[SleeplessinMacWorld]

I am just wondering if anyone knows what the normal "cycle" amount should be for a Unibody Macbook Pro? I started to notice a little bit of performance deterioration and I haven't had the machine 2 months yet. I have Applecare and did a little snooping around the Internet and read in various places that Apple guarantees its battery for roughly 300 cycles. I am at 70 already. How is that possible?

The only time I charge my MBP is when I am using the machine and its about to die. I am not sure if I did something wrong or it came preloaded with a few cycles (I bought a refurb, 2.8GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo). I am concerned because I was reading that most people don't hit 70 cycles until 6 months to a year. Since I can't replace the battery itself without voiding the warranty, if it needs to be replaced I need to either mail it in or drive over an hour and some change to my nearest Apple Store. Can someone please provide some clarification on if I need to be doing something different and if 70 is normal after a week or so shy of two months owning the machine. Thanks.

[Cycles4Fun]

Apple has a really good web page that discusses how to get the most out of your batteries. It is here. A charge cycle is considered to be 100% charge accumulative. That is, if you discharge your batteries 10% on monday and charge the computer to 100% (10% charge), then 20% on Tuesday and then charge the computer to 100% (20% charge) and finally on Wednesday you discharge your batteries another 20% and then charge the computer to 100% (20% charge), from Monday through Wednesday you have already completed 1/2 a cycle (10% + 20% + 20% = 50%). At this rate you will easily clear 1 cycle per week.

How many times a day do you charge your computer? Since your average laptop has a battery life from 3.5 - 8 hours you can see that if you run your laptop each day on battery until the batteries are low; say 80%, the cycles will count up quite quickly. So in two days you can count up to 1.6 cycles! Multiplying .8 by 30 gives you 24 charge cycles per month. If you discharge your computer and recharge it twice a day that number will double.

You should try to keep the laptop plugged in as much as possible with one caveat. Lithium-Ion batteries MUST be used. If you leave them fully charged all the time then you will ruin them. So what is the best answer? To optimize your laptop batteries keep your laptop plugged in, but ensure that you complete at least one full charge cycle per month. This does not mean to deep-cycle your battery. Deep-cycling means you run the computer's batteries down to as close to zero charge as possible. This is not good for the batteries either. Pay attention to the accumulative percentage that the batteries are charged. This is optimal but in real life may not be possible. This is something to strive for.

If you are in a situation where you have very little access to AC power and must rely on the batteries a large amount of your time, you'll have to budget replacing the batteries more often. This is just physics of it. I have had laptops from Dell, HP, Compaq, and Apple they are all consistent in this regard. My Apple has been the best overall with its battery life although the Dell comes in a close second. My compaq dropped to 10 minutes of life within two years.

I hope this helps,
Rob

[Dolphbucs]

Have you tried running Coconut Battery ( Free ). It will analyze the entire health of your battery and might give you and/or Apple some useful info. Also, you make a telling statement that you bought it as a refurb. Apple has a great record with their refurbs, but they are not always 100% ( no company is ). For example, the 24" iMac that I am currently using has an issue with its Airport card. I have Apple care and rarely use Wi-Fi on the iMac anyway, so I figured I would just wait until my Apple care is just about to run out until I get it fixed, but that does show that sometimes "bad" items slip through the refurb store. Your MBP may have been originally returned for a battery issue and it may not have been fixed properly.

[SleeplessinMacWorld]

Thank you both for the wonderful replies.


@Rob- I only charge my computer once a day. On a busy day like a weekend maybe twice. I have only re calibrated it once. In the past, the MBP was always plugged in unless I was using it. I would only charge it if the screen gave me a warning indicator. I just got mixed signals from other peoples feedback and was curious what normal is. I haven't even had the machine seventy days so I was puzzled when I saw that number. Not sure what you meant with the one full charge cycle per month as I am unsure how I accrued so much already for a generally one charge a day use. I am not sure what it was set at when I got it so this may not be my problem. But I am guessing worse case scenario I will have to pay Apple in time to do the swap if I can't keep a charge.


@Dolphbucs- Yes I tried that app and another free app which name escapes me now because I am formatting my hard drive. It seems to be a good benchmark but that didn't explain my cycle count which is why I initially posted the question. I was insinuating the refurb was the cause of the problem, I was merely adding to my initial question. I'll have them take a look at it tomorrow when I drop it at a Apple authorized repair shop for an unrelated issue to this question.

Thanks again to all.

[Cycles4Fun]

That does seem like a lot of cycles considering you kept it charging. I will have had my MBP 2 years this October and I only have 161 charge cycles. This one is a real puzzler. Maybe try tracking your charging for a week or so to ensure your computer is calculating it correctly. If it's not then it may be time to see a Genius.

Rob

[Dolphbucs]

DOH! I just thought of something. It is a refurb. The previous owner and Apple's refurb dept could acct for the high cycle count. Apple should have switched out the battery when it was refurbed but ...