Battery Question!

[julianewus]

Okay I bought my Macbook Pro 13in the day they came out, and that means that I have had mine for a year and a few months, however I have 300 cycles and the battery only lasts for 2 and a half hours IF that. I have apple care which extended my warrantee.

I find it hard that the battery life would degrade so rapidly just after 300 cycles under normal conditions.

Is it covered by apple care to replace the battery?

 

[aeboi]

what's the battery health? and battery condition?

 

[julianewus]

the battery health is 95% I dont know how to check the "condition"

 

[alust2013]

If your battery health is 95%, then you are doing something to run it down quickly (flash in web content, stray process sucking up CPU). I would check out activity monitor to see if there is something that is using a lot of CPU

 

[spinnerlys]

the battery health is 95% I dont know how to check the "condition"

System Profiler > Power > Battery

Have you calibrated the battery yet?
The built-in battery is able to last 1000 cycles, the user-replaceable battery is able to last 300 cycles.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ

Apple on notebook batteries
Apple Portable: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
Laptop Battery Guide
Replacing the Battery in your MacBook Pro

Also have a look at Activity Monitor ( Applications / Utilities / ) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example

 

[julianewus]

The only programs I use while not on ac are safari, and itunes, and skype (but I hardly ever video chat on skype)

So I think that there is something wrong with the battery perhaps..

 

[julianewus]

and yes I have calibrated my battery.

 

[spinnerlys]

The only programs I use while not on ac are safari, and itunes, and skype (but I hardly ever video chat on skype)

So I think that there is something wrong with the battery perhaps..

Safari can use Flash, Flash uses a lot of CPU in some instances, CPU uses power, the more CPU is used, the more power is needed.
Thus my recommendation to use Activity Monitor.

Btw, the battery health fluctuates a bit, I have a mid-2009 17" MBP and my battery health went from 99% on purchase to 94% during use and now is at 99% again, due to proper calibration.