Apple Macbook short battery life problems

Where does it say that Apple has extended warranty coverage for 2 years? I just called them and they said mine is not covered now since I bought it a little over 1 year ago. They wanted to know where I read that there was a 2 year warranty and if it is says that anywhere on the apple website.

I just found the link on the Apple website you were looking for. (I’m having the same problem, but mine is under warranty, luckily.)

http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/

Quote:
“For MacBook and MacBook Pro systems with Intel Core Duo processors, this program extends repair coverage on the battery for up to two years from the date of purchase of the computer.”

THANK YOU for posting this article and Clay, thank YOU for the link!

My battery has mAh of 1359 after only 34 cycles. I purchased in Jan 2007 - so perfectly in their window.

First agent I talked to said I wasn’t eligible b/c of my serial number. After he repeated that to me three times, I had him read the post Clay links to. And then I asked to be transferred to a product specialist. She verified my battery numbers again as well as the software update I had. Then she approved the battery replacement.

So, if you call and legitimately fit the criteria - just push and don’t take no for an answer.

Thanks again!

I just tried getting a new battery for my MacBook Pro. The battery program ended in June 2008. I am not a very happy customer and will be telling everyone about this. I am so not happy with Apple right now. I depend on this computer for my day to day business. They suck.

My request also rejected by Apple today. Battery 22 months old, lasts 12-20mins before stopping without warning. Holds 1692mAh after 297 cycles (so much for 80% of original charge after 300 cycles!). Extremely poor considering my friend with 4 year old clapped out Dell still gets over an hour from his battery

Apple said battery is a consumable item and worn out, not covered by their 2year extended warranty on Sony batteries, despite fitting their criteria of a faulty battery. It was purchased 27 March 2007, in the timeframe of the recall.

I have spent over $10,000 on Apple products in last 5yrs including imac 24″,imac 17″, MacbookPro 15″, and 2 mac mini’s, not to mention Airport expresses and extremes, and software upgrades.

Extremely angry at Apple stance, poor handling of issue despite fitting all criteria on their service website. All goodwill destroyed, I won’t ever sing their praise again, all for the cost of a minor part. Right now, they do suck!

My battery is at 603 cycles and has 101% of its original capacity.

Hi,

I got my macbook november 2008. lately my battery life has been not as great as it used to be, almost 5 hours to 2 and a bit. Is this normal? I’m at 4810 mAp after 53 cycles.

I would really appreciate any help on this. I’m new to mac and I love it, but this battery thing is a little disconcerting!

I also tried to call in. It took a LOT of persuading to get them to transfer me to a battery specialist, but they did. Basically, their battery program ONLY covers batteries UP to 300 cycles, not beyond. So if you haven’t reached 300 yet and you’re under 80%, call NOW.

That 300 cycles limit is bad news for me. I’m at 492 cycles (whatever that is), and I got my MBP October 2007. I must say, this is my first Mac and if this is what I’m to expect from Apple, I’m very disappointed. This computer was my switch from PCs. I’ve never had a battery problem with any of my PCs, not even when they were 4 years old!. Apple knows they have a problem with batteries and they aren’t going to back it!? So I barely get a year and a half before they kick me to the curb on this!? Nice.

am aceeasi problema la macbook cu bateria, nivelul ledului la baterie este mort iar cand il pun la incarcat nu-mi arata ca incarca bateria. Ce se intampla? Cauza poate fi din cauza la notebok?

I have the same problem with the MacBook battery level ledului battery is dead and when you get busy I do not look like the battery load. What happens? Case may be due to notebok?

my macbook bought in january 2008 i am still geting about 4 hours out of the battery, my current information on the battery is as follows:

Charge remaining: 3790 (mAh) with the macbook currently running on the battery with 73% left on the battery which has been running for 45 minutes

Full charge capacity: 5027 (mAh)

Heath Information:

Cycle count: 89
Condition: Good
Amperage (mA): -1479
Voltage (mV): 11691

i would be very grateful for an opinion on the battery, am an Apple follower !! will be so very disappointed if the battery is dying after just one year, bearing in mind the macbook had to have a new screen after 3 WEEKS !!! due to a dead pixel.. please no more problems !!!

Help!

