6 ms·

If your cycle count is 223 and you are nearing 80%, then your battery is defective, plain and simple. Apple will replace it. It's happened to me a couple times

by YooLi 13y ago

If your cycle count is 223 and you are nearing 80%, then your battery is defective, plain and simple. Apple will replace it. It's happened to me a couple times and Apple took care of it with no hassles.

aeturnum 13y ago
I had my first macbook's battery replaced. I took it into the apple store for an unrelated problem, the tech noted the awful battery life and asked me how old the laptop was, said, "that's not right...," and grabbed another battery. Nice and easy.
- untothebreach 13y ago
  If I remember correctly, with the Macbook Air it will have to be '"that's not right...", and grabbed another Macbook Air, and started migrating my data, etc, etc...'
  - mikeevans 13y ago
    They recently replaced the battery on my Macbook Air. They didn't replace the whole computer, just the battery. Took about 15-20 minutes.
    - untothebreach 13y ago
      Ah, I thought the battery was permanently attached to the body.
      - pseudonym 13y ago
        The RAM is the thing with Macbook Air's that permanently soldered to the system board. Everything else is difficult to replace due to the form factor, but still replaceable.
  - jaggederest 13y ago
    They're just held in with torx screws, from what I could see of my old 'unibody' mac when I took it apart. Current gen may be different though.
    - potatolicious 13y ago
      Indeed, they're not meant to be user-serviceable, but they are very easily serviceable at the store.
      - Filligree 13y ago
        Heck, they are user-servicable (if you don't mind voiding your warranty), you just need a slightly unusual screwdriver.
  - gambiting 13y ago
    Nope. Had a battery replaced in my 2012 Air recently(only because a clip separating the battery from the case broke,not because of the battery life) and it took 30 minutes to get it done at an Apple Store.
    - untothebreach 13y ago
      Ah, my mistake.
anu_gupta 13y ago
Agree - I've a 2 year old mid-2011 MacBook Air, 225 cycles and 95% health.
cliveowen 13y ago
I can attest to that: my Macbook white bought on October 2009 (that's 46 months folks) which I used every single day to this very day has 261 load cycles and 91% of original capacity.
- to3m 13y ago
  That's pretty good going I would have thought? As well as charging cycles, I assume time is a factor. My Macbook Pro (bought July 2009) had reached 65% capacity by the time I replaced it, after something like 45 months and ~250 cycles. By then the computer had been begging me to replace it for about six months. I actually thought this perfectly reasonable, with nearly 4 years being a fair lifespan for a battery, no matter how few cycles it might have been through. While it was obviously knackered, it still held enough charge to be perfectly useful, if not amazing - but perhaps I should have held it to a higher standard? (Hopefully it's just this year's unusually hot UK summer but after a mere ten cycles its replacement is down to 93% already. So maybe there's just something up with the electricity supply to my flat.)
- henderson101 13y ago
  my blackbook (late 2007, Santa Rosa, core 2 duo 2.2GHz) still has the original battery and it still holds a decent charge (3+ hours.) My Walstreet 2's battery still holds a charge lasting circa 2+ hours. I religiously avoid running plugged in and always try to charge then run down. Seems to have worked for me.
- UVB-76 13y ago
  My 2010 MacBook Pro is on its third battery, and even this one has had 97 loadcycles in six months, 90% capacity left...
mmanfrin 13y ago
How do you prove this to Apple? I have a 1year old MBA that is definitely not getting anywhere near 3 hours on battery, let alone the 7 they advertise.
- lysol 13y ago
  The cycle count is in System Information, as is the age of the system. Their own docs say it should get 1000 cycles before you're down to 80% of the original capacity. They have diagnostic tools to test it at the Genius Bar and measure the actual full capacity of the battery.
- msrpotus 13y ago
  You can download Coconut Battery [1], which will show you the battery capacity and number of cycles. 1: http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/
berkut 13y ago
Really? I got a 2006 MacBook Pro in Dec 2006, and each year I had to buy a new battery from Apple as it generally got down to 30-40% capacity. First time it happened (and was still under warrantee), I took it into Apple, and they said it was normal, and they only replaced batteries if it was defective. I went through 5 batteries until I got a 2011 MacBook Pro.
- pfranz 13y ago
  I had previously had terrible luck with their batteries. That changed for me when they stopped making them removable (thankfully!) For the removable batteries in my 2005 or 2006 Apple said they had a lifetime of 200 cycles (mine never reached that). My current MBP is supposed to have a lifetime of 1000 cycles. I'm a few hundred in and have high 80 or low 90 % capacity. It might not meet their expectation, but quite a bit better for my needs.
- arrrg 13y ago
  Did they check the cycles? Back then the batteries were only rated for 300 cycles so if you were above that they wouldn’t exchange it. Apple did exchange the battery in my MacBook Pro (2007) three or four times or so (I had Apple Care, so warranty for three years) because I had similar problems you had – but each time my battery was below 300 cycles. As far as I know that is official Apple policy. I never had to convince or smooth talk anyone, they just exchanged in, no questions asked. And I didn’t exchange the battery always in the same place, once or twice over telephone, at an Apple Authorised Service Provider, at an Apple Store.
iloveyouocean 13y ago
2012 Macbook Air: Cycles: 138 Health: 83% Is this replacement worthy? What am I doing wrong?
- ics 13y ago
  Without knowing what their exact boundaries are your numbers don't look great. Most people here seem to have Airs, but to compare with my Pro: 730 cycles, 92% capacity after 27 months (mid-2011).
rdl 13y ago
I have a 2010 MBP 17 which reports 8772 vs. 13000 (39 months old, with 186 cycles) -- it should be around 10000. AppleCare expired 95 days ago and I didn't think to check before then. Presumably I have a decent shot at getting it replaced in variance to official policy, but I'm not sure if I actually care. (I mainly just use it as a desktop.)

