Battery history normal - CoconutBattery analysis

[phl92]

For the first 2 years of my purchase I used my MacBook Air M1 much less frequently but my usage increased a lot over the last 14 months as can be seen in the cycles of charging. But now my battery capacity is at 81% (I dont know why it dropped so much in the last 3 months) but I do feel that my MacBook is draining way faster than a year ago.
I am still on Ventura 13.4 but I guess an upgrade to Sonoma would not improve battery life.

Is this pretty normal? Would you consider further investigation (any apps recommendation please) or should I already think about a battery replacement? I heard its around 200$?

 

[Bigwaff]

You could try recalibrating the battery.

How to calibrate your Mac’s battery

What does calibrating your battery do and how do you do it? How can you reduce the demands on your Mac’s battery? We answer all those questions here.

macpaw.com

 

[arthur486]

This is most likely the battery health setting in macOS doing its job. The OS does not allow you to charge the battery at true 100% in order to preserve battery longevity. I have an Intel MacBook Pro with a similar battery history. From what I've read, you can disable this feature on Intel MacBooks but not on Apple Silicon ones.

This feature especially helps in case you leave the laptop plugged in for a long time, like working with an external display. When it was first implemented (in macOS Catalina .6 or .7), the displayed battery charge level actually showed the fluctuation in the status bar, and you had posters freaking out that the laptop was plugged in but discharging/only charging to 95% and so on. From a subsequent update the displayed battery level was set to 100% and that was the end of that

 

[phl92]

This is most likely the battery health setting in macOS doing its job. The OS does not allow you to charge the battery at true 100% in order to preserve battery longevity. I have an Intel MacBook Pro with a similar battery history. From what I've read, you can disable this feature on Intel MacBooks but not on Apple Silicon ones.

This feature especially helps in case you leave the laptop plugged in for a long time, like working with an external display. When it was first implemented (in macOS Catalina .6 or .7), the displayed battery charge level actually showed the fluctuation in the status bar, and you had posters freaking out that the laptop was plugged in but discharging/only charging to 95% and so on. From a subsequent update the displayed battery level was set to 100% and that was the end of that

Ok but it also effects my actual runtime for each cycle, yes?

 

[SteveManila1960]

I am really unsure about battery health. My 2014 MacBook Air is showing fair battery health in Coconut Battery but good in Apple system information. Its not a huge issue for me it's almost a 10 year old laptop and I don't use it on battery power a lot it's more like a desktop since I retired.

My mothers 2013 Retina MacBook Pro is more intriguing. It has always been used like a desktop not a laptop. The battery after 10 years showed 93% efficiency in Coconut battery which I think is amazing. However, I just replaced the batteries as the laptop would rock backwards and forwards on the desktop due to the swollen battery issue. Took a long time to get there though!

In summary it seems to me pretty difficult to actually asses the health of ones battery whatever software you use.

93% on a swollen battery pack distorting the bottom case is not a good battery!

 

[SteveManila1960]

I also find that if I 'toggle' the charger lead on my 2014 MacBook Air on and off a few times the values in Coconut battery change. Current charge state and maximum charge capacity both change. Not sure why that is.