Question about MacBook Battery Cycles and Health

I bought my first Mac (the 13 inch unibody MacBook) last month and love it. However, I was hesitant about buying it because of the non removable battery. After a month's use (probably 2-3 hours each day), iStat Pro says that I have 98% health, 19 cycles, and 96% charge now. Is it normal for it to go down that much within so little time? Also, if I decide in the future that I need a replacement battery, how would I go about getting it replaced? Thanks.

It's normal. Don't worry too much about that. Enjoy your Mac

What bellerbot said.

Chances are extremely high that you'll be replacing the laptop before you need to replace the battery. But, if I'm wrong, Apple will replace the battery either under warranty (free) or out of warranty (around $129, which is around what those batteries cost IIRC).

When I had my 2.33GHz MBP, the battery would not hold a charge after about a year and a half. And I cycled that puppy at minimum once a week.

So, although Apple has done a good job of deterring end users to replace the battery in the new WhiteBook, here's a vague how-to: How do you replace the "non-upgradable" battery in the White "Unibody" MacBook? Is doing so a "hack"? @ EveryMac.com

Having built my on PC, and being that I'm considering this MacBook (once upgrades come out), this does not discourage me one bit.

Here is what Apple says about batteries: Apple - Batteries - Notebooks & Apple - Batteries

uRabbit said:

When I had my 2.33GHz MBP, the battery would not hold a charge after about a year and a half. And I cycled that puppy at minimum once a week.

Click to expand...

You really shouldn't do a full drain cycle that often. No more than once a month just to keep the battery meter gauge accurate. My 5+ year old PowerBook laptop still has the original battery. Just do full battery drains once a month and don't leave the laptop plugged in all the time.

Here is another battery replacement tutorial: Installing MacBook Pro 15" Unibody 2.53 GHz Mid 2009 Battery - iFixit