MBP 2017 Battery Full Charge Capacity Floating

I disagree. My battery is much worse than my older mac. It had 400 cycles and 6000 mah. My 100% new Macbookpro $1300 has a 5 hour battery and 4800 mah. It is the same spec computer. That is unacceptable for a computer that costs $1300! IMO

To add some statistics here, mine MBP 2017 13" battery is now at 42 cycles and 4494 mAh, which is significantly less than 4780 mAh I had like a couple of weeks ago. Dont know what is happening but I suppose there is something fishy about battery life decreasing so fast.

The most impactful thing you can do on the 2017 model to improve battery life is turn down the brightness on the display. That display has remarkably higher brightness than any earlier display, and also uses remarkably more battery to produce that brightness.

After you have run it for about a day, do an SMC reset to force the System Management Controller (SMC) to reset many internal parameters, including those related to how the battery works.

I get that.

but you did not WRITE that, and Users are depending on your writings for reliable information.

If you cannot somehow become substantially more precise and produce writings that are much more defensible, you should consider taking a break from replying here -- where it is easy to mislead novice users and readers who might get here by searching, and not be able to read your mind.

Good.

I write from Spain, I also have this problem with the new Macbook Pro 13 "2017 with 4 ports thunderbolt.

My battery has lost 300mAh of its initial capacity at 218 cycles of use. It's 7% less. The laptop only runs for 4 to 5 hours using Safari when it should last at least 8 hours out of the 10 hours that Apple promises.

I have seen that 90 people have this question. I would like Apple to pronounce on this issue ... because the most outrageous thing is going to an AppleStore or Genius Bar and that the person who attends you tries to convince you that it is only a subjective impression when you are totally sure that your laptop does not It has a normal battery life compared to many other older models that last much longer.

Thanks for publishing your question in Apple USA, because Apple Spain or Mexico censor any problem that is published in the forums and does not see the light.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Deep discharge is the enemy of long life in the batteries currently used in Apple notebook computers.

About Mac notebook batteries - Apple Support

However, the rated life should be typical for total discharges from 100% to 0%. I wouldn't worry about using an MPB down to 0%. Apple used to recommend doing that at least once a month for proper battery calibration.

Good battery management will "over-provision" capacity such that 0% and 100% are really just reference points. There's enough left at "0%" for a notebook computer to "save to disk", and for an iPad/iPhone/iPod to at least display a message that it needs to be charged. Charging to a theoretical maximum capacity risks overheating/fires.

I wouldn't recommend letting it get to 0% and not charging it. It could self-discharge to the point where there's substantial permanent capacity loss from a deep discharge. Maybe not being able to charge at all.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

y_p_w

Your opinions posted above are directly contradicted by the article referenced, in its current edited form.

Users (of all abilities) depend on what you write here. If you are going to make recommendations about ANY subject, you need to be certain your information is accurate, up to date, and DEFENSIBLE -- It should be supported by general consensus, and backed up by articles from reputable sources.

If your memory is not reliable, you will need to do more checking.

When posting your Opinions, you need to more clearly identify them as your opinions.

What is contradicted by Apple? I never stated that it was a current recommendation to calibrate. I was just hinting that it's not detrimental to use an Apple device until the power management automatically shuts it down. I also stated that their batteries are designed for 1000 full discharge cycles with their rated life. It says it right here:

Batteries - Service and Recycling - Apple

MacBook Owners

Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles.

Nobody (especially not Apple) making a competent battery management system for a lithium rechargeable battery would allow a battery to deep discharge or overcharge by using/charging it; that's built into the definition of "0%" and "100%". Of course not all devices are, as we've seen with e-cigarettes and "hover boards" catching on fire. But I said that even once it's at "0%" there's enough left to safely "save to disk" or minimally operate an iOS display with a message to plug it in. I've had that happen many times and so far the battery health hasn't gone down precipitously.

Also - self-discharge leading to an unrecoverable deep discharge is real. Apple specifically recommends leaving a battery at 50% for long term storage, and that storing it "fully" discharged risks it going into a deep discharge state. It's well known that lithium rechargeable batteries self discharge at about 5% the first 24 hours and then up to 2% every month.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

Store it half-charged when you store it long term.

If you want to store your device long term, two key factors will affect the overall health of your battery: the environmental temperature and the percentage of charge on the battery when it’s powered down for storage. Therefore, we recommend the following:

Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50%. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life.

I purchased the new MacBook Pro 15" (Top model base config) about 1.5 weeks ago. Cycle count is only 4 and Full Charge Capacity (mAh) is 6793. It's larger than the 13" so, I'd assume, has a larger battery but just wanted to give information for whatever baseline it'd provide.

I use my MBP2017 plugged in, and shut most of the time connected to an external screen.

However on the odd ocasion that I use it away from my desk. It is lasting not long at all.

I am on:

Cycle Count: 60

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4214

Is it worth taking it in to the apple store? I have apple care on this laptop.

thanks

Yes. Get it into a genius bar in an Apple store. If you are close to the end of your warranty, take it in on spec; getting an appointment is very difficult in many stores because of the phone battery drama.

That full charge capacity with only 60 cycles and probably still in warranty is not good. My battery with 336 cycles and 20 months use has a full charge capacity of 7995 (from 8750 in the first place).

Battery capacity going down with use is perfectly normal with any rechargeable battery. However, any kind of battery capacity status is only an estimate based on a model. I’ve actually seen it go up, even though it’s physically impossible to do so.

Apple won’t replace it under warranty/AppleCare unless it’s under 80% of the new rated capacity and with fewer than the specified (1000 these days) nominal charge cycles.

Apple used to recommend doing that at least once a month for proper battery calibration.

USED TO. But they don't any more.

That referenced article has been revised to remove that "use it once a month" recommendation, and "calibration" is specifically mentioned as no longer necessary or appropriate for current batteries used in Apple notebook computers.

y_p_w

Your opinions posted above are directly contradicted by the article referenced, in its current edited form.

Users (of all abilities) depend on what you write here. If you are going to make recommendations about ANY subject, you need to be certain your information is accurate, up to date, and DEFENSIBLE -- It should be supported by general consensus, and backed up by articles from reputable sources.

If your memory is not reliable, you will need to do more checking.

When posting your Opinions, you need to more clearly identify them as your opinions.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

Apple used to recommend doing that at least once a month for proper battery calibration.

USED TO. But they don't any more.

I get that. However, Apple's battery management system never really allows their batteries to get to a deep-discharge state, and their rated life assumes 1000 full discharges to "0%". There are ways to program (that Apple doesn't use) a battery management system such that the battery will likely never wear out, but very few people would accept a device that only charges to 50%.

But for the discussion about battery capacity changing, there's nothing that people can really do. Loss of capacity is normal and there's no way to physically restore lost capacity as the OP is requesting. I've occasionally seen the reported capacity increase, but that's really a matter of the estimated remaining capacity being reevaluated by the battery management. Nothing short of replacing the battery is going to restore capacity, and Apple generally won't do it without it going under that industry-standard 80% of original rated capacity.

The newest MacBooks have screens that are much brighter than previous MacBooks. But that brightness comes at a cost -- in battery life.

The ten-hour tests were performed at HALF brightness. if your brightness is set much above that, your battery life will be substantially shorter.

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This is a User-to-User forum. You will not even get any Reading by Apple employees here -- Apple makes no promise to read these postings, and never responds here unless the initial post on a thread goes un-answered for several days.