Old stock new MBP - worth exchanging?

[darkmatter343]

I picked up 2 MacBook Pro 13", both base with 256gb. While I was checking out (at the Apple Store), I noticed the spec stickers were different, one was bold black font, the 2nd was the usual light grey on Apple stickers. I asked the Apple CSR but he just said either they were from different batches, or one was older stock. Well, one definitely was older stock...
The one MacBook went to a friend, and they confirmed theirs had the latest Catalina installed and powered on immediately. His spec's Sticker was Black Bold Font, the other was for myself and upon opening mine I noticed it was dead... zero battery life. Plugged in the charger and it booted...but to Mojave.. and 10.14.3 at that. Ok, so apparently I got a really old stock...
Looks like mine was manufactured back in July, battery is 248 days old.

I loaded up Coconut tonight to check the battery and sure enough you can see the battery was manufacture back in June 2019. I'm no battery expert, so maybe it's not much harm, but knowing it's 248 days old already😩 I'm wondering if it's worth exchanging since I'm in the window? Would you?

 

[Sanpete]

Looks OK. If it worries you, though, exchange it. Or check how well it holds a charge.

 

[darkmatter343]

Looks OK. If it worries you, though, exchange it. Or check how well it holds a charge.

I could care less about it sitting in the back for half a year, a mbp is a mbp, but the battery sitting for so long... 😬 The fact it has Mojave was a bonus tbh, I was going to install anyways, but just sucks to know it's battery is already 7 months old. Again I'm no battery expert, so I'll let others weight in, but I know batteries degrade over time sitting idle. I have about a week left to exchange so maybe I'll keep an eye on the discharge rate.

 

[Hexley]

I picked up 2 MacBook Pro 13", both base with 256gb. While I was checking out (at the Apple Store), I noticed the spec stickers were different, one was bold black font, the 2nd was the usual light grey on Apple stickers. I asked the Apple CSR but he just said either they were from different batches, or one was older stock. Well, one definitely was older stock...
The one MacBook went to a friend, and they confirmed theirs had the latest Catalina installed and powered on immediately. His spec's Sticker was Black Bold Font, the other was for myself and upon opening mine I noticed it was dead... zero battery life. Plugged in the charger and it booted...but to Mojave.. and 10.14.3 at that. Ok, so apparently I got a really old stock...
Looks like mine was manufactured back in July, battery is 248 days old.

I loaded up Coconut tonight to check the battery and sure enough you can see the battery was manufacture back in June 2019. I'm no battery expert, so maybe it's not much harm, but knowing it's 248 days old already😩 I'm wondering if it's worth exchanging since I'm in the window? Would you?

View attachment 892795

You dont need our permission to do what you think is correct.

It's your time and money.

Last month I bought the same SKU at the same month as you did. I didnt open it as I was waiting for my U3819DW to arrive but by then the 16" was announced.

I sold last month for a $100 profit as I decided to get the 16" that was made 5 weeks prior to order date. I'm thinking they ship base configs by boat then fly BTO's by plane.

To my understanding batteries only turn bad due to heat and the chemical reaction to being charged and discharged. One reason why I use a 60W charger for a 96W 16" and 12W charger for a iPhone 11 Pro Max.

You may want to cross reference coconutbattery with https://reincubate.com/lookup/ It helped me ID when my Apple products were made against the introductory date and my order date.

 

[darkmatter343]

You dont need our permission to do what you think is correct.

It's your time and money.

Last month I bought the same SKU at the same month as you did. I didnt open it as I was waiting for my U3819DW to arrive but by then the 16" was announced.

I sold last month for a $100 profit as I decided to get the 16" that was made 5 weeks prior to order date. I'm thinking they ship base configs by boat then fly BTO's by plane.

To my understanding batteries only turn bad due to heat and the chemical reaction to being charged and discharged. One reason why I use a 60W charger for a 96W 16" and 12W charger for a iPhone 11 Pro Max.

You may want to cross reference coconutbattery with https://reincubate.com/lookup/ It helped me ID when my Apple products were made against the introductory date and my order date.

Hey, thanks for the reply. Not looking for anyone's permission, just advice. I don't really care if the MBP sat in the back for 6 months, I'm just looking for opinions on the battery being old since I know jack about battery technologies and how age degrades them. I know as you mentioned heat and chemical reactions will degrade batteries, but I also thought age and sitting unused were big factors as well. Thanks for the link, I'll check that out.

 

[jerryk]

Hey, thanks for the reply. Not looking for anyone's permission, just advice. I don't really care if the MBP sat in the back for 6 months, I'm just looking for opinions on the battery being old since I know jack about battery technologies and how age degrades them. I know as you mentioned heat and chemical reactions will degrade batteries, but I also thought age and sitting unused were big factors as well. Thanks for the link, I'll check that out.

I might replace it.

I have a drone I got a year or so ago and I have never flown it. But, I thought I would fly it to record the installation of a new roof. I had charged the battery when I got the drone, but never used it. And when I went to recharge it earlier this week it will not take a charge. The batteries are $70, so I am not a happy camper.

 

[AlanShutko]

The battery is showing that a full charge capacity is higher than the design capacity (as it usually is on an unused battery) so it looks completely fine.

 

[darkmatter343]

The battery is showing that a full charge capacity is higher than the design capacity (as it usually is on an unused battery) so it looks completely fine.

I noticed that too, odd, and yet it's only reporting 98.5%, I'll just have to check the battery drain time as I'm only using it for about 1-2hrs at night. I have until the 12th to exchange so I'll spend some time on the weekend maybe running a loop of something starting at a full charge.

 

[AlanShutko]

The 98.5% just means it isn't fully charged. Since you are running on battery, that should not be surprising.

 

[darkmatter343]

The 98.5% just means it isn't fully charged. Since you are running on battery, that should not be surprising.

I thought the 98.5% was referring to the "full charge capacity" as Coconut reports the Current Charge, Full Charge Capacity, and then Design Capacity. Anyways, I don't know how accurate Coconut battery is in regards to these numbers, since the Current Charge looks to be around 96% and yet MacOS was reporting at the time of taking this screenshot that the battery % was at 100%.

 

[Fishrrman]

My opinion only, but "98.5%" is so close to "100%" that it's not worth troubling yourself over...

 

[AlanShutko]

I thought the 98.5% was referring to the "full charge capacity" as Coconut reports the Current Charge, Full Charge Capacity, and then Design Capacity. Anyways, I don't know how accurate Coconut battery is in regards to these numbers, since the Current Charge looks to be around 96% and yet MacOS was reporting at the time of taking this screenshot that the battery % was at 100%.

No, if you do the math, 5186 (current) / 5267 (full) = 0.9846212265. Coconut has a confusing UI.

macOS was probably comparing it to design capacity, or something else. Also, as the Coconut faq explains, macOS lies.

 

[darkmatter343]

Also, as the Coconut faq explains, macOS lies.

I'll remember this, thanks. 😂