MB Battery **How Long Did yours last?**

Hey everyone,

i have done everything in the world to revive my Macbook battery. its just 2 years old. and max battery charge it will hold on "Power Saver" is 30mins.

I downloaded 2 third party battery manager apps and looked in system preferences, i have had 470 load cycles on this battery. (half were correct full load cycles)

Im dreading on paying another $129.00 for a new battery...i may go generic

Just looking to see how long yours last, and if your planning on getting a new one when yours dies,

Thanks

I've had mine for almost two years and it provides power for about three to four hours.

I think 2 years is a nice run for a battery. Mine is only like a month old so it still last 4.5 to 5 hours, depending on what I'm doing. If I'm using Photoshop and inDesign a lot, then it will last about 4 hrs on battery.

Save the battery life

It might be worth getting a Genuine replacement as the generic might not last as long. I never have faith in generic products.. but thats just me.

Tip: The best thing to do is leave your battery out of the Macbook when you are just plugged into the mains and don't require the battery - it saves the battery life because its that one less charge cycle.

my two year old MBP 17" gives me 3.30. It has over 480 cycles.

@B&O - Your battery life seems good, how do you tend to charge it? Do you charge it when the battery is low? or do you generally just have it plugged into the mains?

I would say that I use off the mains 90% of the time the only exception is while gaming. If I am not using it, it is on charge. Sometimes to 5% and sones just for the whole battery I use it. I never really switch my mac off, it is in stand by 90% of the time. Maybe that has something to do with it.

bad.heron said:

@B&O - Your battery life seems good, how do you tend to charge it? Do you charge it when the battery is low? or do you generally just have it plugged into the mains?

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I usually let the battery almost fully die before i recharge. I do this 1-2x a month, but occasionally i work at my desk with the computer always plugged into a wall power source.

maz94protege said:

i work at my desk with the computer always plugged into a wall power source.

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That may have caused the battery life to decrease? I have always removed the battery out of the notebook when using the mains power as the battery is not really needed then.

Aren't it better to use the Mac with battery than not - if there's still power in it??

Josso said:

Aren't it better to use the Mac with battery than not - if there's still power in it??

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Yeah, but not if you are going to plug it in to the mains if you have a full battery. You should only do that if you need to recharge. Otherwise either just use battery power - or remove the battery and just use the mains power.

You give your battery a much longer life that way.

yea i definitely think the next battery, ill have to remove it after its fully charged. whatever makes this thing last longer, the better.

bad.heron said:

Yeah, but not if you are going to plug it in to the mains if you have a full battery. You should only do that if you need to recharge. Otherwise either just use battery power - or remove the battery and just use the mains power.

You give your battery a much longer life that way.

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I would DEFINATELY NOT follow this advice, for a few reasons.

Its already been well proven that if you remove the battery, the CPU speed is cut by anywhere from 30-60%! If you dont believe it, download the trial of coolbook, turn the cpu meter on in the preferences, and remove the battery.

Secondly, that battery is not any better off in the laptop opposed to out of it. Its internal Timer is ticking, whether you use it or not. We are talking <5% over a two year span if you leave it on the desk next to the laptop anyways. Thats not worth it to me especially with how easy these magsafes pull out, yike.

Laptops are meant to have the battery in them ALWAYS, so just do it. 2 years out of ANY battery is great, especially a laptop one. My advice, pony up, and go to apple to buy a GENUINE WARRANTIED new battery.

My MB Battery Lasts a while. I Dim the brightness as much as I can just to see what kind of life I can get. But, don't ask me what kind of life I get, the battery number jumps like I've never seen both ways. Sometimes it says 3:30 then 4:15 then 6:21. I have no real idea how long it lasts. I've been charging it and depleting the battery all the way to reserve power so it'll be fine. I remember reading you should do this 2-3 times for your system to learn the battery....I'll search for the article.


Edit: My bad. I thought you were talking about getting a new battery, sorry I havent fully woken up yet. I have bought a generic extended battery from ebay without a problem before and it worked just fine. That was for my Vaio though. Just search for a Mac battery on ebay and if someone commented that they bought one for their Mac, send them an email/message about the battery. Most people do reply and will honestly tell you if it sucks. Just my 2 cents.

kgeier82 said:

My advice, pony up, and go to apple to buy a GENUINE WARRANTIED new battery.

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Yup, thats what im doing i just have to drive 40 miles to the closest apple store to purchase one. bestbuy sells apple but NO BATTERIES.. what a POS. maybe this weekend i can make it down there.