when to change battery on Macbook Pro?

4-5 year old machine battery is giving 2-2 and 1/2 hours or so under constant use and over 5 hours idle, the owner says she used to get more than the 2-1/2 hours when bought brand new and wonder if she should replace the battery?

oh, these are the battery specs:

Charge info:
charge remaining 2723
fully charged NO
Charging NO
Full Charge Capacity 3831

Health Info:
Cycle Count 739
Condition Service Battery

mikehende said:

4-5 year old machine battery is giving 2-2 and 1/2 hours or so under constant use and over 5 hours idle, the owner says she used to get more than the 2-1/2 hours when bought brand new and wonder if she should replace the battery?

Click to expand...

With my personal needs...still getting 2.5 hours on a full charge would be fine with me. But everybody's needs are different.

This is the basis for when a battery needs to be replaced. When the total runtime on a full charge does not meet the needs of the owner.

- Nick

Agreed, thanks!

What Nick said plus I occasionally look at the condition of the battery in About This Mac under Health In System Info.

well this shows "service battery", how in world do you service a battery?

Download CocunutBattery and run that to gauge the health of your battery:-

coconutBattery 2.8 - by coconut-flavour.com

cool, thanks!

mikehende said:

4-5 year old machine battery is giving 2-2 and 1/2 hours or so under constant use and over 5 hours idle, the owner says she used to get more than the 2-1/2 hours when bought brand new and wonder if she should replace the battery?

oh, these are the battery specs:

Charge info:
charge remaining 2723
fully charged NO
Charging NO
Full Charge Capacity 3831

Health Info:
Cycle Count 739
Condition Service Battery

Click to expand...

1. expected battery life on a Lion or Lipo is ~500 cycles... you've done well!
2. if it says "service battery", it's time
3. you need a triwing screwdriver for most of the unibody macbook pros'
4. make sure you buy an original replacement (OEM) , NOT a knock off... there are only a couple vendors selling real apple batteries online.. amazon is a good start, but check the reputation & feedback to know for sure!!
if it's an older macbook pro (pre-unibody---ie 2006-2008) you're going to have trouble finding a good battery anywhere....

VAMountaineer said:

if it's an older macbook pro (pre-unibody---ie 2006-2008) you're going to have trouble finding a good battery anywhere....

Click to expand...

Apple still sell these, even for vintage 2006/7 models, as the same battery is used in supported 2008 models. Once the 2008 models are vintage, then no more from Apple. UK price £101.00, an expensive outlay if a vintage model with minimal value, especially if the original still has useable life.