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MBA 2011 - battery drop
- Thread starter bp1000
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Seems normal. As I recall, by 300 cycles you should still be above 50% health, so you're more than OK on that front. Mine seems to drop from 100% just as quickly. Comically, my iPhone 5 seems to stay at 100% for like half an hour before it shows 98-97-96 fairly quickly getting to 90%.
Love my air but recently, perhaps since ML if I unplug my battery from 100% it falls to 98% within a minute. Also health is 87-89 after just 105 cycles
Sound like a battery problem or just the os reporting?
Do yourself a favor and turn off the % so you can enjoy your laptop. Seriously. I'm serious. The % is inaccurate and based on so many different things...
First off, Apple claims that 1000 cycles you should be at above 80%. So 89% seems like you're still doing ok at 105 cycles. Yeah, it's not a CONSTANT. My health % varies too, up and down and up and down and up and down.
Best thing you can do is care for your Lithium Ion battery the RIGHT way.
1. This means NOT running it below 50% if you can help it. Running a Lithium Ion battery all the way to 0 is a serious no no... Say goodbye to battery health if you do that.
2. Keep it fully charged all the time as Lithium Ions don't like to be in a discharged state for very long.
3. Do exercise the battery now and then because if you don't that degrades the health. Apple recommends taking it to 50% every now and then.
4. Don't leave your Macbook in the sun for hours and hours (or in a hot car).
5. Enjoy your laptop.
I have a Macbook Air 13' 2011. I'm at 32 cycles at 97% battery health. I'll get anywhere from 7-10 hours of battery life out of my battery. The health % will go down 5% and up 2% randomly throughout the month. Of course I'm a pretty conservative user when on battery and save the CPU intensive stuff for when I'm plugged in. <-- Another thing to save your battery. I'm constantly amazed at all the idiots playing heavy fps games on battery. Hey, it's their laptop whatever. lol.
But Falterego is right - the % is not very accurate and varies a lot. Just turn it off and enjoy your Macbook. If you're really worried, go to the Apple store and pay some $100+ to get it replaced.
I thought it's recommended to run it down to 0 and then recharge to 100% once a month or so?
That was for the older Macbooks that needed calibration. On the later Macbooks they recommend a 50% drain to keep the cells healthy. But thanks to Apple changing their website's help pages, they just have a generic "complete 1 cycle per month" statement. :/
There is nothing wrong with your battery. It is perfectly normal if your battery health (maximum capacity) is more or less than 100%, even when brand new, or if it fluctuates up or down over time. For further details, read the CHECKING STATUS AND HEALTH section of the following link.Love my air but recently, perhaps since ML if I unplug my battery from 100% it falls to 98% within a minute. Also health is 87-89 after just 105 cycles
There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.
The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
No, you never need to fully drain the battery. Run on battery whenever you need to and plug it in whenever you can. You can plug or unplug any time you need to, regardless of the charged percentage, and you never need to completely drain your battery. Just make sure you don't run on AC power exclusively, as your battery needs to be used regularly to stay healthy.
There is nothing wrong with discharging below 50%.
False. The battery needs to be used to stay healthy. That means discharging and charging it. Leaving it fully charged on AC power all the time will shorten battery life.
Thanks for the info! So it's ok to use the MBA down to 10% all the time then recharge? Looks like aiming for 15 days of battery and 15 days of AC power will be optimal as that can exercise the battery. Maybe even once a week is enough to exercise it.
Since these batteries are now good for 1000 cycles I don't think you have much to worry about.
After over 300 cycles mine fluctuates between 88 and 92 percent capacity.
After over 300 cycles mine fluctuates between 88 and 92 percent capacity.