111–120 of 148 posts
I still have a 4.1 macbook pro that I keep using specifically because it's the last one they made with a user-swappable battery.
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The really dumb thing is that, as far as I can tell, a battery's controller generally counts a "cycle" as "started discharging, started charging", regardless of time in between. At least, that's how it was with my MacBook a few years ago. Unplug, plug in, cycle count increases. The crappy thing about that is warranties. Apple, for example (at least last I checked; I don't use a Mac anymore) , would replace a battery…
I don't believe that description of cycle count has ever been accurate for Apple hardware and certainly isn't for recent MacBook Airs: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1519
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.
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.
I've only recently started collecting data for my Early 2011 MBP, but I'm starting to see a pretty steep decline. From 72% capacity down to 58% in a little over a month feels like I might be nearing the end of life for my battery. date | capacity | loadcycles ------------------------------------ 2013-07-08 | 4964 (72%) | 527 2013-07-25 | 4566 (66%) | 534 2013-08-05 | 4432 (64%) | 537 2013-08-16 | 4016 (58%) | 542 Any…
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.
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.
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They recently replaced the battery on my Macbook Air. They didn't replace the whole computer, just the battery. Took about 15-20 minutes.
Ah, I thought the battery was permanently attached to the body.
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Wouldn't all modern power management ICs operate the laptop directly from the power supply while float-charging the battery resulting in negligent amounts of heat?
Yes to the former, but (hopefully a real battery expert can chime in here) my understanding is that lithium-ion batteries cannot be float/trickle charged safely. Their internal resistance is too non-linear and it's too easy even with a "full" battery to provide a voltage that will sink dangerous amounts of current and overheat. All lithium ion technologies I'm aware of require active current and temperature monitorin…
Any idea if this this accurate or will prolong battery life? I've got an (almost) brand new Thinkpad with a large, expensive battery that I'd like to preserve as much as possible (like anyone else).
I guess that makes me a ... power user? ;)
From reading some of the other comments here, it sounds like I shouldn't use them while they're plugged in. When they're being used 8-12 hours per day, however, it's impossible to avoid.