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Battery health on late 2008 MBP deteriorating fast!

N

nipponfan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 10, 2008
116
0
Austria
The health of my battery got really bad in very short time according to coconut battary - on Nov. 18 i had 4936mAh (which was really good). Today it's only 4398mAh, only 95%! If this continues at this rate my battery will be dead in 3 Months!

I can't imagine how this could happen - I calibrated 2 days after recieving it, I don't use it on AC Power much, always let the battery die off before charging.

I'm pretty pissed - what should I do? Bring it back to Apple - or will they laugh at me for being so sensitive?
 

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I would wait a few months to see if it becomes worse. It should still be well within the warranty period.
 
dont let it die EACH time. if you charge instead when u reach the teens, ull see your battery life start to creep back up. i dont have an explanation for this, i just know it happens on the current mbp and previous gen mbp. my 07 MB preferred to be killed all the way.
 
let it be for a few weeks and see if it gets progressively worse.

you're a wee little too paranoid right now...i see you've been checking it EVERYDAY..well almost.

health will fluctuate from time to time. It may go back to 100 or 99 when you charge it one day.

Apple will do nothing for you if you bring it to them. 95 percent is still very good.
 
i had the same issue with my first 3 new mbp.

after about the 7th full cycle i was down to 95% i'm on my 4th one (returned the others because of other issues) and the battery life seems better 12 cycles and its still at 100%.
 
Unibody Macbook Pros have an approximated capacity of 4600mAh. This is normal. The battery is smaller, but due to new power saving features, it supposedly gets the same amount of usage time as the larger batteries.
 
nipponfan said:
The health of my battery got really bad in very short time according to coconut battary - on Nov. 18 i had 4936mAh (which was really good). Today it's only 4398mAh, only 95%! If this continues at this rate my battery will be dead in 3 Months!
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That's normal. My older computer's battery life was at 93% for the first 150 cycles.

noodle654 said:
Wait...new MBP capacity it only 4600?? Mine is 5500??
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Yeah it's pretty pathetic.
 
noodle654 said:
Wait...new MBP capacity it only 4600?? Mine is 5500??
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Mine's 6300 (17" 2.16 CD MBP). It would have been nice of Apple to keep the same mAh while reducing the power consumption. That way we could actually get the 5-6 hour battery life with normal use instead of test use.

To the OP, just follow what others have said. It's hard to judge a battery while its still so new.
 
creator2456 said:
Mine's 6300 (17" 2.16 CD MBP). It would have been nice of Apple to keep the same mAh while reducing the power consumption. That way we could actually get the 5-6 hour battery life with normal use instead of test use.

To the OP, just follow what others have said. It's hard to judge a battery while its still so new.
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Yeah I wish they did that too. I think my 14" iBook had 4200 or 4600??
 
nipponfan said:
The health of my battery got really bad in very short time according to coconut battary - on Nov. 18 i had 4936mAh (which was really good). Today it's only 4398mAh, only 95%!
Click to expand...
I can not believe the numbers of people here crying because their batteries are at 95%. What battery stays at 100% capacity after it's been used?
 
MBPDiva said:
I can not believe the numbers of people here crying because their batteries are at 95%. What battery stays at 100% capacity after it's been used?
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:confused: every mac I've ever owned has retained 100% for the first 2 months at least before the charge starts dropping...
 
drewsof07 said:
:confused: every mac I've ever owned has retained 100% for the first 2 months at least before the charge starts dropping...
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That's cool. I've owned around 6 different Apple notebooks in the past couple of years and none have ever shown 100% health more than a few times. I have yet to see 100% on my new MBP. I've hit 99% a few times.
 
hari-bhari said:
dont let it die EACH time. if you charge instead when u reach the teens, ull see your battery life start to creep back up. i dont have an explanation for this, i just know it happens on the current mbp and previous gen mbp. my 07 MB preferred to be killed all the way.
Click to expand...

Yeah, will try that. Maybe it helps.

e12a said:
let it be for a few weeks and see if it gets progressively worse.

you're a wee little too paranoid right now...i see you've been checking it EVERYDAY..well almost.

health will fluctuate from time to time. It may go back to 100 or 99 when you charge it one day.

Apple will do nothing for you if you bring it to them. 95 percent is still very good.
Click to expand...

Well I know I'm being very picky, but I paid 1800€ for it and for me that's a lot of money. I'm already living with crooked keys and the chinese display so I'd expect that at least the battery stays at 100% for a few months...
 
duffyanneal said:
That's cool. I've owned around 6 different Apple notebooks in the past couple of years and none have ever shown 100% health more than a few times. I have yet to see 100% on my new MBP. I've hit 99% a few times.
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Well that's just bad luck? Mine still looks good. Only 5 cycles, but my Thinkpad is at 70 cycles with 100% health. *knock on wood*

nipponfan said:
I'm already living with … the chinese display
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What's that suppose to mean? :(
 
battery life is unpredictable. You cannot will it to stay 100 for however long. It will decrease whn it does.

its like getting a HD that is DOA or fails within a few weeks.
 
Doesn't Apple guarantee that you still have 80% capacity after the first year OR first 300 cycles? Is this true?

I'm at 14 cycles, and 100% health btw...
 
umm if you drain and charge your battery properly it should not continuously lose capacity. my last MB i kept at OVER 100% for a full year by letting it die almost every time i took it off charge and then charging it back up all the way. my last MBP as i stated did not like to be drained all the way, and i was able to keep it at a stable 99% for 3 months (probably because it was a refurb). my current mbp, i charge basically whenever i want, but try and let it charge fully before taking it off AC and im at a consistent >100%
 
alphaod said:
What's that suppose to mean? :(
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I've got the Chei Mei-Display. It has no flaws, no yellow, looks good - still I'd rather prefer a LG. But maybe I'm wrong in this regard.

My battery health came back to 100% (4609mAh) by the way - I calibrated the battery again and I'm trying to charge it when it's around 12% or so. I'll report how it works.

Good to know about the 80% or 300 Cycles "rule".
 
My battery health is constantly fluctuating.

For example, I was at 4669 mAh a few minutes ago. I then had to unplug for a few moments to switch adapters on the MagSafe (extension cord). My MBP was on it's battery for quite literally less than 30 seconds.

Now my battery health is at 4703 mAh.

It's like this a lot. Sometimes it takes a dip to 99 or 98%, other times it gains a bit in health. I wouldn't worry about it.

But I obsess over my battery health as well :p I probably check it a few times every day, haha.
 
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