Battery life expectancy

Thanks everyone for the input. While I don’t know how the computer was used for the first year of its life, it gave me very good service through the second year. The battery life numbers were not raising questions for me. Through that year, I used it an hour or so 2-3 nights a week, and more on weekends. During the week, I’d shut it down for the many hours it was not in use. On the weekends (and other days off), I would leave it in sleep mode when not actively using it. I usually kept it plugged in when using, and unplugged when in sleep. I’d also let it “sleep” through nights when using it late one day and early the next.

Since I retired in early August and through September, about half it days (and nights) followed the “sleep” schedule so it was available more quickly. The other half of the time, it was powered up an hour or so each day then shut down. (I guess the debate goes on whether sleep or shutdown is better on the computer and hard drive?) I’ve almost always had it plugged in when in active use. In fact, I’d understood I should run it down completely about once a month, but actually only did this 5-6 times over the first year. The battery always showed good life and never really went down much. It’s only in the last 2-3 months I’ve been noticing the much lower capacity numbers. Through the last year, when I did let it run completely down, I did not follow the specific “battery calibration” instructions. I only did that this last time, when it dropped from 60% to 45%, per Coconut Battery, instead of getting better!

*One question, specifically what does the “cycle count” measure or mean?* At 57, I’m trying to figure out why mine is so low compared to the more normal(?) 300. (I can’t remember what this count when I first acquired it, and paid attention to it.) My use of this computer since I acquired it has consisted more of the partial discharges and charges than the deep cycle version, and I apparently only did that the “right” way this last time!

Regarding heat, it did go with me to the lake through the summer, and was exposed to some warmer days, since we don’t have any AC there, but I don’t really think I exposed it to anything that a laptop shouldn’t be able to handle. It stayed in our camper with windows open (ventilated), not a locked up in a car, and I only had it powered up in the mornings or evenings, not in the heat of the afternoon. *A question – could a “spec case” (I believe it’s called) hold heat?* The previous owner included the spec case with this computer and I have kept it on. (The computer still looks like new!)

This laptop is considered an “early 2008” – the last generation before the unibody computers came out. I wanted this generation to save some money at the time I bought it, and I didn’t want to be forced into Snow Leopard, which had to have been introduced shortly after this one was manufactured. Since it had two years remaining on Applecare, I felt good about it, and have not been disappointed until now, with this battery issue (and I do know batteries are a disposable item).

I believe the battery is actually consumer removable, but I will take it to the Apple Store since it does have Applecare still active. I don’t believe I’ve really done anything to abuse this battery, nor do I believe the previous owner did. I’m thinking it’s just a premature failure, and it sounds like Applecare will probably cover it. I called the Apple Store, and they said I needed to make an appointment on line. When I started to do this, the site recommended all MAC software updates should be done before bringing it in, as the problem might be fixed with an update. (I was current up through late summer.) There was a firmware update that did talk about the battery, but having run it, nothing changed. So the next step will be a visit to the Apple Store!

Thanks again to everyone for the input!

My visit to the Apple Store went very well, i.e., the battery was bad and fit in their parameters to replace it for free under AppleCare, so I'm now in control of a new battery from the beginning. Got it fully charged last night. I do find it kind of strange that, according to CoconutBattery, it hasn't gotten past 99% capacity though it got to 100% charge. I may try a quick visit with someone at the Apple Store when I'm in the area to ask about this. It seems a new battery should start with 100% capacity.

S.U., I was trying to put "helpful" stars on all the replies to my question. I got the first two done, then found when I tried to mark your reply, it already had "solved" on it. I'm not sure how this happened. Guess I overlooked something when doing the second "helpful" star.

The technician at the Apple Store was rather "blase" regarding calibration. He indicated to do it sometime within a month or so. Anyway, the timing of doing the full calibration as described in the Apple help menu worked out well for me over the weekend, so I went ahead and did it. I was hoping to see 100% capacity (per CoconutBattery) instead of 99%. Unfortunately, it went to 97%! I guess you may never see 100%, or near, unless you get a battery immediately after it's manufactured?

Regarding getting my old user info to move over to my new user info, I think this may have worked if I had pursued it before I set up my new user info. When I try it now, it just tells me something like "there is already a user with that ID." Even though I hadn't joined the discussions under my new Apple ID, I did set up an ID with Apple back when I bought this computer, as I wanted to make sure they had its Applecare and me as its owner joined up. (The previous owner had to contact them to have them move it to me before they would do it.) It would have been nice to keep my "history" (as in not a new MAC user), but few, if any, issues I addressed back then will apply to me now.

Thank you for the help. Now I know about the limit on "helpfuls," too. Most of my previous "issues" were so technical, usually only 1 or 2 people were able to help much, so I never ran into this!

Menu bar says I'm getting a 100% charge, but per CoconutBattery, that is only based on a battery capacity of (now) 97%, after a complete battery calibration. CoconutBattery says my original battery capacity should be 5500 mAh, but the 100% is based on a charge of 5344 mAh. This 5344 mAh is also what system profiler says, but of course, it doesn't tell what the original battery capacity should be. (Perhaps Apple doesn't want us to worry about this stat??? They just want you to wait until system profiler says the battery is bad?)

I'll probably see how this battery does through the holidays, especially on a week-long road trip we plan to take the first part of December. (More importantly, I hope I can find AT&T wireless connectivity where we'll be traveling!!!) If I still feel like it could be doing better, I'll get back by the Apple Store sometime. I also might pursue combining my old ID with my new one a little later. At least I wouldn't look like such a "newbie!"

We've mentioned Snow Leopard - when I bought two new computers for my department at work, I ended up with Snow Leopard on them, and I updated the other three at the same time. Needless to say, with two HP printers, no one was printing until I worked through that issue (and I never got the color printer working as well as it did through Appletalk)! Three of us also used Toast for CD/DVD burning, but I also found out I needed to upgrade that software if it was going to work. Luckily, the OS CD burning software has improved enough to not really need Toast anymore for what burning we did.

As I shopped for a laptop to supplement my old desktop at home, though, staying away from Snow Leopard was in my mind, along with saving some money by buying a year-old model. I figured I knew enough about MACs do deal with any issues, as long as it had remaining AppleCare to deal with physical issues. It came to me in its original packaging with all original disks, and looked like new (still does). Even though the prior owner apparently did this before sending it to me, I reformatted the drive and reloaded the OS, setting it up the way I wanted it. Other than this battery thing, I have had NO problems.

I do find it kind of funny, though. At first, Snow Leopard was described to me as a "tweak" to Leopard. Tweak my #*#!!! I do know the next computer I acquire will have Snow Leopard (or whatever's next), so I won't be able to avoid it forever!

Thanks, and happy holidays!!!