OT: Batterylife of my Macbook Pro

[Dr Dub]

suddenly, my batterie has only 30 to 50% of the former Life.
This is on my non unibody Macbook Pro which is about 16 month old.

Does it just start to die or could there be other reasons for that. It s the same under osx and xp via Bootcamp.

I would be very thankful for some tips!

[Dr Dub]

I m sorry, but this is my first Laptop and my first Mac so i don t have a clue where i can look for the cycles and how i can reset it. Can you give me a hint?

[8O]

Find your battery cycle count using the System Profiler utility (you can find it in your Applications -> Utilities folder, or click on the Apple menu at the top of the screen -> About this Mac -> More Info...). In System Profiler, click on the list entry marked "Power". There you should find info about your cycle count and the battery condition...

[SubFunk]

How many cycles has it done?

You may just need to do a reset.

what do you mean by battery reset?

[Dr Dub]

it says my batterie has 138 cycles. And it s not that i just get shown a sorter batterie life but it really is while useing the Computer.

what i think is strange, is that it happened over night and not slowly.

[weeddigger]

I called Apple because my battery would drop in power considerably and unexpectedly. I'd have a full charge, would use the Laptop for 30 minutes, instantly I'd go from having 70% or so of my battery life to 5-10%.

I had like 500 cycles at the time. I had my laptop for a bit over a year. A 2.33 GHZ 15" MBP. I have Applecare, and Apple replaced the battery. But funny enough, the first customer service rep I went thru on route to my replacement (I had to fight to get the replacement) was telling me that I just used my computer too much. They said the battery was not meant to last the way I was using it.

[jeffplaysmoog]

yeah, 138 cycles in 16 months is not a lot... make sure to cycle that battery at least once a week (drain it down to 50% or lower). I had my battery replaced for free outside of the warranty period because I had only cycled it 32 times in about 16 months...

[Tarekith]

This happens to laptop batteries sometimes, I've had it happen twice that the MBP battery would suddenly lose charge very quickly. Just take the laptop to the apple store and they will give you a new battery on the spot. Especially with only 138 cycles.

[Dr Dub]

Do you think i will get a new battery without Applecare?

[Dr Dub]

i m on the phone with them right now and shall wait for 5 min if they can give me a new battery for free.
Fingers crossed!

[Dr Dub]

Fuckers! As i m over the guarantee period for over 100 days, they won t give me a new battery. That would be just hard but ok, but what gets onto my nerves is, that they said that this is not a normal behaviour and so on. I also mentioned the 138 cycles and that i calibrated my battery like it is supposed to.
the first guy i spoke to was friendly, but couldn t decide. The second guy was not so nice.
After admitting this is not normal he suddenly changed his mind and said it s normal for te cells to get worse after over a year. BUT my computer says to me i have over 90% left!
After arguing with him a little bit he said he gives me two days to write him a mail with a REALLY GOOD CAUSE to give me a battery. I don t know if t makes sense to do that and i DON T LIKE begging.

As i m pretty broke right now, this really sucks!

[weeddigger]

You don't have to beg, you have to prove your point on why you should get a new battery. I got my battery replaced after speaking to a supervisor in their customer service center. Maybe my Applecare is what got them to replace the battery, but if you've also been given a chance to write in an appeal to their initial denial of your request, I'd say do it. You can't do worse than where you are now. Best case, you get a new battery.


Try to remain courteous at all times, but be stern with your demands.

[Tarekith]

It's better if you physically take it to a store IMO, they seem more inclined to help people and get them on thei way in my experience.

[Dr Dub]

I ll probably try both... I ll write a mail and try it in the store...

I will let you know how it works out and thanks for your help.

[enotide]

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

Here's what I do to reset the battery.