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KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,326
I'm quite upset, it seems that my battery is getting worse and worse. I thought that the change in the way Apple measures the battery life would result in a more reliable estimation, but even if I don't do anything extreme (light browsing, word and adium) I can't even go near the declared value (5 hours at maximum).

I think i'm doing something wrong. Any advice?

thanks!
ciao!

Check the brightness settings. One of the annoyances with the removal of the ambient light sensor is that often my screen setting is too bright. That will drain the battery pretty quickly.
 

TreoRenegade

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2008
181
3
Take coconut battery with a grain of salt. For a brand new mac, anywhere from 95-100 is fine. I have 55 cycles with 96% capacity remaining. It fluctuates all the time.
Thank you! Received my 11 MBA Ultimate refurb 10 days ago, and was concerned re C.B.'s 97% report. Thank goodness for MRoogle! :D
 

bri1232001

macrumors newbie
Jan 4, 2011
26
0
Hi All,

Got my new MBA for Christmas. I've noticed that the battery life is considerably less than my old MBP, however it's not bad.

What I'm really worried about is the health of the battery, after 3 battery charge cycles coconut battery is reporting:

Current Battery Capacity: 6649mAh
Original Battery Capacity: 6700mAh

Anyone else noticing any decrease in battery capacity?

Here's a link to coconut battery, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Coconut Battery

Regards,
Caolán

How much more battery life did you see with the MBP and what model did you have?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,556
950
It's perfectly normal for your battery health to fluctuate up and down over time. Be sure you calibrate your battery properly, to ensure your readings are accurate. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,103
8,658
Any place but here or there....
this has been a really helpful thread thank you

I was really concerned that my brand new MBA started with 98% battery capacity and then dropped to 97% with the first calibration today.

Design capacity: 6700
Current Capacity: 6533

I will try the PRAM reset and calibrate again for my second cycle.

I installed

1 song
1 video
1 screenwriting app
and am sharing my iMac iTunes library (not all the time).

No flash installed, OS at factory settings.

This is for a 10 week old (according to coconut battery) MBA 13" Ultimate I bought brand new at the Apple store this past Friday.

I absolutely love this machine and do not want to exchange if I do not have to, so seeing this thread on MBA battery health has been a great relief.

thanks!
 

ZipZap

macrumors 603
Dec 14, 2007
6,112
1,467
Why is everyone so obsessed with battery calibration?

Just leave things alone especially on a brand new MBA.

Your battery is not going to go bad.
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,103
8,658
Any place but here or there....
can't speak for anyone else but...

I want to make sure I'm doing things correctly as a first time laptop owner (very big investment), and the 98% > 97% percent battery capacity change in one day concerned me.

After all the glitches/returns in the last week (much less 13 months), if this makes me slightly OCD, I'm good with that. :D
 

IngerMan

macrumors 68020
Feb 21, 2011
2,016
905
Michigan
I have 24 cycles in 8 weeks time. Were as I had just over 100 cycles in 14 months time on my macbook unibody. Reason, I use this machine a lot more:D

My question is, does apple replace the battery on the new MBA? and how much is the cost? I ask in case 24 - 36 months or longer I still want to keep the machine but would like a new battery.




I guess in 3 years time I would only be in 500 cycle range. That still should be good. But I am curious if the replace the batteries and the charge.
 

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Lord Appleseed

macrumors 6502a
Nov 7, 2010
682
37
Apple Manor
My question is, does apple replace the battery on the new MBA? and how much is the cost? I ask in case 24 - 36 months or longer I still want to keep the machine but would like a new battery.

They have to, or I will strangle them, lol.

Seriously my MBA cost 1400€, too much to not be able to replace the battery.
 

IngerMan

macrumors 68020
Feb 21, 2011
2,016
905
Michigan
Thank you GGJ.

There you have it. No big deal... Drain it, over charge it, under charge it, A modest price to replace down the road.

