Am I charging it wrong? I don't understand how the cycles work...I let my laptop run down to 50% and I charge it back up and leave it in until I'm done usng it.
MacBook Pro with Retina display
No need to let it run down. It's like mpg. What are you doing when on battery?
Good battery pratice is to let you run all the way down (around 2-3%) at least once a month. I know with my 15 in MBPr my battery last almost 5 to 6 hours with the high end graphic card running and I can get a little more using the on board HD 4000, but I exersice the heck out of it. Depending on what I'm doing and there are a lot of apps that could kill you baterry life quickly. Any Graphic intense programs and games do a very good job at running down your battery very quickly and with these new MBP's and their placement of the batteries it may be a good thing.
At work I'll use my Wi-Fi, Pages and a few other apps on Battery and it lasts most of the work day. When I get home and after dinner I'll plug it in and start playing WoW for a few good hours and by the next morning it's fully charge and I've had this MBPr since Aug 2012 and haven't had any problems, yet.
Since its still a little new, exersice the heck out of it for the next week and if it still doesn't last at least 6 hours you may want to send it in or take it to your local Apple Store.
Cheers and Good Luck
13-inch retina Macbook does not last more than 4 hours..
