Utterly pathetic battery life on my Macbook.

[mattcube64]

Okay, here's the deal. I bought my Macboook a little over a year ago. I made sure to calibrate it the first day I got it.

Now, I'm no saint. I didn't calibrate it every single month. But I went through the cycle about once every two months or so.

Recently, I've realized my battery was dying WAY too soon. It had been a while since I last calibrated it. So, yesterday, I did just that.

Today, Coconut battery is saying my battery has gone through 257 cycles (which I can believe), but also that my battery is only holding/ has a health of a 48% charge.

That's ridiculous. I have my backlight on the lowest setting, and I can only expect to get an hour or so out of my computer. WTF?!

Of course, I'm out of warranty. Don't tell me I need to go drop $130 on a freaking battery. Am I missing something here?

EDIT: My expectations aren't super high, either. I realize I shouldn't expect a 100% capacity, and I also know it should die a wee bit faster than others because I put in a 7200RPM drive. But I've gone through 12% of my battery just typing this!

 

[plinden]

Did you miss the battery replacement program? http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/27/apple-acknowledges-macbook-battery-problems

Battery exhibits low charge capacity/runtime when using a fully charged battery with a battery cycle count (as shown in System Profiler) of less than 300.

Take it to an Apple store. I don't know if Apple is still replacing faulty batteries, but you should ask. They replaced my wife's MacBook battery. It wasn't out of warranty (we have AppleCare) but they didn't check - they did it no questions asked.

Oh, and remove Coconut Battery before bringing it in.

 

[mattcube64]

Did you miss the battery replacement program? http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/27/apple-acknowledges-macbook-battery-problems

Take it to an Apple store. I don't know if Apple is still replacing faulty batteries, but you should ask. They replaced my wife's MacBook battery. It wasn't out of warranty (we have AppleCare) but they didn't check - they did it no questions asked.

Oh, and remove Coconut Battery before bringing it in.

Hmm... thanks! That article says that they extended my battery's warranty for two years, so I should be good. However, do you have any idea where I can find the official statement from Apple (like, from their site) so I can show it to the Apple Genius if he doesn't know what I'm talking about.

Thanks!

 

[Mpulsive81]

Here ya go:

http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

They are MORE than aware of this issue. A simple call to Apple or a visit to the genius bar gets the same results. If you complain about your battery health and cycle count (especially if yours is at 48%....mine was at 87% when I called them) they'll gladly replace it. As a basis for comparison, I've had my new battery since May or June I believe. I've still got 100% health.

Don't sweat the factory warrenty either. As quoted from the link I provided you: "This program extends repair coverage on the battery for up to two years from the date of purchase of the computer for Intel Core Duo-based MacBook and MacBook Pro computers."

No big deal, give em a shout and you'll be set!