I’ve had my Macbook Pro since April 2007 and almost always use it with the charger plugged in. Why? No idea, just habit I suppose.

The other night I was going to use it without the charger and started it up. I checked on how long the battery life was without the charger and it said 3.5 hours. That seemed like more than enough time to pay a few bills and send a couple of emails. Within ten minutes, my computer shut off.

Any ideas of what caused this? What I can do to prevent it? I’m supposed to take minutes at a meeting tonight and would prefer to take them on my laptop, so I’m hoping it will be an easy fix.

Thanks!

Hi. Thanks for sharing that piece of info.

This is my macbook’s battery info.

Full charge capacity (mAh): 4199
Health Information:
Cycle count: 35
Condition: Good

Above you said:
Doing the math, that means the Full charge capacity should be around 4160 to 4320 mAh after 300 cycles. If your Macbook battery is failing, like mine, it should read less than 3250 mAh, with a Health of “Fair” after far less than 300 cycles.

That means my battery is not in a good condition considering that I’m only at cycle 35. Should I use my warranty and get a replacement? Btw, I just bought my macbook March 16th 2009!

Nurmisliana, your battery is fine. For the new Macbooks, a bad battery will have the condition listed as: Check Battery.

Try to completely discharge and recharge the battery. The full charge capacity will be reset.

I have had my macbook 6 weeks and after 11 cycles the full capacity was 4202. I calibrated as per mac instructions and the full capacity didn’t change so thinking that my full capacity should be about 5200-5400 I visited the local Genius bar. He stated that the full capacity is around 4500 but replaced my battery. When I checked system profiler the full capacity rating was 4230. He said this is ok.

What is it 5200 or 4200? Do I believe him or do I insist on a battery which shows 5200. Is my computer giving the incorrect info? Or am I misunderstanding something about the full capacity rating?

My battery says (Check Battery). I have had my Macbook Pro for just 14 months. The worst part is Apple sent me an email to add apple care. I followed the link and purchased it. Once I received the package a few days later I tried to activate it but the website would not let me. FInally apple sent me a refund for the Apple Care. Should not have let me purchase it in the first place..

Now my battery is dead. I called apple and they tell me that they cannot replace it. They said I would have to purchase a new one (very disappointed). Then the rep goes on to tell me that if I purchase it from him over the phone I would only get a 3 month warranty but if I purchase it online or from the Apple store I would get a full year warranty… Nice job guys.. Screw the customer that calls in. At least my rep was good enough to tell me.

This is my first Apple computer. I bought it because Microsoft had made me so mad with their early releases of software. Well now Apple is in the same boat. I now own 2 IPhones, 1 MacBook Pro, 1 Mini Mac and 3 Ipods.

I will never purchase another Apple Product again. I will stick with MS… at least if I am going to purchase a disposable computer I can pay a lot less for it.

My battery seems to be in fair shape but a full charge certainly does ‘t last as long as it used to, roughly 3hours tops. The fan seems to run a lot more than it used to which may be the reason but I haven’t found the cause yet (yes it’s summer but it aint that much hotter!). Anyway.. stats as follows if it’s of any use to anyone. PS it’s a bobby basic white intel Macbook 2.5 years old.

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4517
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 5246
Health Information:
Cycle count: 408
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -2591
Voltage (mV): 11873

Hi” Folk’s
I phoned apple 28/7/09 to report battery problem on my 2007 MacBook Pro,
Charge Max 643 Charge Remaining 627 Cycle 276.
However after taking my Seri / No, I was told that it was a consumable item and
it was so to speak fair wear & tear and that they would not replace the battery.
I then went online and found this web site and am i glad i did armed with CLAY &
Kate’s comments I phoned apple again spoke to a nice chap and asked this time
to speak to his boss who is now sending me a new battery.
So David Kim if you read this give apple another call.

Ps” MANY THANK’S to Clay & Kate for your comments

bought a macbook for my daughter late December 2007 and now the battery will not re-charge. Spoke with Apple representative, who stated that he is the ultimate authority on replacement. He replied that my battery does not fit the prescibed period of purchase. Missed it by 3 months.
Will NEVER purchase an APPLE computer and will let everyone interested in purchasing an Apple NOT TO do so. Word of mouth is the way to let people know.
Thanks Apple for disappointing the public.

GO buy Dell. They have better products.

