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Macbook 50 cycles on battery in 28 days. Is this normal?

F

Fred87nc

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 22, 2008
57
0
So I had my Macbook for around 28 days, And i have 50 cycles on my battery. Is this normal? My Full charge capacity (mAh): 4978.
 
that doesn't seem normal.

do you go through two full charges everyday

if you are using your macbook like 8 hours a day that could be normal

i have had mine for about 3 weeks and I have only cycled the battery 10 times
 
i've had mine for 2 months or so and i have only managed 12, but that was over the summer holidays where i didn't take it anywhere. Now i'm back at school, in the past week i have managed 4.
 
muldul said:
i've had mine for 2 months or so and i have only managed 12, but that was over the summer holidays where i didn't take it anywhere. Now i'm back at school, in the past week i have managed 4.
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All depends on usage. I have mine for 3 months and I have a lot more than that. If anything they will swap the battery and not the whole laptop like this guy is trying to pull.
 
I've had mine since late January and I have 472 cycles. Doesn't sound normal but I'm using it literally all the time.
 
Batt said:
And creating a con on MacRumor members in the process.
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I will never understand people coming on this site and coming out and asking people how they can con others. Then they get mad (see other thread on this in another forum) when people tell them they are wrong for doing so. Here is a suggestion. They should just keep it to themselves (not make a post about it).
 
hogfaninga said:
I will never understand people coming on this site and coming out and asking people how they can con others. Then they get mad (see other thread on this in another forum) when people tell them they are wrong for doing so. Here is a suggestion. They should just keep it to themselves (not make a post about it).
Click to expand...


For those wondering what this is all about, look here: Buying Tips, Advice and Discussion > Last Day to Return my MacBook, What Do i dO?? $180 restocking fee
 
i use my macbook all the time, iv had it for a month, and im only on 9 cycles. i usually keep it plugged in when im in my room though.
 
zango said:
i use my macbook all the time, iv had it for a month, and im only on 9 cycles. i usually keep it plugged in when im in my room though.
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In order to have your battery go through a cycle, you actually have to use it on battery power. Once it runs down, you plug it in and recharge it, that is called a cycle.

4 months, 170 cycles. I use it on battery all the time.
 
I have had mine for about a year and a half. I always have mine plugged in and it only has 20 charge cycles. However as it was stated above, if you use your computer on battery all the time than 50 cycles in 28 days means 2 full cycles per day. It is only abnormal if you always have it plugged in.
 
its not toooo bad.

when i first got my macbook i indeed had a lot of cycles at first...

i've owned this mac for 2 yeard and im at the 499 cycle mark.

even on battery she's still running strong.

in fact, when i tested the battery it showed working at max. capacity.
 
kwood said:
I have had mine for about a year and a half. I always have mine plugged in and it only has 20 charge cycles. However as it was stated above, if you use your computer on battery all the time than 50 cycles in 28 days means 2 full cycles per day. It is only abnormal if you always have it plugged in.
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That's actually a bit ridiculous. You must almost never use your laptop as a laptop if you have that few after a year and a half.

Personally, I have 315 cycles, which means I go through an average of 1.11 cycles per day. I wouldn't imagine your number would be too hard to obtain, OP, if you use it on battery power a lot.
 
ZiggyPastorius said:
That's actually a bit ridiculous. You must almost never use your laptop as a laptop if you have that few after a year and a half.

Personally, I have 315 cycles, which means I go through an average of 1.11 cycles per day. I wouldn't imagine your number would be too hard to obtain, OP, if you use it on battery power a lot.
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I agree. Why buy a laptop if you rarely use it as one? Get a desktop then.
 
I use 3 computers daily and I use about a little more than cycle on each, so if I had only one computer, it might be over 2 cycles a day.
 
BlackBook. Three months old. 68 cycles. I use it on battery a lot, charge it then use it on battery again. Sometimes up to three times a day. I don't think it sound unreasonable.
 
this is my first time posting, and i was going to get a macbook today but now that i hear they are coming out with new ones soon im going to wait.

but, is it bad to keep your laptop plugged in a lot? or is it bad to keep it off the charger a lot? i need whatever advice people can give me cuz im gunna treat this like my baby.
 
Its fine both ways keeping it plugged in and running off battery. Just remember to cycle your battery as often as you can, by that I mean charge it to a full 100 percent then use it till it completely dies and falls a sleep then charge it back to 100 percent. They say you should do this once a month but I have done it at least once a week on my ibook and my battery life is still good given that my computer is over 3 years old!

Oh and the other kid stop trying to rip off Best Buy.
 
dannycoe said:
this is my first time posting, and i was going to get a macbook today but now that i hear they are coming out with new ones soon im going to wait.

but, is it bad to keep your laptop plugged in a lot? or is it bad to keep it off the charger a lot? i need whatever advice people can give me cuz im gunna treat this like my baby.
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Hey, glad to hear you're thinking of switching! And in response, neither of the above are necessarily bad. However if you leave your MacBook constantly plugged in, the battery will gradually effectively stagnate from lack of use and hold a decreased charge that lowers gradually. By the same token, using the machine constantly on battery means that your battery life isn't shortened by stagnation but from overuse like any other rechargeable battery.

Apple recommends that you deep cycle your battery once a month. Thats charging it up to full, leaving to stand for two hours, draining the battery to zero, leaving it to stand for two hours, and then charging it again.

Once your battery passes about 300 cycles it is typical to expect reduced capacity.

Hope this has helped
 
so you dont have to do it every time you need to charge it?

and it also tells you how many cycles you've gone through?
 
dannycoe said:
so you dont have to do it every time you need to charge it?

and it also tells you how many cycles you've gone through?
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No, you do not have to complete a full cycle. You can charge from 10 to 83% then use it down to 32% and charge it to 100% then down to 77% and so on. One cycle is counted as one hundred percent drain sum and one hundred percent charge sum spread out over many smaller charge/drain periods.

Small applications like coconutBattery are immeasurably useful if like me you want to keep glancing every so often but usually forget where to look in System Profiler for the information.
 
I keep mine plugged in most of the times and I only have 15 cycles. :) I bought it five months ago. Believe it or not, I was suppose to calibrate it every month which I never did. Well, spare three days ago. :)
 
I don't ever calibrate and never have on my batteries. I just never felt like messing with it. I typically charge fully at night and let it drain to 10% and charge it again. No problems and this is my second Macbook. I use it on battery power all the time. I also bought a spare one on ebay for $50 that only had 25 cycles on it. Works great. One less thing to worry about.
 
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