11-28-2008, 07:19 PM

Hi all,
Just been reading posts on this and wondering if my new macbook is normal. So I've had my new macbook since 29 Oct this year, its the new model the 2.0 GHz one, so one month. Not really a computer person but taking more interest now since I have my own laptop. So I have a few question hoping some of you may be able to answer.
So reading about battery and stuff. My battery apparently has done 22 cycles??? Is this normal, I've only ever let the battery decharge to 15% once, rest of the time I only let it decharge like to 60% or 50 % and I work mostly with it plugged in. I've never calibrate it, I've just read about that so will do that sometime. Also when I look at my batteries full charge capacity it says 4180, its between 4150 and 4180, it changes, is this normal for a new macbook one month old? And condition : good???
Also have noticed another thing with my macbook that I'm not sure is normal. A lot of the time I put it to sleep when I go to uni in the morning so I can just start it up again quickly when I get there. But a few times now, when I have put it to sleep ( manually-pressing the sleep button) and then closing the lid, about 10 seconds after it makes the wake up noise, the DVD drive noise, then about a minute after ( if I don't do anything) it does it again. By this stage I get scared so I just opened the lid, its awake, if i put it to sleep again it does the same thing???? So then I just shut it off. IS this normal???? Probably not but can someone tell me why its happening and what I can do? It doesn't do it all the time when i put it to sleep just sometimes..??
Yep so these are my questions. If anyone knows if my macbook is normal or what the **** is going on I wold really appreciate it. I love my new macbook so just want to learn more about it and just worried that this may not be right. Thanks in advance for replies.

11-28-2008, 07:59 PM

Don't turn your macbook off, just close the lid and it will go to sleep. You only need to turn it off if you're not going to be using it for more than a week as a benchmark.

11-28-2008, 08:10 PM

22 cycles on the battery of a new machine is not normal. If you've never fully discharged the battery and re-charged it, it should only have 1 cycle. When I first received my MacBook from the Apple store it only had 1 cycle on the battery.

I would complain to Apple about the 22 cycles. Obviously, the machine is not a refurbished unit but who knows how many cycles Apple put it through before it was packed and shipped. Personally, I would ask for a new machine.

Regards.

11-28-2008, 08:30 PM

Thanks guys, its interesting so chscag you think I should go back to where I bought it from (not an apple store-JB Hi Fi here in Australia) or an Apple store? Who should I ask for a new machine?

I never knew about these cycles until I read an article on calibrating your battery and how many cycles a battery has and stuff and then I actually went and looked at my battery cycles, it was 19 then. I have no idea how many cycles were on my macbook when I got it, but I take it 22 are too many after just one month?

11-28-2008, 09:36 PM

I've had mine since the middle of October. I have 19 cycles on it already. However, I use it more without it plugged in, so it uses the battery more than yours. I calibrated when I first got it, so I know it started from cycle 1. I will recalibrate the battery soon by letting it drain completely. Fully charged my battery shows 4218 mAh.

11-28-2008, 09:59 PM

Yeah thanks, I'm still baffled cos I realized that this means I must have done almost a cycle a day, and that's completely incorrect, cos as I said I have mostly use it plugged in, and at my office I have an iMac which I use there, so I'm worried now....I wonder why this is?
Did I get a crappy macbook or is there something wrong with it????

11-28-2008, 10:36 PM

I think your problem may be because you did not calibrate it correctly at the start. You should probably let it drain down completely, shut off by itself, and then let it sit for 5 hours per the instructions. Then let it fully charge. Quickest way to do that is put in a movie and let it play. It should drain the battery down in a few hours.

11-28-2008, 11:11 PM

My full charge capacity is only 4063 compared to all of yours

11-28-2008, 11:26 PM

Yeah but even if I didn't calibrate it well and at the start, why do I still have 22 cycles in 1 month???? Should it do that??Do you think that's normal.
I got the coconut battery thing after reading other forums which recommended this, and it also says my battery has done 22 cycles, and apparently its 8 weeks old according to that.. Don't understand, I got it new, boxed, perfect order, I thought. Maybe I should go to apple and see what they say??
Reading other forums it seems these new macbooks have a full charge capacity of around 4100's. Don't know enough about this to know what this actually means.

11-29-2008, 01:30 AM

I have had mine since the 29th of October as well and have 30 cycles on my battery. You are freaking out over nothing in my opinion. I read somewhere on this forum of someone having 790 cycles after a year and a half and they have 97% battery health. These modern batteries are built very well as are the machines powered by them. Stop being so worried and enjoy this awesome computer.

If you take it back and say i have 22 cycles after a month they will laugh at you. In terms of the sleep issue take the advice of Bassist and just close the lid without using the power button to put the computer into sleep. Hope this helps.

:EDIT: I downloaded coconut and my max mAh is 4255 fully charged although it says original capacity 4100 mAh. I have 30 cycles just like iStat says. My battery health is 100%.

11-29-2008, 01:48 AM

According to the apple web site, after 300 cycles the battery should still hold 80% capacity. I'm sure that's an average. Half more, half less. The odd thing with the OP is that he basically keeps it plugged in. It really should not have that many cycles.

11-29-2008, 02:23 AM

Exactly that's what I'm saying, it shouldn't have so many cycles if I keep it plugged in most of the time.

Sorry I'm freaking out, but this laptop cost me a small fortune so I expect it to be tip top and last me a while. I also don't know that much about laptops and computers in general so maybe I get freaked out more easily than some of you guys, but hey I think that's normal... that's why I asked here, cos to me it didn't make sense...- the battery cycles or the sleep thing...

11-29-2008, 03:11 PM

How do you check to see how many cycles the battery has?

11-29-2008, 04:20 PM

Download iStat widget or Coconutbattery, both tell you the cycles. iStat tells you a lot more information including temperatures, fan speeds, cpu performance, disk space, and internet connection. Coconutbattery tells you battery cycles as well as current mAh battery power as well as max mAh battery power your battery has.