How is your battery health?

My Macbook will soon be a year old and I am starting to worry about its battery. I promise I will take it out when I game or do other CPU intensive tasks on the macbook, since I am almost always near a power source. But I am curious how other people's batteries are going. Please post as well how long have you had your notebook and any other comments.

 

what is this battery health u speak of?

 

why take batteries out when ur playing games?

 

he's afraid that the heat will ruin his battery, in case u didn't know; battery hates heat, coz it'll shorten its life. though i personally won't do what he does (taking out the battery) as it will probably cause other problems.

 

yeah and MBPs are really hot arent they.

 

taking out the battery wont cause any problems.

im doing the same thing with my macbook pro. the external enclose is only 27 degrees C at the moment- which is basically only marginally warmer than the room. but if you start gaming, the gpu and processor can easily touch 60 degrees, bringing up the enclosure temperature (and by contact proximity- the battery) considerably.

i highly recommend continuing to remove the battery whenever possible if you plan on doing intensive tasks to keep the battery away from heat.

right on.

 

well, in macbook, one of the feet is in the battery, and the HDD, RAM compartment is right below, and if u connect and disconnect the battery a lot, u will cause more wear and tear around the battery compartment area, especially the coin-battery-release lock. i know things get really hot around there, but i just can't be bothered taking it out, especially if when there is power loss, u can buy the battery again u know... they are readily and easily obtained at ur local apple store..

 

im on 30 cycles and mine is at 98%. never took the battery out to game, or watch movies etc. batteries are easy to replace so dont worry about it.

 

What's the original capacities of the batteries?

I'm at 31 cycles after 2.5 months and have 5425 mAH at full charge.

 

The Macbook will look funny without a battery because one of the rubber feets is on the battery.

 

How much gaming do you do?

I'm asking because I want to take my (future) laptop to coffee shops and play games while using the battery (or games in the car while using the battery, for a second example). Is this going to be a problem for the MBP?

Also, if I were to get the MBP, would I have troubles keeping it on my lap because of the heat? (What if I'm gaming? Or what if I am just using Word?)

Also, what is the maximum battery life I could get out of the MBP? (Brightness down, wifi + bluetooth off, only doing Word processing...)

Thanks!

 

dude, the new MBPs idle around 50c, i might as well throw out the battery.

OH and, how many cycles can a battery last?

 

My Macbook has 93% battery health with 25 load cycles. Isn't this a little low? It's 3 months old now.

 

that sure is low for 25 cycles. But i think it really depends on what you do with the battery and how you treat it. For example maybe you use the battery half way then plug it in...or perhaps sometimes it got too hot???

i play counterstrike on boot camp with windows xp maybe 4-5 hours straight couple times a week. it gets warmer than usual but not to the point where it gets boiling hot. gaming just drains the battery faster, it wont actually damage the battery.

doing redgular tasks i can use my macbook pro maybe 1-2 hours at the most, after that the warmness of the bottom annoys me but its not hot, just warm. gaming i cant say, i dont game on my lap.

 

I rarely do CPU intensive tasks. And I rarely run my macbook on battery. And even than I leave it running until the battery is almost empty (than it goes to sleep).

 

I've got to imagine that someone out there can do a battery life test and tell me how long the new MBP's battery life is.

Gracias..

 

I'm at 54 cycles and 94%, six months old. Not fair.

 

reports of 6 hours average on medium screen brightness. This would include reading text, looking at photos, watching stuff on youtube, listening to music, etc...

btw, I calculated and I have 98% health at 31 cycles over ~2.5 months.

 

Is this battery thingin you guys talking about specifically for mac batteries?

and does anyone know how many total cycles can a battery withstand?

 

the batteries are rated for 80% at 300 cycles, macbook pro batteries have generally had issues, quite a bit of issues, check the link below, bad ratings all around. I'm seriously concerned about substandard macbook pro batteries.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=BEE4290D&nplm=MA348G/A
The problem is that apple decided to use a lithium chemistry where initial power is signifanctly more, well, energy capacity is denser than usual, but the side effect is that the chemistry isn't as durable and the battery doesn't last as long in the long run, I read this at a website somewhere written by a battery engineer, will post when i find the link.

 

Hi, Im considering getting the MBP 15.4", I had a look on the australian website at getting a spare battery, Im a little concerned as every single customer review says their batteries die incredibly quickly. My Sony battery is 18 months old, I drain it every business day, and Ive lost 5%, so still at 95%, I dont take it out as I have a dodgy power connector.

 

I thought paying extra $500 for mac for the same spec on pc was worth it...apparently not...

 

while we're on the topic, what's the best way to use/charge your battery. Are there any specific ways to make the most out of your battery?

 

ahh...

i have it for about 9 months.. and never remove the battery while doing intensive task. most of the times i leave mine plugged in, so thats why i have low charge cycle after 9 months. right now the power is sitting at 99%

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5453
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 5398
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12507
Cycle Count: 15

 

-dont charge it when its hot
-battery hate heat (hence why people taking it out when e.g. gaming),
-usually the optimal charging point for lithium-based battery is at 20%
-avoid running down (0%) the battery (this is the opposite of nickle-based battery which do best when run down to 0%)
-charging a battery when it is still e.g. 75% (thats just 1/4 recharge cycle) doesn't count as 1 recharge cycle.

thats all i can remember right now... i'll add more if i remember (if any)

 

40% is regarded as the optimal charging point to prevent oxidisation inside the cell, This is only if you planning on storing it for a month without use, IE you buy a second small battery for long trips and only plan to use it every 2 months, drain it to 40% and store int he fridge in a clip lock bag. Dont do this if your going to use it again in a week, it wont have a effect.

 

ah yes, that too.

 

I have a couple of questions:

1. what do you mean "don't charge when its hot" does that mean don't plug it in when it feels hot?
2. what is considered a recharge cycle exactly? Is that actually totally draining it down to 0% and does running it down to 20% count as 4/5 cycle or 0 cycle because you didn't actually run it down?
3. How many people actually take batteries out because you said you avoid it

 

this should answer all your question! straight from apple too!
ah here it is...
http://www.apple.com/batteries/
http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html
also try googling "notebook battery faqs"

digs around apple site, they've got easy to understand info.. sometimes i wonder why microsoft help database is so technical...

 

Microsoft doesn't sell crappy over priced hardware.

 

oh wait wait wait. dont let this turn to another microsoft vs apple war.
i'm no great fan of both, i like windows and mac just the same.
just leave it at that.

 

BUT

If your house was on fire, and you could only save one.. would you save the PC or the macbook?