How badly does the battery life degrade with the 2012 Retina Macbook Pro?

[Starfyre]

Has anybody seen the advertised 7 hours of battery life drop significantly over a couple months? Thinking about getting a 13 incher for the battery life alone if its going to degrade by 1 or 2 hours over the course of a month or two.

 

[fs454]

Has anybody seen the advertised 7 hours of battery life drop significantly over a couple months? Thinking about getting a 13 incher for the battery life alone if its going to degrade by 1 or 2 hours over the course of a month or two.

I don't think that happens. It gets better over the first 5-10 cycles and should remain solid for at least 600 cycles or a few years. Apple says it should take around 1000 cycles for the battery's total capacity to deplete to 75% of it original maximum. I think you'll get a solid whatever-it's-advertised-as for at least the first couple of years, if not more.

My 2010 11" MacBook Air still lasts the advertised 5 hours, i've done 463 cycles and my battery's at 91% health.

 

[Xerotech]

Pretty much the same for me and I have a 2012 rMBP. I go through about 1-cycle every 3 days.

 

[Starfyre]

How do you know the exact number of cycles?

 

[fs454]

How do you know the exact number of cycles?

You can check by hitting the apple at the top left of the screen and then "About this Mac", then More Info, System Report and then under Power it should display the cycle count under the battery's information.

Alternatively, you can download the iStat Pro dashboard widget which will display your current health percentage and your cycle count.