Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MBP Battery Life, Dying Again?

A

asmallchild

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 25, 2007
205
0
I have a 15" MBP running OS X 10.5.8 (2.4 GhZ Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667MhZ DDR2 SDRAM)

I purchased this beauty Spring of 2008, around Spring of 2009, I had noticed my battery was dying: 59% Battery Capacity (3316 mAh out of 5600 mAh) after 61 battery-loadcycles.

I had AppleCare and promptly had my battery replaced.

Now, as I near the 1 yr anniversary of my replacement battery (my Mac itself is 22 months old), I am noticing the capacity is once again down to 81% (4588/5600 mAh).

Is this considered typical wear and tear or am I once again eligible for a replacement battery under AppleCare?
 
EndlessMac said:
Out of curiosity do you keep your MBP plugged in most of the time?
Click to expand...

Yeah I do. I'd say 75% of the time. I'm a little better about unplugging it and carrying it into the family room to surf the net on the couch but it's still predominantly a deskbound device.

Does this adversely affect the battery?
 
I've read some references here regarding people having battery problems with the SR MBP. I have a 2.2Ghz and have replaced the battery three times in 2 years.
 
md63 said:
I've read some references here regarding people having battery problems with the SR MBP. I have a 2.2Ghz and have replaced the battery three times in 2 years.
Click to expand...

crap, i think i'm headed down that path

hopefully applecare covers all that so at least i've got 2 more replacements (3 batteries over 3 years, that seems fair) :eek:
 
asmallchild said:
Yeah I do. I'd say 75% of the time. I'm a little better about unplugging it and carrying it into the family room to surf the net on the couch but it's still predominantly a deskbound device.

Does this adversely affect the battery?
Click to expand...
From what I've noticed, many people complaining about their battery dying are people who leaving their laptops plugging in most of the time. Even Apple doesn't recommend leaving it plugged in all the time: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Lithium batteries like being used in order to keep them healthy. I've been told that they don't like frequent full discharges (going to empty) nor do they like being plugged in all the time. I have a 6 year old PowerBook that still has the original battery and it still holds a charge. I never leave my laptops plugged in all the time. You do have to do a full discharge at least once a month in order to keep the battery meter closer to accurate. You also don't increase your battery cycle count much if you are not doing full discharges often because several small cycle charges will only added up to one cycle count.

My PowerBook has only lost about 10% of its maximum capacity, it's still in good condition, and remember this is a 6 year old battery!
 
EndlessMac said:
From what I've noticed, many people complaining about their battery dying are people who leaving their laptops plugging in most of the time. Even Apple doesn't recommend leaving it plugged in all the time: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Lithium batteries like being used in order to keep them healthy. I've been told that they don't like frequent full discharges (going to empty) nor do they like being plugged in all the time. I have a 6 year old PowerBook that still has the original battery and it still holds a charge. I never leave my laptops plugged in all the time. You do have to do a full discharge at least once a month in order to keep the battery meter closer to accurate. You also don't increase your battery cycle count much if you are not doing full discharges often because several small cycle charges will only added up to one cycle count.

My PowerBook has only lost about 10% of its maximum capacity, it's still in good condition, and remember this is a 6 year old battery!
Click to expand...

wow, that's phenomenal!

I guess I'll be using my laptop more in the family room then on the couch

I do calibrate once every 2 months I guess I can make it monthly

this might pave the way for a nice 27" iMac in my study room :)

(assuming they iron out the hardware issues with that device too)
 
asmallchild said:
I have a 15" MBP running OS X 10.5.8 (2.4 GhZ Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667MhZ DDR2 SDRAM)

I purchased this beauty Spring of 2008, around Spring of 2009, I had noticed my battery was dying: 59% Battery Capacity (3316 mAh out of 5600 mAh) after 61 battery-loadcycles.

I had AppleCare and promptly had my battery replaced.

Now, as I near the 1 yr anniversary of my replacement battery (my Mac itself is 22 months old), I am noticing the capacity is once again down to 81% (4588/5600 mAh).

Is this considered typical wear and tear or am I once again eligible for a replacement battery under AppleCare?
Click to expand...

hmm, after calibration it jumped up to 88% again

cause for concern?

or is this normal wear and tear after a year's usage?

i'll probably end up heading to the genius bar to inquire anyway but wanted to have some advice from the forum regulars beforehand

thanks!
 
EndlessMac said:
From what I've noticed, many people complaining about their battery dying are people who leaving their laptops plugging in most of the time. Even Apple doesn't recommend leaving it plugged in all the time: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html

Lithium batteries like being used in order to keep them healthy. I've been told that they don't like frequent full discharges (going to empty) nor do they like being plugged in all the time. I have a 6 year old PowerBook that still has the original battery and it still holds a charge. I never leave my laptops plugged in all the time. You do have to do a full discharge at least once a month in order to keep the battery meter closer to accurate. You also don't increase your battery cycle count much if you are not doing full discharges often because several small cycle charges will only added up to one cycle count.

My PowerBook has only lost about 10% of its maximum capacity, it's still in good condition, and remember this is a 6 year old battery!
Click to expand...

i do this as well; i.e leaving my MBP (its a 07 model SR) plugged in most of the time. Most of the time i get about a little over 2 hours plus of usage (mainly just internet). I dunno, Coconut Battery always widely fluctuates on the health status of my battery. The battery has done 392 cycles so far...i used to get 3 hours or more of battery life but its drastically dropped down lately..
 
If you have 80% or better capacity, it's within Apple's "acceptable" range. It's not at all uncommon for calibration to positively affect the battery health.

For maintenance, please don't leave your computer plugged in for weeks and weeks at a time. You don't necessarily have to let the battery drain to 0%, but at least get one or two cycles on the battery each month.

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back