I agree that it's a mistake to obsess over remaining battery life numbers. It seems to me that the best way to judge whether your battery needs to be replaced is to decide whether your time between charges when you are using battery power is unacceptably short. If it is satisfactory, live with it and don't worry about the current capacity number.Holy moly, what is wrong with some people here...what someone else said was right, this thread makes people paranoid...
I wouldn't replace a battery unless it was totally dead or not functioning or holding a charge.
People with anything less than 99% are talking about buying new batteries/acting like their dog died or something. Jeez. lol.
Anyway...I have a mid 2007 macbook that I recently purchased off ebay, and the battery capacity is at 91%. I am calibrating it right now. But overall I am impressed, not bad for a nearly 4 year old machine.
Edit: Hmm, since I've been calibrating it, the capacity seems to have gone up to 94%. Sweet.
Calibration makes your readings more accurate. Read the Battery FAQ I posted earlier (post #110) to learn why it stops charging before 100%.I have never bothered to calibrate.
Sometimes it charges to 95% sometimes only 91%...
Would it make a difference?
No, you shouldn't worry. Calibration doesn't affect your battery health; it only makes your readings more accurate.
Read the Battery FAQ in post #110 of this thread. It explains why you have nothing to worry about.
No. Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its capacity up to 1000 cycles. That doesn't mean it dies then. A battery can still work quite well with less than 80% capacity, and it's also quite normal that you may have more than 80% capacity even after 1000 cycles.
yeah speaking of the cycles, what happens if i go over 1000 cycles then I need a new battery??
If it sleeps early, it will take much longer to drain the battery. Use Caffeine (link in the FAQ under CALIBRATION) to keep it awake. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
