I've had a macbook pro for just about a year now, and my battery life is not good at all.. I know people say the batteries are bad, but i just wanted to see if mine was normal bad or actually defective before i go to the apple store (for a separate repair) to see if i should have them take a look at the battery... istat pro tell me that the battery has run 217 cycles and the health is down to 56%... is it me or does that seem really low for 217 cycles... as you can imagine my battery only last around the hour-1.5 mark depending on the use (sometimes less) is this normal? should I just face facts and shell out the cash for a new battery or see if apple will replace this one???
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Defective Battery?
- Thread starter mtfield
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Have you calibrated it recently? If not, do so and report back...that will give us a better idea of its true capacity.
But if 56% capacity after just over 200 cycles in about a year holds, that's not good performance. Are you just over or just under a year? If you're under it, you stand a good chance of having Apple replace it under warranty. But if it's been more than a year, you'll have a much tougher time.
But if 56% capacity after just over 200 cycles in about a year holds, that's not good performance. Are you just over or just under a year? If you're under it, you stand a good chance of having Apple replace it under warranty. But if it's been more than a year, you'll have a much tougher time.
Thanks for the quick reply.. yes i calibrated it about a month or two ago (not sure if that is recently??? 
) if not then i can do it again and see what happened... For the life of me I can't remember if it is more than a year or less... I bought it last summer (I believe in July...) so it is probably right on the year mark. A thing that I just remembered when I started noticing the really poor performance of the battery is that when I first bought the computer the health started at 99% instead of 100% I didn't think anything of it at the time because I was just so excited to have the computer but now I feel like a fool... haha Do you think I have a case for fighting for a replacement?
) if not then i can do it again and see what happened... For the life of me I can't remember if it is more than a year or less... I bought it last summer (I believe in July...) so it is probably right on the year mark. A thing that I just remembered when I started noticing the really poor performance of the battery is that when I first bought the computer the health started at 99% instead of 100% I didn't think anything of it at the time because I was just so excited to have the computer but now I feel like a fool... haha Do you think I have a case for fighting for a replacement?
Starting at 99% is no big deal. There's very minor variation in the capacities of the batteries, and this wouldn't cause a quicker decrease in your battery life.
Based on what you've said, you should have a very good case for replacement if you're still under your one-year warranty. Do you have an Apple Store near you? It's probably easiest if you can just take it in to the Genius Bar and have them look at it.
You can check your warranty status here, but depending on where you purchased your machine from, their information may not be quite correct. If you purchased it from Apple, they should have your correct date of purchase (and thus warranty expiration date) in their system. But if you purchased it elsewhere, they may have an earlier date in their system. In that case, hopefully you can dig out a receipt that proves the actual date of purchase.
Based on what you've said, you should have a very good case for replacement if you're still under your one-year warranty. Do you have an Apple Store near you? It's probably easiest if you can just take it in to the Genius Bar and have them look at it.
You can check your warranty status here, but depending on where you purchased your machine from, their information may not be quite correct. If you purchased it from Apple, they should have your correct date of purchase (and thus warranty expiration date) in their system. But if you purchased it elsewhere, they may have an earlier date in their system. In that case, hopefully you can dig out a receipt that proves the actual date of purchase.
I bought it from apple online so i could update a few things.. but with the purchase i picked up apple care so that should cover me for three years right? so would the one year thing not apply in this case because of apple care? Thanks a lot for all your help! you've been great and yes I have an apple store and an appointment scheduled this weekend at the genius bar for them to work on my screen
and yes I have an apple store and an appointment scheduled this weekend at the genius bar for them to work on my screen
Oh, if you've got AppleCare then you're in great shape. 217 cycles in about a year is not abnormal, and it should be retaining closer to 80% of its original capacity at this time, so you've got a good case for a warranty replacement.
Good luck!
Good luck!
did you keep your laptop plugged into the electricity every day when not using it? I would like to know this. Because i was researching this topic because last week i started doing that because my laptop sits in my desk unless i bring it places with me. And i have read mixed reviews in terms of that being bad for the computers battery.
So how did you use your laptop battery? always plugged in or not?
So how did you use your laptop battery? always plugged in or not?
It doesn't matter on Li-Ion batteries, there is a chip on it to prevent overcharging and it is perfectly fine to leave it plugged in at all times.