'Service Now' Battery Issue

[msalman]

Hey guys,

I have late 2008 MBP and it seems the battery has died out or something. It says 'Service Now'; I can still run my laptop on battery but it doesn't last long. I have only 141 cycles on it. Yea, I usually do not run my laptop on battery.

I am thinking about replacing it but I wanted to know if maybe someone at apple store could help me to diagnose whether my battery really needs to be changed or not. I bought my laptop in June 2009 without apple care. I am not sure how this process work though

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, thank you

 

[GGJstudios]

I have late 2008 MBP and it seems the battery has died out or something. It says 'Service Now'; I can still run my laptop on battery but it doesn't last long. I have only 141 cycles on it. Yea, I usually do not run my laptop on battery.

Your battery may be toast, despite the low cycles. Apple recommends that you don't leave your MBP plugged in all the time, as the battery needs to be used to stay healthy. You should run it on battery at least a few hours every few days. Read the AC POWER section of the following link for details.

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

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

I am thinking about replacing it but I wanted to know if maybe someone at apple store could help me to diagnose whether my battery really needs to be changed or not.

Yes, they can. They won't charge you just to check it out.

 

[sweetbrat]

Even with only 141 cycles on it, if it's the original battery from 2009 then it's not surprising that it would need replacement. 141 cycles over 3 years is very few, and as GGJstudios pointed out that can lead to shorter battery life.

You can take it in and have them look at it; it's not going to hurt anything. Chances are though that they'll tell you it's time to replace it. Then again, since you don't run it off the battery very often anyways, you could just keep using it the way it is now. It won't hurt anything...it just won't be very portable since it will have to stay near a power source all the time.