couch / bed
- 8h usage on a desk when it's plugged"

You're a good candidate to buy an iMac "for the desk" at home.
In this case two Macs are better than one!

 

[Painter2002]

Actually, I'm charging my laptop 2-3 times a day. The battery barely last 4 hours with photoshop and google chrome. I never reach 0% more like 10% to 100%.

- usage of 16h a day
- 8h usage in coffeeshop / couch / bed
- 8h usage on a desk when it's plugged

I try to compare myself but it sounds like I'm always having more cycle than everyone I know

I would still say that at 16 hours usage a day, and with your usage of Photoshop and Chrome it still sounds high.

I am assuming you are getting this number directly from your computer's system report data, and not from a 3rd party app? If you are using a 3rd party app it could be that it is incorrectly quoted the battery cycle count.

On my 2017 13" MBP I use it 8 hours a day, for photo-editing and other general tasks (safari, music, and so on), and after 8 months of ownership I am still under 50 power cycles. If I were to use my computer as much as you do, more power cycle rate would still be at or under 100 cycles. Sounds pretty high to me.

 

[deadworlds]

I’ve had my 2016 mbp since launch and only put about 200 cycles on the battery. I am a computer science student and a lot of my projects involve creating games, so I used photo shop often and also have unreal engine or unity running while also browsing. Not sure how you’re managing to put so many cycles on your computer. Perhaps carry the charger with you when you’re at the coffee shop to reduce wear on the battery?

 

[macdudesir]

I have had mine since January 2018 and I have 52 cycles on my battery...And I feel like I use it on battery pretty often as I'm a student so I carry it around all day long on battery...Basically I charge at night (plug in around 12AM, unplug around 8:30AM) and run on battery otherwise every day...Is there no way you could be plugged in more than you are right now to help keep the cycle count down?? It really is impressive that you have so many cycles on it already. Did you get that info from system profiler?

 

[huffy15]

Thank you for your feedbacks.

I looked on CoconutBattery and I'm at around 400 as well. I'm not too worry about the wear of the battery I was just curious to know. I'm digital nomad and running multiple business so I know it wont last very long.

The apple store is supposed to replace "Top Case with Battery, ANSI, Space Gray" + Keyboard + speakers under warranty on my way back.

 

[iMacDragon]

There definitely does seem to be some issues with macbook tracking cycle count.. my new macbook that I've had since last friday, and has only been not plugged in during daytime, is now reporting 2 cycles on battery.

at most it has consumed maybe 1/3 of a cycle from what I've noted of charge remaining when taken it back to power.

 

[LogicalApex]

If you have Apple Care that should cover the battery swaps from my understanding (even with a high cycle count) so I wouldn't worry about it. Otherwise, the more you use the battery the more you wear it out which is normal.

Keep in mind that cycles are not counted in the way you may think initially...

A cycle is using the battery 1 full charge. But the key is that even if you never drop below 90% and always charge to 100% at the point. You'll get 1 cycle after 10 of those drain and recharges. A cycle is when the battery expenses the equal of 100% of its energy and this is remembered across recharges.

Also, Apple doesn't say that the battery will only last x number of cycles. Instead, they say the battery is designed to hold 80% of its designed charge capacity for x number of cycles. After those cycles are expended it will see a reduction, but how much and how fast will depend on how you fared in the silicon lottery.

This might help explain it far better than I have: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585

 

[Newtons Apple]

Thank you for your feedbacks.

I looked on CoconutBattery and I'm at around 400 as well. I'm not too worry about the wear of the battery I was just curious to know. I'm digital nomad and running multiple business so I know it wont last very long.

The apple store is supposed to replace "Top Case with Battery, ANSI, Space Gray" + Keyboard + speakers under warranty on my way back.

Nomad or not there had to be a plug available some of the time. Anything to avoid that many cycles that quickly but if it is getting the work done and you are happy . . . . .

 

[Painter2002]

Nomad or not there had to be a plug available some of the time. Anything to avoid that many cycles that quickly but if it is getting the work done and you are happy . . . . .

Just curious though, doesn't the MacBook Pro technically "mini" cycle through the top 3-5% when charged to a 100% and left plugged in? I thought that that mini-3-5% drain counts towards a full 100% cycle charge, and as such OP would still see a large cycle count since the computer is being used a lot and on power hungry applications.

Or am I missing something?