"Replacing the Battery in your MacBook Air

How do I replace the battery in my MacBook Air?
The battery in your MacBook Air is a consumable item, which means it will require replacement at the end of its useful life. A replacement battery can be purchased directly from Apple. The price of the replacement battery includes installation of your new battery and environmentally responsible disposal of your depleted battery.
How much does battery replacement cost?
Battery replacement prices are based on your region:

Region Apple Price United States $129 pre taxes Canada CA$139 pre taxes Europe €129 inc. VAT Switzerland CHF 199 inc VAT United Kingdom £99 inc. VAT Japan ¥12,800 inc. taxes Australia A$179 inc GST China 988 RMB inc. vat
Battery replacement service may be available at your local Apple Authorized Service Provider ("AASP").1 "
 

Beaverman3001

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2010
554
55
Perfectly normal for these batteries to hover around the 90-100% range and change every day. One thing to keep in mind is the MBA battery is rated to retain 80% of its capacity through 750 charging cycles. You guys worrying about 1-3% right now are obsessing over nothing.
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,103
8,658
Any place but here or there....
Good to know

Thank you GGJ.

There you have it. No big deal... Drain it, over charge it, under charge it, A modest price to replace down the road.

"Replacing the Battery in your MacBook Air

How do I replace the battery in my MacBook Air?
The battery in your MacBook Air is a consumable item, which means it will require replacement at the end of its useful life. A replacement battery can be purchased directly from Apple. The price of the replacement battery includes installation of your new battery and environmentally responsible disposal of your depleted battery.
How much does battery replacement cost?
Battery replacement prices are based on your region:

Region Apple Price United States $129 pre taxes Canada CA$139 pre taxes Europe €129 inc. VAT Switzerland CHF 199 inc VAT United Kingdom £99 inc. VAT Japan ¥12,800 inc. taxes Australia A$179 inc GST China 988 RMB inc. vat
Battery replacement service may be available at your local Apple Authorized Service Provider ("AASP").1 "

I'll bookmark this info for later. And it's true if the computer sits on a shelf for months, the battery does start to wear down. I've noticed that the MBPs I had that were 3 weeks old or less had no battery loss (100%) while the 10 week old MBA had a 2% loss while waiting for me to buy it.

I swapped the 13" for the 11" Ultimate this morning. I couldn't justify the price esp. for what I'm using this for. Besides My commute into NYC is getting very rough as far the subway crush, so the smaller the machine the less worry I'll have. While I believed a laptop could be my primary machine, this past weekend proved otherwise. I'm too stuck on the iMacs as much as I'm weary of them.

Even with the battery replacement my outlay on the 11" will be the price of a base 11" without AC, so no complaints here.

You learn something new every day. And now over the past year, I've test run every base laptop Apple's made except for the 17" MBP.
 

ZipZap

macrumors 603
Dec 14, 2007
6,112
1,467
I'll bookmark this info for later. And it's true if the computer sits on a shelf for months, the battery does start to wear down. I've noticed that the MBPs I had that were 3 weeks old or less had no battery loss (100%) while the 10 week old MBA had a 2% loss while waiting for me to buy it.

I swapped the 13" for the 11" Ultimate this morning. I couldn't justify the price esp. for what I'm using this for. Besides My commute into NYC is getting very rough as far the subway crush, so the smaller the machine the less worry I'll have. While I believed a laptop could be my primary machine, this past weekend proved otherwise. I'm too stuck on the iMacs as much as I'm weary of them.

Even with the battery replacement my outlay on the 11" will be the price of a base 11" without AC, so no complaints here.

You learn something new every day. And now over the past year, I've test run every base laptop Apple's made except for the 17" MBP.


I believe Apple recommends not storing fully charged batteries.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,556
950

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,103
8,658
Any place but here or there....
Can't really answer that just what the apps/serial # told me about the MBA's age

I believe Apple recommends not storing fully charged batteries.

Not sure what to say about that. I'm talking about the battery in the MBA Ultimate I bought and returned. iStat, Coconut Battery and the German Serial number site all gave that MBA 13" I returned a birthdate of January 2011 (10 weeks). So that model was sitting around somewhere waiting to be bought.

And the 11" is going back too > the battery was being depleted way too quickly just for writing purposes alone and the backlight was too much.

I love the 13" Air, but not sure if it's the best machine for me at this time. Times like this, being OCD stinks.
 
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