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M1 Pro 16" already at 97% battery health after 25 charge cycles. This normal?
- Thread starter slowanimal
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Hmmmm. I bought my M1 Air in May and it's currently at 51 charge cycles. Battery Health says 95%, Coconut Battery says 89%. I never keep it plugged in for more than 2-3 hours at a time and I keep the charge level between 20% and 80%, only charging to 100% once a week or so.
Slightly concerning.
Slightly concerning.
A good way to retain battery health for a long time is to not use it very much. And that means to keep the MacBook plugged in as much as possible, during work and over night. The fewer load cycles the better. I know the recommendation is to not fully load a battery to 100%, but that runs counter to my experience.
Apple targets 80% with their Optimized battery charging settings. I suspect that they know best how to preserve the battery. I don’t think it is a problem to charge up to 100% when you are going to be off the charger for a while but use the optimized charging if you stay connected for long periods. After a week or so, you’ll see your battery stays at 80%.
When I bought my MacBook Pro optimized charging didn't exist in OSX. So apparently back then Apple didn't knew best how to preserve a battery. I'm not advocating for switching of optimized charging in System Settings, I'm advocating for making it a habit to use the MacBook when being plugged in.
Not a 14'' Pro but a M1 Air and the battery health loss has been, well, crap, at 87% on System Preferences (83,8% on Coconut Battery) with 240 cycles. The 2-year European warranty ends at April 2023, bet it'll drop below 80% a month or two after warranty expiring. Or it'll live a long life at low 80% somehow.
Attachments
MacBook Air M1 2020
Bought in August '21
Spends most of the time docked to my U2720Q monitor with "Optimised Charing" on
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 37
Condition: Normal
Maximum Capacity: 89%
My iPhone 12 battery went from 100% to 87% in about a year. My use is average at worst and I take really good care of all my devices.
Bought in August '21
Spends most of the time docked to my U2720Q monitor with "Optimised Charing" on
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 37
Condition: Normal
Maximum Capacity: 89%
My iPhone 12 battery went from 100% to 87% in about a year. My use is average at worst and I take really good care of all my devices.
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I have a history of very bad experiences with Apple batteries. When I got my 6s back in 2015 my phone would shut down at around 35% and refuse to turn back on after a year of use. I had to charge it twice a day to prevent that. It turned out my phone was from a faulty batch and I got a free battery replacement. I kept my 6s till 2020 and had to replace the battery 3 more times due to how terrible the battery life would get after around a year of use. Although not so dramatic I have a similar experience with my iPhone 12 and 2020 M1 macBook Air.
Battery deteriorates fast at high temperature. Mine dropped to 80%+ after doing several days of model training that caused the laptop chassis to feel warm/hot throughout.
If battery life is important… don’t push the CPU to its limit
If battery life is important… don’t push the CPU to its limit
M1 Pro 16'
This is what coconutBattery and Mac system settings say:
So I cannot complain at all.
Using it daily as my work machine for about 1 year. It is constantly connected to my studio display so constantly connected to a power source. Optimized charging is activated. Besides this I never care about loading. I just use it.
This is what coconutBattery and Mac system settings say:
So I cannot complain at all.
Using it daily as my work machine for about 1 year. It is constantly connected to my studio display so constantly connected to a power source. Optimized charging is activated. Besides this I never care about loading. I just use it.
adamtash:
"Dropped to 95% in one year. I am not happy about that."
Loss of 5% in a year is (in my opinion) BETTER THAN "normal".
It's fine. It's to be expected.
You're USING the thing, as it's intended to be used.
It won't stay "new" forever.
"Dropped to 95% in one year. I am not happy about that."
Loss of 5% in a year is (in my opinion) BETTER THAN "normal".
It's fine. It's to be expected.
You're USING the thing, as it's intended to be used.
It won't stay "new" forever.
Not correct. The longer it stay plugged, the worse for the battery. You need to keep it in range 20-80 or even smaller 45-75 the better (though it’s not practical). Battery health and battery cycle are usually contradicted, but better focus on battery health as it determines how long battery can keep charge during usage.
On one hand there is the load level, which should never fall too low, because emptying your battery completely really hurts its capacity. And it also shouldn't be completely full all the time. But apart from leaving that 20-80 percent range, there is the load cycle count. If you go up and down between 20 and 80 every day, your battery will age quickly. The most modern MacBook batteries are rated for 1000 load cycles after which the chemical reactions within the battery, which enable it to store energy are considered to be consumed. With constant charging and discharging, you can run through those 1000 cycles within 3 years. So staying plugged in whether at 80 or 100 percent is beneficial for longterm battery health.