I still say something sounds faulty with the battery to being registering 400 some cycles after only 6 months.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Just curious though, doesn't the MacBook Pro technically "mini" cycle through the top 3-5% when charged to a 100% and left plugged in? I thought that that mini-3-5% drain counts towards a full 100% cycle charge, and as such OP would still see a large cycle count since the computer is being used a lot and on power hungry applications.

Or am I missing something?

I still say something sounds faulty with the battery to being registering 400 some cycles after only 6 months.

He says he is charging his device 2-3 times a day and runs his laptop over 16 hours a day. I can not see a 3-5% charge being a cycle.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Just curious though, doesn't the MacBook Pro technically "mini" cycle through the top 3-5% when charged to a 100% and left plugged in? I thought that that mini-3-5% drain counts towards a full 100% cycle charge, and as such OP would still see a large cycle count since the computer is being used a lot and on power hungry applications.

Or am I missing something?

I still say something sounds faulty with the battery to being registering 400 some cycles after only 6 months.

Unlike the iPhone which runs 100% off of battery power all of the time - the Macbook can actually run off of AC 100%. Yes, it will vary between 95% and 100% but it can 100% bypass the battery and run off of AC and use 0 cycles.

I had my Macbook Air for 3 years and used it EVERY day. It spent a lot of its life plugged in and had less than 100 cycles.

My Macbook Pro, I use heavily and found that because I'm using 30w Anker chargers, it will use the battery a lot more than when I use the higher wattage Apple Chargers - I have some 22 cycles on it after a few months of ownership. I imagine if I left it plugged into my Apple charger the cycles would be lower

(I use an Apple Charger when gaming to prevent excessive battery cycling).

I've seen Macbook users at colleges that run VMWare, game on battery power, run many external devices off of the macbook, charging their phone via it, etc... and need to charge their macbook several times a day. These users have thousands upon thousands of charge cycles - and their batteries are actually doing really well considering.

I cringe tho... I'd prefer to plug in for anything CPU heavy and I like to keep my cycles low if I can help it. But to each their own.
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Also, Apple doesn't say that the battery will only last x number of cycles. Instead, they say the battery is designed to hold 80% of its designed charge capacity for x number of cycles. After those cycles are expended it will see a reduction, but how much and how fast will depend on how you fared in the silicon lottery.

This might help explain it far better than I have: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201585

Exactly.

 

[LogicalApex]

Just curious though, doesn't the MacBook Pro technically "mini" cycle through the top 3-5% when charged to a 100% and left plugged in? I thought that that mini-3-5% drain counts towards a full 100% cycle charge, and as such OP would still see a large cycle count since the computer is being used a lot and on power hungry applications.

I wouldn't say it mini-cycles, but it will allow the battery to slightly drain and charge again. Lithium-Ion batteries don't like being on 100% perpetually and this will cause damage to the battery lifespan just as much as deep cycling (always taking the battery to 0%). In older laptops that weren't configured to smartly manage this you would routinely encounter laptops where they have lived 100% on AC and a year later you pull the laptop off AC and it can't last 10 minutes on battery. Even though it never used a "cycle". My Lenovo would automatically cap the battery capacity at 80% when on AC for 30 days or more to minimize wear in this way.

The standard recommendation is to pull the laptop off AC at least once a month so the battery gets use to prevent this excessive wear.

I haven't owned an Apple Laptop long enough (this 2018 MBP is my first Apple computer since my Macintosh Performa 6400/200 in Middle School...) so I can't say for certain if this automatic charge management is a feature or just the natural battery loss with top up (all batteries lose their charge naturally doing nothing at all. so you'll get frequent top ups to counter this natural loss). I assumed Apple is smartly managing this, but I could be off a bit due to my inexperience with Apple laptops.

 

[huffy15]

Ok thank you, I can confirm that a cycle only happen when I reach 100%. So if I go down to 5% and charge up to 100% it's a cycle. I'm mostly using without charger because I'm not always sitting at a desk. Not sure if about mac -> system report -> power -> Hardware -> Power -> Cycle Count is accurate.

 

[huffy15]

Little update I'm at 515 now. I'll get a new one in 2 weeks so I'll leave it at around 550. I'll leave the 15inch at home and bring get a macbook 12 for the coffee shop. I feel like I don't want to put that much cycle. According to apple, one cycle is every time you discharge 100% so two days of -50% = 1 cycle. I can't figure out why I got so much. It feels a lot 600 cycles in a year.