AppleCare doesn't cover battery?I

Hi Mat!

Only you know when your MacBook was new, not AppleCare. Provide them with the invoice and have the warranty date corrected, if it is in fact not correct.

The AppleCare Terms and Conditions are here:
http://www.apple.com/legal/applecare/appgeos.html

You should note that under section
"1. Repair Coverage"
....
"b. Limitations The Plan does not cover:
....
(ix) Consumable parts, such as batteries....unless failure has occurred due to a defect in materials and workmanship;"

Also, if you constantly run the battery down and recharge a lot, this also uses up the batteries expected life span. In general, Apple will warranty the battery if the cycle count is less than 300. My current battery is just over 1 year old and only has 188 cycle counts. You can check your cycle count in the "About this Mac" in your Apple Menu. It is located under "power". If a battery has lasted that many cycle counts, it is considered spent and is, like I said, generally not covered as it has seen its normal life expectancy. This is why it is a good habit to keep your MacBook plugged in if at all possible. My first battery was determined to be defective and it only had 45 cycle counts.

I hope this sheds some light on your situation.

Adam

Message was edited by: Adam White

Apple's rule is that it's batteries will last 300 cycles and still have 80% of their original capacity. If it is less than 80% and under 300 cycles, you should be able to get a replacement.

As a side note, my Macbook battery has over 300 cycles on it and it still hovers around the 98-100% battery health margin. It shouldn't effect it if it is in the cold

Hey UserJet,

Thanks for setting me straight. I knew there was something about the 300 cycles but was unaware of the 80% part. That definitely makes more sense now.

C-ya

One other thing you need to know. If your under 300 cycles and you have the original core duo the battery had the warranty extended an extra year by Apple. There were some problems and they should replace the battery as long as it's under 300 cycles. SOme of the support people aren't aware of this. Point it out to them with the below link for proof.

Check the info here Battery Update 1.2

If I may jump in on this on this topic. Adam you said to try to use power plug whenever possible. By doing this of course it would bypass the battery, right? Which in turn gives more life to the Battery. I just ordered my new Black MacBook and should get it next week. If I start off using AC power most of the time then I guess that would mean my battery would last a much longer time, right? I take a train to work everyday and lucky for me it has ac outlets so plugging in won't be a problem.
Can you be so kind to tell me where you go to check the cycles? I have never had a laptop before so this is all new to me. Thank you for your feedback!

Hi DRL,

The main reason for using your power cord as much as possible is to keep the number of charge cycles low. The more cycles, the less remaining life expectancy.

As far as checking the cycle count, go to the Apple Menu > About this Mac. You will then get a window with hardware information. Click on "More Info". Now there will be a bigger window with more detailed information with lots of items to highlight on the left. Search down the list until you get to "Power". Click on that and you will be able to find one that says "Cycle Count" That shows how many times your battery has cycled from a predetermined point and Full Charge. I am not completely sure of those particular parameters.

I hope I made sense.

Adam

Message was edited by: Adam White

Message was edited by: Adam White

I've never used my power cord. To think that for four years I've been using my G4 iBook's battery and charger as much as possible - for the convenience of it:D

The Battery Update 1.2 as previously suggested provides all the info. The AppleCare on the batteries in machines purchased within the time period has been extended an extra year as previously stated also.

I had the problem with my MacBookPro. Took it to the local Apple dealer, and their technician checked it out and sent the box back to Apple because it was thought to be more than a battery. Took it in on Wednesday morning, got it back on Saturday morning. I had a cycle count of 69. Box was fixed and Apple replaced the battery because I now have a cycle count of 0. Total charges: $0.00

It now charges to 100% instead of the 50% it once did, system profiler reports the battery good and the firewire devices hanging off the box startup much faster.
Thanks!
TG

That's a beautiful loophole in the warranty. When it mentions batteries as consumable parts, it's certainly referring to ordinary, replaceable consumer batteries, like AA, or the battery that used to keep the clocks going.

I think it's obvious it wasn't originally intended to exclude $100+, microprocessor-controlled, rechargeable laptop batteries, which should have a lifetime of several years.

It does! If your bat. totally fits into their coverage.

I bought a Macbook at Eastview mall, upstate New York, Nov. 06. Going
straight to the point, in short, my warranty -- to date -- is expired by
just over 6 weeks. After only four months of working with my macbook,
however, my battery totally died on me -- displaying a black 'x' in
the battery icon. A condition that could not be rectified in anyway; not
updating with Battery programme 1.2, nor resetting the power management.
I would have immediately approached an Istore to replace my battery, if
it weren't for the fact that I live and work in Mozambique (and my
passport will attest to the long periods of time I am not in South
Africa, the closest 'developed' country); it must surely obviously follow that it would be completely
lacking in sense to catch an International flight out of Mozambique,
just to replace my battery at an IStore in South Africa. As per chance,
I have recently had the chance to replace my battery in South Africa
(because I accompanied my father to Pretoria, South Africa, after he contracted Necrotizing
Fasciitis in Mozambique, and was emergency airvaced). Amazingly, Istore
in Menlyn, Pretoria (S.A.) -- almost without exception, the entire staff -- cared nothing for the
fact that my warranty had expired by less than two months, and that I
would have had to have caught an international flight just to replace a
battery within the warranty's time period! After visiting this store
three times, I gave up and resorted to international customer care -- a
long distance call to the USA.

Unfortuantely the Istore in Menlyn, Pretoria (South Africa) looks extremely inept when, within a
five-minute explanation to the USA customer care, I was given a dispatch
number for a replacement battery! This dispatch is based on
the grounds that, and I quote from Apple's international webpage: "If,
after you have installed the battery update, your battery has any of the
symptoms listed below ... ["Battery is not recognized causing an "X"
to appear in the battery icon in the Finder menu bar"] ... "YOU WILL
RECEIVE A NEW BATTERY, FREE OF CHARGE, EVEN IF YOUR MACBOOK OR
MACBOOKPRO IS OUT OF WARRANTY."

I honestly expected the Istore in Menlyn South Africa to be fully understanding that
someone in Mozambique cannot hop onto a plane to replace a battery; and
that being less than 2 months over the warranty was completely
tolerable. Having my attention brought (by friends in the USA) to the
fact that I did not even need to appeal to this Istore's
"understanding", but that I was totally in my right to apply for a
battery exchange (according to apple's webpage) makes Menlyn's Istore
appear all the more inadequate as representatives of Apple.

On the flip side, to answer your question, I can say without one iota of doubt that if your battery fitted within the guidelines of the replacement programme, your amazing American after-sales support would have done everything within legalities to help.

Very satisfied and way, way impressed,

SS