Maximum capacity for battery is 88% with only 166 cycle count, is this normal ?

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I am using Macbook air M1 (2020), macOS version is 14.4.1. I am experiencing less battery life for about a month now and I observer maximum capacity of my battery is 88% with only 166 cycle count. I tried to maintain charge as proper I can but not sure why the maximum capacity and batter life is getting down so fast. Any idea from anyone ?


After using the laptop for about two hours, i am done to less than 50% power from a full charge. When i first got it, it would last almost two days without recharging.

Posted on Apr 19, 2024 6:33 AM

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Apr 19, 2024 8:21 AM in response to Robert Sanders4

Welcome!


With any suspected battery issues, the first thing to check is your software load. Anti-virus and so-called "cleaning" apps work all the time and not needed. Same with client-side VPN software. Unless you must routinely connect remotely to your employers' mainframe, such VPN are only resource wasters.


Chrome is a known battery eater on both Windows and Mac notebooks. If you must use it, you can mitigate its power-gobbling habits by quitting it when not using it, and especially overnight when the computer is least likely to be in use. Remember that he computer is still doing some work when asleep.


Even better-behaved browsers like Safari and FireFox can drain batteries if left open overnight to certain poorly-coded web pages.


Video- conferencing and streaming video are high power-draw apps when connected. I try do those tasks while close to a power outlet.


Remember that the capacity value you are viewing is both inexact and non-linear. This is a ~16-month portion of the battery history from my older Macbook Pro as recorded by the Coconut Battery app:



Note that between 5-22-2022 and 6-25-2022, the health % (what concerns you) plummeted nearly 10 percent. But then it recovered. Also note the non-linear nature of that metric.


That battery will be 11 years old this summer and still shows over 80% health and gives decent runtime for my needs. As far as I can tell, Health % has but one purpose: to help Apple techs determine if a battery should be replaced under warranty. Apple's position for years has been that a battery showing less than 80% health AND is under 1000 cycles MAY qualify for a battery replacement if under warranty.


Please do not obsess over an inexact, non-linear value. You'll only end up paying your gastroenterologist more thanyour Macbook Pro cost you!

Maximum capacity for battery is 88% with only 166 cycle count, is this normal ?

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