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If you check the power tab under System Information, you can find some battery health info that might be illuminating. For example, my newish MBP16: Charge I

If you check the power tab under System Information, you can find some battery health info that might be illuminating. For example, my newish MBP16: Charge Information: Charge Remaining (mAh): 8362 Fully Charged: Yes Charging: No Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8647 Health Information: Cycle Count: 18 Condition: Normal Looking it up, specced full capacity is 8818 mAh, so I'm at 98% health right now--probably lost a point or two because I leave it constantly plugged in at work. Willing to bet yours is much lower. There are a few apps out there that can do a better analysis too. CoconutBattery used to be a good one, no idea if it's still around, but they were common.

bdcravens 7y ago
Yikes - I have the same, and with a cycle count of 41, I'm down to 94%.
- frizkie 7y ago
  Just another datapoint here for a 2019 16" MBP bought at launch: 8542/8587 mAh for ~99.5%. I have 46 cycle count, I keep it at my desk plugged in at 100% the vast majority of the time.
  - bdcravens 7y ago
    I don't think that's how you calculate it. You measure the Full Charge Capacity against what it's originally rated at. (What I've seen online is that the original capacity is 8790) In your case, that'd be 8587/8790, or 97.7%.
    - bdcravens 7y ago
      To elaborate, you can install Coconut Battery and it will show the percentage I'm describing under "Design Capacity"
- nicoburns 7y ago
  I have a 2015 13" MacBook Pro, and I'm on 85% after 940 cycles (5560/6559mAh - I guess the battery was smaller back then). I most often run it on the charger, but fairly often run it on battery down to a low percentagr too.
teejmya 7y ago
FruitJuice is a good app for this. https://imgur.com/dY0n6Uw https://imgur.com/dY0n6Uw
- geoelectric 7y ago
  Thanks for the tip! I've been looking for something up to date that wasn't part of a huge suite.
- kalleboo 7y ago
  CoconutBattery is also good https://i.imgur.com/bv85ygJ.png https://i.imgur.com/bv85ygJ.png It even supports plugged-in iOS devices https://i.imgur.com/nSIJrar.png https://i.imgur.com/nSIJrar.png https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/
shantara 7y ago
8246 mAh after 34 cycles on my 16" 2019 MBP. That's a lot worse than I expected. What's the best way to slow battery degradation if I use it for 8-10 hours daily for work? Run MBP from an outlet and do full discharges once a week? Run MBP from the battery and recharge the battery when it depletes? Run MBP from the battery, but charge it only to 80%?
- geoelectric 7y ago
  At this point, I think anything you do is going to not be better than what the system could automatically do for itself. Their change will basically give you that 80% bit. There's something to be said for occasionally running the battery down to zero and charging it all the way back up, of course, but I wouldn't think of it as an effective regimen with current battery tech. I'm also not sure how quickly it's expected to drop in capacity. IIRC, batteries drop a notch when they start getting used, plateau there for a while where it mostly depends on environment (try not to charge them when it's 110deg ambient, for example, overheating will kill a battery fast); then eventually drop again and start heading on down. And, of course, all of this scales by how cold it currently is ambient because lithium batteries have reduced charging capacities cold (though I don't think it damages them permanently like heat does). For all I know, 95% (roughly where you're at) is the expected amount once all factors are concerned I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe just get some comparative specs on MacRumors or with one of the utilities (some benchmark against everyone else iirc)
  - shantara 7y ago
    Thanks for the advice
  - rahkiin 7y ago
    I am at 89% and with some programs I work the whole MacBook heats up due to high GPU and CPU usage. Do you think this will degrade it much faster?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
AlphaSite 7y ago
I suspect the original capacity must have some variance.
- geoelectric 7y ago
  Almost certainly, yes. I didn't note the capacity out of the box, so that 98% from spec is a bit handwavy for sure. That said, Apple's usually pretty good about shipping things erring over spec, and publishing the low side of the real range. It was probably at least the spec amount when I got it.

bdcravens 7y ago

Yikes - I have the same, and with a cycle count of 41, I'm down to 94%.

frizkie 7y ago
Just another datapoint here for a 2019 16" MBP bought at launch: 8542/8587 mAh for ~99.5%. I have 46 cycle count, I keep it at my desk plugged in at 100% the vast majority of the time.
- bdcravens 7y ago
  I don't think that's how you calculate it. You measure the Full Charge Capacity against what it's originally rated at. (What I've seen online is that the original capacity is 8790) In your case, that'd be 8587/8790, or 97.7%.
  - bdcravens 7y ago
    To elaborate, you can install Coconut Battery and it will show the percentage I'm describing under "Design Capacity"
nicoburns 7y ago
I have a 2015 13" MacBook Pro, and I'm on 85% after 940 cycles (5560/6559mAh - I guess the battery was smaller back then). I most often run it on the charger, but fairly often run it on battery down to a low percentagr too.

teejmya 7y ago

FruitJuice is a good app for this. https://imgur.com/dY0n6Uw https://imgur.com/dY0n6Uw

geoelectric 7y ago
Thanks for the tip! I've been looking for something up to date that wasn't part of a huge suite.
kalleboo 7y ago
CoconutBattery is also good https://i.imgur.com/bv85ygJ.png https://i.imgur.com/bv85ygJ.png It even supports plugged-in iOS devices https://i.imgur.com/nSIJrar.png https://i.imgur.com/nSIJrar.png https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

shantara 7y ago

8246 mAh after 34 cycles on my 16" 2019 MBP. That's a lot worse than I expected. What's the best way to slow battery degradation if I use it for 8-10 hours daily for work? Run MBP from an outlet and do full discharges once a week? Run MBP from the battery and recharge the battery when it depletes? Run MBP from the battery, but charge it only to 80%?

geoelectric 7y ago
At this point, I think anything you do is going to not be better than what the system could automatically do for itself. Their change will basically give you that 80% bit. There's something to be said for occasionally running the battery down to zero and charging it all the way back up, of course, but I wouldn't think of it as an effective regimen with current battery tech. I'm also not sure how quickly it's expected to drop in capacity. IIRC, batteries drop a notch when they start getting used, plateau there for a while where it mostly depends on environment (try not to charge them when it's 110deg ambient, for example, overheating will kill a battery fast); then eventually drop again and start heading on down. And, of course, all of this scales by how cold it currently is ambient because lithium batteries have reduced charging capacities cold (though I don't think it damages them permanently like heat does). For all I know, 95% (roughly where you're at) is the expected amount once all factors are concerned I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe just get some comparative specs on MacRumors or with one of the utilities (some benchmark against everyone else iirc)
- shantara 7y ago
  Thanks for the advice
- rahkiin 7y ago
  I am at 89% and with some programs I work the whole MacBook heats up due to high GPU and CPU usage. Do you think this will degrade it much faster?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

AlphaSite 7y ago

I suspect the original capacity must have some variance.

geoelectric 7y ago
Almost certainly, yes. I didn't note the capacity out of the box, so that 98% from spec is a bit handwavy for sure. That said, Apple's usually pretty good about shipping things erring over spec, and publishing the low side of the real range. It was probably at least the spec amount when I got it.