Macbook Pro needs battery replacement - only done half of the expected recharge cycles

Do you have Applecare? Call. You can also go to an AASP.

AppleCare does not cover batteries i.e. consumables after their 1 year warranty expires. However, if the op has AppleCare, it can't hurt to get it checked out to see if it is something other than the battery itself.

You're the OP=Original Poster (sometime Original Post). You would have purchased AppleCare either when you first purchased your computer or during the first year of owning it, before your one-year warranty had expired.

If you're out of your one-year warranty period and you don't have AppleCare, Apple will charge you about $150 to replace the battery. But you're still getting a proper charge and excellent battery life so I see no reason to replace the battery at this time. Only if it becomes a genuine problem would I replace it. However, it wouldn't hurt to have your computer diagnosed by your local Apple Store - that won't cost you a thing. Just explain to them that you're getting a good charge and have excellent time remaining but that you have an indication that the battery needs to be replaced. Could be something simple in the battery sensor or just a glitch somewhere.

It would just give you peace of mind to know what the problem is - but I wouldn't replace the battery.

Clinton

Reset SMC and PRAM and it may clear up.

Run the battery down to around 30% and recharge and see if it stops that warning.

metrosmurph,

There is a lot more information that would be handy to know: click the apple in the upper left corner of the menu bar, About This Mac, More Info, System Report, Hardware, Power and in addition to the Condition and Cycle count, what do you get for Capacity and Voltage? A warning of Replace Now indicatest that at least one or more cells in the battery may be failing and you need to take action.

The projected battery life of 1000 charge cycles is not a promise but a statistical average of how many cycles the Lithium-Ion battery can be subjected to before reaching its defined life expectency...that is, the point at which the capacity is 80% of the as-built capacity. The fact that you have accumulated 499 charge cycles in 16 months indicates very heavy battery usage. One thing you should avoid is deep discharge of the battery.

Contraty to what Apple recommends about discharging to shutoff, around 5% charge remaining, doing so is damaging to Lithium-Ion batteries. Read the report prepared by the independent battery testing group, Battery University, and you will see that deep discharging of Li-Iion batteries seriously decreases battery life. Optimum balance of battery life and use seems to be for discharge to around 50% and then recharge.

Note that the recommendation to deep discharge and recharge does not calibrate the battery as sometimes stated; it recalibrates the charge reporting circuitry instead. Doing this does nothing to help the battery.

At any rate, from the information you have given, you should take the MacBook Pro in for service in the near future, and if you have an external hard drive backup up before you take it in...there is a good chance of loosing data with the condition of that battery.

Best of luck to you.

That information says that while the system check is reporting a faulty battery that needs to be replaced, it is not all that bad...the charge is reported as 67% but the charge/capacity indicates 68.4%, there is a little "slop" in the reporting circuit information, that is normal. The capacity of the battery is lower than I would expect to see for a battery that is only 16 months old, which is probably why it is saying to replace the battery. The battery's capacity, or life, has degraded rather rapidly. Provbably due to the heavy usage, though that is why we buy laptops, to have a portable computer.

The voltage and current are right where they should be, 11.5 to `12.5 volts is normal, at one amp is normal (voltage is in mV so move the decimel three places to the left), which leads one to believe the battery cells are not in immediate failure mode...that is a good sign.

Overall, the battery is not all that bad for the high usage, just an awful lot of charge cycles in only 16 months. Gets back to the comment of shlder2thewheel that we really have to realize that a battery is a consumable item. Part of the cost of doing business with a laptop, just like in an automobile, there are items that just have to be replaced over time.

After replacing the battery, best advice would be to not discharge the battery as deeply before recharging...try and plug the MBP in when the battery charge gets in the neighborhood of 50%...see if that doesn't prolong the life more.

Best regards,

Ralph