How long MacBook Pro battery last before needing replacement?

Hello,

I heard that the MacBook Pro's battery only lasts for about 5000 charges and then it is done - it needs a replacement? Is this true?

I would ideally like to use my MacBook Pro for a lifetime of at least 3 years or even more as its pretty expensive..

thanks in advance

Theresonly1 said:

Hello,

I heard that the MacBook Pro's battery only lasts for about 5000 charges and then it is done - it needs a replacement? Is this true?

I would ideally like to use my MacBook Pro for a lifetime of at least 3 years or even more as its pretty expensive..

thanks in advance

Click to expand...

It depends on how often you use it on battery and how many full recharge cycles you go through.

The Macbook Pro's battery life isn't really any different than most other comparable laptops. The price to replace isn't much different either.

I don't use my Macbook Pro on battery too often and I still get almost the same amount of charge out of it as when I bought it. My work HP laptop I use on battery alot and have to replace that thing almost yearly.

Theresonly1 said:

Hello,

I heard that the MacBook Pro's battery only lasts for about 5000 charges and then it is done - it needs a replacement? Is this true?

I would ideally like to use my MacBook Pro for a lifetime of at least 3 years or even more as its pretty expensive..

thanks in advance

Click to expand...

To the best of my knowledge...the 5000 charges "that you heard"...is not true.

But for fun (if it was true)...3 years (your desired lifetime of the computer) into 5000 charges, and it would be something like 4.56 charges/day. I don't know anyone that charges their laptop battery 4.56 charges/day (there actually isn't enough hours in a day). If you charged a laptop 2x/day...into 5000 total charges...that would mean the battery would last 6.85 years...1 charge/day would mean 13.7 years. But this isn't the way it works.

The truth is...the lifetime of a battery depends on how you use your computer, how well you take care of your battery, etc. Apple currently claims something like 1000 battery cycles for the newest laptop batteries.

What Apple recommends as far as battery care:

Apple - Batteries - Notebooks

Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance

More battery info:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/

http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html

Hope this helps,

- Nick

Apple Notebooks with integrated batteries have a rated cycle count of about 1000.
Apple Notebooks with a removable battery have a rated cycle count of about 300.

To put things in perspective, the average user goes through about 100-150 cycles/year, IF they are using their battery as described in the above links. Obviously, the number of cycles you use per year is totally dependent on how you use your laptop.

Thanks for input guys.

If i'm out and about (with no sockets) then i would need to use the batteries.

However, majority of the time when i am using MacBook Pro in work, office, friends house etc... then i often tend to just plug it in to socket - like using it while it is charging at the same time.

Is this count as charging? or is this considered as using without batteries?

Theresonly1 said:

Is this count as charging? or is this considered as using without batteries?

Click to expand...

Read this article (same as I posted above):

Apple - Batteries

Specifically this part:

A charge cycle means using all of the battery’s power, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a single charge. For instance, you could listen to your iPod for a few hours one day, using half its power, and then recharge it fully. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two, so you may take several days to complete a cycle. Each time you complete a charge cycle, it diminishes battery capacity slightly, but you can put notebook, iPod, and iPhone batteries through many charge cycles before they will only hold 80% of original battery capacity. As with other rechargeable batteries, you may eventually need to replace your battery.

HTH,

- Nick