Brand new MBA dead out of the box?

Twilightluvr Said:

"Brand new MBA dead out of the box?: I just got a new MBA from the Apple Store today and I heard that it’s supposed to turn on as soon as you open it/be 80% charged? Should I be concerned that it was completely dead and wouldn’t turn on when I tried to? It’s charging now and turned on immediately as I plugged it in and it was at 0%. What do I do :( I’ve never had a MacBook before so i’m clueless as to how it works "

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You have a Faulty Device:

Why Risk a Faulty Mac?

Rather than fiddle with its settings, stop fiddling with this and see about getting this serviced or returned --you have 14 days to return this. It may be a faulty Mac. You have a one-year, out-of-the-box, limited-warranty on this. So, here is the Apple Support contact info:

• Contact Us - Choose Locations
• Proceed from there as necessary
• What the Wait?: Phone calls are taking a bit to go through at the moment, due do lots of calls. And that makes sense because with the Coronavirus Pandemic, many are at home at the moment, with much more time on their hands to contact Apple. So, just stay on the line, and you will get through.

Twilightluvr wrote:

I rant tests and they were all normal, I’ve been using it for like 4 hours and it’s been fine + the battery says it normal and 100% so do you think it’s alright? I don’t want to go thru the hassle of taking it back if I don’t have to lol

I would say, in all likelihood, the device is fine. It’s unusual for something to arrive with a flat battery but, it does happen occasionally. If it is charging without issue and discharging at a normal rate, that’s a good sign. But, it is only within 14 days that you can exchange it. After that, you still have a one year warranty but getting it serviced is a bigger hassle than a simile return.

Apple now ships laptops with a maximum of about 20% charge on the battery due to very strict shipping regulations for Lithium-ion batteries. You usually don't want to have the battery at 0% charge level for very long or the battery can be permanently damaged. It used to be easy to determine the manufacturing date of an Apple device using the system serial number, but Apple now has a new style randomized serial number so I'm not sure if the manufacturing date can still be determined (if so, then it is a complicated calculation). Without knowing exactly when the laptop was manufactured, you don't know how long the battery may have been at 0% charge.

You can return the laptop within 14 days for any reason.

Twilightluvr Said:

"Brand new MBA dead out of the box?: Okay, well I messaged apple support and they said it was fine as long as it’s working and also I forgot about the one year warranty so there’s that"

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Request this be looked into by Apple.

Setup a Genius Bar Appointment at your local Apple Store, for device evaluation.

Twilightluvr wrote:

I rant tests and they were all normal, I’ve been using it for like 4 hours and it’s been fine + the battery says it normal and 100% so do you think it’s alright?

The battery is unlikely to fail the diagnostics and the issue probably won't show up immediately if the battery was damaged. Even older batteries which do have internal issues, many times will pass the diagnostics. If the battery was left discharged for too long, then it may have begun some internal deterioration of the battery which will take some time to get to the point where the problem can be noticed. It will end up causing the battery to fail prematurely, but it will take some time.

I honestly don't know how long it takes for a completely discharged battery to cause damage to the battery or how long it will take for it to actually affect the battery to where the user would notice. And we don't know how long your laptop had a discharged battery. I just know the basics of how batteries work and some of the known issues with Lithium-ion batteries like your laptop uses.

Your laptop will be fine, but the battery may now have a shorter than expected lifespan.

I only posted here to let you know that there is no way to know how this will affect the life of the battery. People rely too much on passing diagnostics....diagnostics are only useful when they result in a discovering an issue.

You will have to take this information and decide for yourself with how to proceed since none of us here know enough about Lithium-ion Batteries to know if the battery was discharged for too long.

I would not hesitate to bring it back to the same Apple Store for an exchange or refund.

My understanding of the advice presented is that it is preferable to return this laptop. That will remove any future niggling doubt that the machine was not 100% when you received it.