Is it bad that I've gone through 87 battery cycles..

[fattire357]

so you buy a laptop for portability but then keep it stationary in one place so the battery lasts longer? lulz, if you're gonna keep it in one place then there's no point in preserving the battery life cos you're never gonna use it anyway

I agree, but as long as you are near a wall outlet you might as well plug it in. I see a lot of people not bother to keep a macbook plugged in when it's pretty easy to.

 

[DustinT]

As you can see from that experience, it's bad for a battery not to use it periodically. Also, don't count on Apple always replacing batteries out of warranty. While they sometimes make exceptions, they are exactly that: exceptions. As a rule, they won't.

Good point.

 

[GGJstudios]

I agree, but as long as you are near a wall outlet you might as well plug it in. I see a lot of people not bother to keep a macbook plugged in when it's pretty easy to.

I agree. In the same way, if you leave it plugged in most of the time, it's very easy to unplug it periodically to exercise the battery to keep it healthy. The best approach is to run on battery when you need to and plug it in when you can, as long as you're not running plugged in all the time.

 

[matthewscott661]

Yeah, $129 +tax for a new battery is a lot for a broke uni student like me... I'd rather prolong that necessity for as long as possible. And yeah I wouldn't trust a 3rd party battery, especially with these special built-in kinds (which of course is the way Apple wants it). Ya live, ya learn.

I used my father's old powerbook until it was about 6 years old, it still had the original battery and it still lasted almost 2.5 hours. If you use it naturally the battery will last plenty of time, especially with all of the new battery technology in use today.

 

[Virgo]

Now, this is strange. I've been using my MBP on the charger most of the time since my OP, and according to coconutBattery, the capacity has increased. Is this accurate? Before and after:

 

[GGJstudios]

Now, this is strange. I've been using my MBP on the charger most of the time since my OP, and according to coconutBattery, the capacity has increased. Is this accurate? Before and after:

It's quite normal for your battery health to fluctuate up and down over time. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[Virgo]

Thanks

 

[hexonxonx]

The battery health fluctuates all the time. On my MB, the health dropped to 93% last week and now it is up to 95 at 193 cycles.

On my MBP, because I have hardly used the battery in over a year, it shows 101% with 8 cycles but still lasts just as long as my MB does which is about 3 hours with full bright. Nothing wrong with it and that's about as long as it's always lasted.