by YooLi 13y ago

aeturnum 13y ago

I had my first macbook's battery replaced. I took it into the apple store for an unrelated problem, the tech noted the awful battery life and asked me how old the laptop was, said, "that's not right...," and grabbed another battery. Nice and easy.

untothebreach 13y ago
If I remember correctly, with the Macbook Air it will have to be '"that's not right...", and grabbed another Macbook Air, and started migrating my data, etc, etc...'
- mikeevans 13y ago
  They recently replaced the battery on my Macbook Air. They didn't replace the whole computer, just the battery. Took about 15-20 minutes.
  - untothebreach 13y ago
    Ah, I thought the battery was permanently attached to the body.
    - pseudonym 13y ago
      The RAM is the thing with Macbook Air's that permanently soldered to the system board. Everything else is difficult to replace due to the form factor, but still replaceable.
- jaggederest 13y ago
  They're just held in with torx screws, from what I could see of my old 'unibody' mac when I took it apart. Current gen may be different though.
  - potatolicious 13y ago
    Indeed, they're not meant to be user-serviceable, but they are very easily serviceable at the store.
    - Filligree 13y ago
      Heck, they are user-servicable (if you don't mind voiding your warranty), you just need a slightly unusual screwdriver.
- gambiting 13y ago
  Nope. Had a battery replaced in my 2012 Air recently(only because a clip separating the battery from the case broke,not because of the battery life) and it took 30 minutes to get it done at an Apple Store.
  - untothebreach 13y ago
    Ah, my mistake.

anu_gupta 13y ago

Agree - I've a 2 year old mid-2011 MacBook Air, 225 cycles and 95% health.

cliveowen 13y ago

I can attest to that: my Macbook white bought on October 2009 (that's 46 months folks) which I used every single day to this very day has 261 load cycles and 91% of original capacity.

to3m 13y ago
That's pretty good going I would have thought? As well as charging cycles, I assume time is a factor. My Macbook Pro (bought July 2009) had reached 65% capacity by the time I replaced it, after something like 45 months and ~250 cycles. By then the computer had been begging me to replace it for about six months. I actually thought this perfectly reasonable, with nearly 4 years being a fair lifespan for a battery, no matter how few cycles it might have been through. While it was obviously knackered, it still held enough charge to be perfectly useful, if not amazing - but perhaps I should have held it to a higher standard? (Hopefully it's just this year's unusually hot UK summer but after a mere ten cycles its replacement is down to 93% already. So maybe there's just something up with the electricity supply to my flat.)
henderson101 13y ago
my blackbook (late 2007, Santa Rosa, core 2 duo 2.2GHz) still has the original battery and it still holds a decent charge (3+ hours.) My Walstreet 2's battery still holds a charge lasting circa 2+ hours. I religiously avoid running plugged in and always try to charge then run down. Seems to have worked for me.
UVB-76 13y ago
My 2010 MacBook Pro is on its third battery, and even this one has had 97 loadcycles in six months, 90% capacity left...

mmanfrin 13y ago

How do you prove this to Apple? I have a 1year old MBA that is definitely not getting anywhere near 3 hours on battery, let alone the 7 they advertise.

lysol 13y ago
The cycle count is in System Information, as is the age of the system. Their own docs say it should get 1000 cycles before you're down to 80% of the original capacity. They have diagnostic tools to test it at the Genius Bar and measure the actual full capacity of the battery.
msrpotus 13y ago
You can download Coconut Battery [1], which will show you the battery capacity and number of cycles. 1: http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/ http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

berkut 13y ago

Really? I got a 2006 MacBook Pro in Dec 2006, and each year I had to buy a new battery from Apple as it generally got down to 30-40% capacity. First time it happened (and was still under warrantee), I took it into Apple, and they said it was normal, and they only replaced batteries if it was defective. I went through 5 batteries until I got a 2011 MacBook Pro.

pfranz 13y ago
I had previously had terrible luck with their batteries. That changed for me when they stopped making them removable (thankfully!) For the removable batteries in my 2005 or 2006 Apple said they had a lifetime of 200 cycles (mine never reached that). My current MBP is supposed to have a lifetime of 1000 cycles. I'm a few hundred in and have high 80 or low 90 % capacity. It might not meet their expectation, but quite a bit better for my needs.
arrrg 13y ago
Did they check the cycles? Back then the batteries were only rated for 300 cycles so if you were above that they wouldn’t exchange it. Apple did exchange the battery in my MacBook Pro (2007) three or four times or so (I had Apple Care, so warranty for three years) because I had similar problems you had – but each time my battery was below 300 cycles. As far as I know that is official Apple policy. I never had to convince or smooth talk anyone, they just exchanged in, no questions asked. And I didn’t exchange the battery always in the same place, once or twice over telephone, at an Apple Authorised Service Provider, at an Apple Store.

iloveyouocean 13y ago

2012 Macbook Air: Cycles: 138 Health: 83% Is this replacement worthy? What am I doing wrong?

ics 13y ago
Without knowing what their exact boundaries are your numbers don't look great. Most people here seem to have Airs, but to compare with my Pro: 730 cycles, 92% capacity after 27 months (mid-2011).

rdl 13y ago

I have a 2010 MBP 17 which reports 8772 vs. 13000 (39 months old, with 186 cycles) -- it should be around 10000. AppleCare expired 95 days ago and I didn't think to check before then. Presumably I have a decent shot at getting it replaced in variance to official policy, but I'm not sure if I actually care. (I mainly just use it as a desktop.)