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jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
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Tech Tool Pro reports the following.

My question- Whats the difference between Cycle Life and Capacity life? Which one should I focus on?

Screen Shot 2021-01-22 at 2.51.16 PM.png
 
Battery health is what you should pay attention to. Battery cycle count doesn't necessarily equate to a good or bad battery.

You just got your Mac (not long ago). The OS does a pretty good job at watching over the battery etc.

Battery health is an estimate and often fluctuates day to day.

Use your Mac and forget about monitoring the battery every day. That is a waste of time. Should you start to see things with charging and use while on battery that you think is a problem, run the Apple hardware diagnostic test. It will tell you if there is a problem you need to address with Apple.

 
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Battery health is what you should pay attention to. Battery cycle count doesn't necessarily equate to a good or bad battery.

You just got your Mac (not long ago). The OS does a pretty good job at watching over the battery etc.

Battery health is an estimate and often fluctuates day to day.

Use your Mac and forget about monitoring the battery every day. That is a waste of time. Should you start to see things with charging and use while on battery that you think is a problem, run the Apple hardware diagnostic test. It will tell you if there is a problem you need to address with Apple.


I removed Coconut Battery from the dock. I only asked because my Mac is mostly plugged in all the time, except for when I travel and then its only plugged in for a charge.
 
I removed Coconut Battery from the dock. I only asked because my Mac is mostly plugged in all the time, except for when I travel and then its only plugged in for a charge.
When you are plugged in and at 100%, the OS does not allow the Mac to endure constant charging. The OS will actually stop charging the Mac even though it is still pugged in. And when the battery level drops to a certain reading, charging will resume. With older Macs, this was not the case and more hands on care was needed.
 
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When you are plugged in and at 100%, the OS does not allow the Mac to endure constant charging. The OS will actually stop charging the Mac even though it is still pugged in. And when the battery level drops to a certain reading, charging will resume. With older Macs, this was not the case and more hands on care was needed.

I noticed that. My 2012 MacBook Pro the battery imploded or whatever and it was so bad I could not use the trackpad but only an external mouse. I had it plugged in all the time except for when I traveled and that did it. I sold it to a computer tech and he replaced the battery and got a working trackpad again.
 
Wow that is an expensive piece of software!

@Apple_Robert is right.

Looks like cycle_life, for this application is just the 24/1000. Apple tries to guarantee that your battery will retain 80% of its capacity after 1000 cycles. Depending on how much you use it and leave it plugged in - this can vary wildly.

Design capacity is where your real health indicator is. Anything 80%+ is considered usable. Most people tend to replace their laptops <80% especially if the laptop is younger than 2-3 years (if you have AppleCare+ then Apple may even replace it).


23 cycles and 85% capacity is a bit worrisome for a 2020MBP. But ... like Apple_Robert said - Apple reduces the capacity if you leave it plugged in a lot so these apps that monitor capacity may report results that aren't exactly reality. Ever since Apple came out with Optimized charging for the Macs - people have seen their coconutBattery readings (capacity) vary wildly. I've seen this in my own Macs.
 
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OP wrote:
"I only asked because my Mac is mostly plugged in all the time, except for when I travel and then its only plugged in for a charge."

I recommend that you DO NOT DO THIS.
This is a fast track to a swollen battery.

I suggest you take it "off the charger" every third day, and let the battery charge drop to about 40%.
Then plug it back in.

At night:
UNPLUG the charger from the wall.
Do this whether you shut the MBP down for the night, or just let it sleep.
In the morning, plug it back in.
 
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OP wrote:
"I only asked because my Mac is mostly plugged in all the time, except for when I travel and then its only plugged in for a charge."

I recommend that you DO NOT DO THIS.
This is a fast track to a swollen battery.

I suggest you take it "off the charger" every third day, and let the battery charge drop to about 40%.
Then plug it back in.

At night:
UNPLUG the charger from the wall.
Do this whether you shut the MBP down for the night, or just let it sleep.
In the morning, plug it back in.

With my 2012 this was true but I wonder if its still true about my 2020?

@Apple_Robert- What do you say?
 
With my 2012 this was true but I wonder if its still true about my 2020?

@Apple_Robert- What do you say?
With older models, battery swelling was a real concern, especially when staying plugged in. That is not the case with newer tech models and OS support.

@Fishrrman knows his Mac "stuff" and offers a lot of helpful advice on the forum. I agree with him a lot of the time. This time we disagree and that is fine.
 
With older models, battery swelling was a real concern, especially when staying plugged in. That is not the case with newer tech models and OS support.

@Fishrrman knows his Mac "stuff" and offers a lot of helpful advice on the forum. I agree with him a lot of the time. This time we disagree and that is fine.

Thank you
 
Id sooner use my battery and increase cycles than keep the device plugged in, for it to be on 100 or close to percent all the time. When plugged in, it'll be trickle charging and bouncing to 100% periodically.I tend to use the 80 /40 % approx charge discharge rule.
 
With my 2012 this was true but I wonder if its still true about my 2020?

@Apple_Robert- What do you say?

OP wrote:
"I only asked because my Mac is mostly plugged in all the time, except for when I travel and then its only plugged in for a charge."

I recommend that you DO NOT DO THIS.
This is a fast track to a swollen battery.

I suggest you take it "off the charger" every third day, and let the battery charge drop to about 40%.
Then plug it back in.

At night:
UNPLUG the charger from the wall.
Do this whether you shut the MBP down for the night, or just let it sleep.
In the morning, plug it back in.
I have a mid 2012 13" MacBook Pro since July 2014. 6.5 years old now. It was, and still is, plugged in most of the time. Without battery problems, except normal ageing. It's now at 628 cycles, max. capacity 4270 mAh and "needs replacing" status. 👍
 
If you use an XDR display, it is impossible to use the display and not have the Mac charging. I guess the only option is to unplug it at night but it will only use a little charge overnight if it is sleeping and not actively doing anything.
 
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