Thank you Yosemite, for killing my Macbook Air's battery

[booyahbooyah]

One month of Yosemite, and it says that I need to "service the battery."...

 

[Bending Pixels]

How do you know that Yosemite caused this, and that there wasn't an issue with the battery already?

 

[ABC5S]

So little information about your system, like year purchased, model, etc. How many cycles on it and so on.

 

[booyahbooyah]

So little information about your system, like year purchased, model, etc. How many cycles on it and so on.

213 cycles. Mid-2011 Macbook Air 11 inches.

Till a month ago, I got 3.5 hours of battery out of it on Mavericks.

Installed Yosemite about 3 weeks back.

I usually have it plugged in most of the time.

Today, I took it for the first time to a meeting, where it wasn't plugged in. The battery drained in 30 minutes.

The only clue I can think of is that yesterday, my Air's fan was running all day. I think there was a lot of hot-swapping of memory and disk going on (page file etc.). I emptied the garbage can and the fan stopped.

Any clue what I should do about the "Service Battery" warning?

Anyone tried the SMC firmware fix? I think I'll just wait for the next update of Yosemite.

 

[mikecwest]

213 cycles. Mid-2011 Macbook Air 11 inches.

Till a month ago, I got 3.5 hours of battery out of it on Mavericks.

Installed Yosemite about 3 weeks back.

I usually have it plugged in most of the time.

Today, I took it for the first time to a meeting, where it wasn't plugged in. The battery drained in 30 minutes.

The only clue I can think of is that yesterday, my Air's fan was running all day. I think there was a lot of hot-swapping of memory and disk going on (page file etc.). I emptied the garbage can and the fan stopped.

Any clue what I should do about the "Service Battery" warning?

Anyone tried the SMC firmware fix? I think I'll just wait for the next update of Yosemite.

Only 213 cycles? I had over 1200 cycles before my Early2011 MBP wanted a new battery. I Have 414 on the replacement one now.

 

[simonsi]

213 cycles. Mid-2011 Macbook Air 11 inches.

Till a month ago, I got 3.5 hours of battery out of it on Mavericks.

Installed Yosemite about 3 weeks back.

I usually have it plugged in most of the time.

3yr old battery getting not many cycles....just coincidence that it goes within a month of installing Yosemite....and yes batteries can decline suddenly like that.

 

[mmomega]

Mine is doing ok.

Bought it day 1 when the 2013 13" came out.

200 cycles.

Currently at 75% battery with over 8hrs left. It usually shows over 12hrs at 100%.

I don't charge this thing but maybe 2-3 times a week. Charge to full, unplug and use it until 2-5%, recharge.


Edit:*** About 20 minutes later my time increased by about 2hrs.

 

[simonsi]

My early 2011 MBP and 2012 MBA are both at approx 90% of original battery capacity, but the MBP has 850 cycles and the MBA has only 300, so in my experience these era like their batts being used, most decay seems to come from age and lack of use.

 

[Kroner]

Maybe your battery is defective? I had the same problem on Snow Leopard, and I got the battery replaced for free.

 

[booyahbooyah]

Maybe your battery is defective? I had the same problem on Snow Leopard, and I got the battery replaced for free.

Could be. I doubt Apple'll be willing to do anything now, after 3 years though.

 

[5aga]

battery life is myonly major gripe with yosemeite. It shows 10hours at full charge but it does drain rather quickly - usually within 4-5 hours.

I hope a future update fixes the issue.

 

[prisstratton]

Could be. I doubt Apple'll be willing to do anything now, after 3 years though.

If it comes to replacing the battery I would suggest that you give Apple a try first. As you say, they are not likely to do anything, but it does not hurt to ask.

If that fails, replace the battery yourself, it is easier than you might think and would take you 5 minutes or less to complete.

Guide here:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+11-Inch+Mid+2011+Battery+Replacement/6306