Question about Battery Life through the years

[GREEN4U]

I was wondering if anyone with experience from an old Macbook Air could give me some insight about how long (in years) the battery lasts. How long was it before they couldn't hold a charge for more than a minute, are they still going strong?

I have a Powerbook and I remember by the 4th year it started dying after 10 minutes. Now, it won't last more than 20 seconds. Yet, my System Profiler says:

Health Information:
Cycle count: 651
Condition: Good

FYI I have also never bought a replacement. Anyways if someone could impress upon me how the Macbook Air battery compares, I'd appreciate that a lot.

Thanks!

 

[JBST]

listening in. like the OP, I would love to know the answer to that as well. Particularly as MBA battery is not easily replaceable, I hope it can last years with regular usage....

 

[calvol]

About 1000 cycles, or 3 years is the norm.

 

[thehumorpolice]

My 2010 13" MBA battery is still at 94% of it's original capacity. It has gone through roughly 180 cycles.

 

[n1tut]

My 2010 11" is down to half of its original life of four hours, after 470 cycles and 74% capacity.

tut

 

[GREEN4U]

Thanks, can anybody else chime in? I'm kind of tired hearing about new battery benchmarks. Of course a new battery will perform well, I'm interested in how it does after a few years, but you never hear about those tests. I'd rather have a battery that lasts 4 hrs for 5 years rather than one that lasts 7 hours for only 3 years, you know what I mean?

 

[Aniseedvan]

Thanks, can anybody else chime in? I'm kind of tired hearing about new battery benchmarks. Of course a new battery will perform well, I'm interested in how it does after a few years, but you never hear about those tests. I'd rather have a battery that lasts 4 hrs for 5 years rather than one that lasts 7 hours for only 3 years, you know what I mean?

+1 to that, the HP's battery my MBA will replace gave up the ghost after two years...

 

[gnasher729]

Thanks, can anybody else chime in? I'm kind of tired hearing about new battery benchmarks. Of course a new battery will perform well, I'm interested in how it does after a few years, but you never hear about those tests. I'd rather have a battery that lasts 4 hrs for 5 years rather than one that lasts 7 hours for only 3 years, you know what I mean?

The important thing to know is that about 3 years ago Apple changed all their batteries to much improved batteries. The old ones are supposed to last for 300 charges, while the new ones are supposed to last for 1000 charges. In most cases that was the same time they went from "user switchable" to "exchange in the store", except the first MBAs which had the 300 cycle battery, but not user exchangeable.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks, can anybody else chime in? I'm kind of tired hearing about new battery benchmarks. Of course a new battery will perform well, I'm interested in how it does after a few years, but you never hear about those tests. I'd rather have a battery that lasts 4 hrs for 5 years rather than one that lasts 7 hours for only 3 years, you know what I mean?

You can get more information by reading the BATTERY LIFESPAN and BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE sections of the following link.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​