Nov 2006 2.33 Macbook pro. battery only has 135 cycle counts and FCC at 1333 mAH

Called this morning with the same issue. I’m getting a new battery
Yea!!!

The trick: Extended AppleCare coverage. So it can pay off to have an extended warranty. well, sort of. It was 300 bucks and the battery is only 129.

Craig

If your having problems with your laptop battery, just try to visit batterieswholesale.net, they will give you advise regarding laptop batteries and find you a suitable replacement laptop battery at a very affordable price…

Laptop Batteries Whole Sale

Before you buy a new battery or despair and leave apple land for what appear to be greener pastures (remember viruses folks? and customer service can suck all over-idiots and jerks are employed by every company in every corner of the computing world, so please don’t think you’ll be escaping any of that mess by leaving apple), CALIBRATE YOUR BATTERY!!!!! You can find instructions on Apple’s website, or right here:

1. Run your battery down to 0%, making sure (of course) to back everything up first.

2. Let your mac fall into a nice peaceful coma for at least 5 hours. (You can also just turn it off at this point if it makes you feel better.)

3. After AT LEAST 5 hours, plug your mac back in and let it COMPLETELY recharge before you turn it on again.

4. Go back into your system profiler and check your battery health, and you may well be pleasantly surprised at how nicely your battery has bounced back from the brink of death.

5. If you re-calibrate monthly, as Apple suggests, it’s likely that it will live up to Apple’s promises.

I re-calibrated after my battery started telling me that it was not functioning properly and needed to be checked by The Experts. As a Do-It-Yourself kinda gal (I also recently replaced the optical drive in my macbook-piece of cake people), wasn’t about to do that. So re-calibrated, pushed the silver disc to reset/recheck the charge, and viola! Happy, healthy battery.

Best of luck to everyone, and please try everything you can before replacing or heading off to pay for tech support.

Many thanks for all of your comments.

In November, the battery on my 16-month old MacBook Pro just sort of fell off the cliff. As recently as August, it showed a full charge capacity of 5300 mAh, but now was at 2187 mAh. Cycle count was at 30.

I first tried taking the steps suggested above. However, there was no improvement.

So I then took the computer to a local newly-opened Apple store. (Important hint: make an appointment before visiting if you intend to actually speak to someone).

They ran a diagnostic, and it indicated the battery was bad. Even though the computer was 157 days out of warranty and I had not purchased extended coverage, they replaced the battery. No fuss, no argument.

From my point of view, a happy ending.

I have a similar problem with my battery on my MacBook Pro. I purchased it in Jan 2007 and started noticing serious decrease in battery longevity after six months or so. Unfortunately, I just put up with it. Now I get about 8 minutes of time off it before it just goes dead and shuts down the computer without warning. Strangely, it indicates that it still has 89% capacity left just before it shuts off. I tried calling Apple support (still have a month left on my AppleCare warranty) and they told me that it’s to be expected with a 3-yar old laptop. I’m very disappointed. I could see if it only had an hour or so of capacity left, but 8 minutes? My boyfriend’s 8-year old Dell laptop still gets about an hour and a half to two hours (depending on what he’s doing on it). And to think I spent literally 3 times what he did for his ($1900 for the MacBook Pro, plus $270 for the AppleCare). Never again. From now on it’s pc laptops running Linux (Ubuntu most likely) for me. I feel burned.

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 1251
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 2433
Health Information:
Cycle count: 719
Condition: Fair
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 777
Voltage (mV): 12389

thanks a lot for the help…..appreciate it

How about this one, very, very happy with my MacBook (27 months old and going, going, going, ….

Model Information:
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: ASMB016
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0102
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4486
Fully charged: No
Charging: Yes
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4720
Health Information:
Cycle count: 595
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 482
Voltage (mV): 12486

Just to confirm - after 27 months - still on 93% of original capacity, very nice.

Here’s my experience at Apple Store in the San Fernando Valley.

Made an appointment at Genius Bar. Told them about the problem and that my research indicated that Apple knew about it and was providing some kind of warranty but I wasn’t sure if I qualified for it. My cycles were at 450+ and I’m 8 months out of warranty. He gives me the fairly hard company line. I tell him I tried very hard to avoid having to make an appointment for something that any floor tech could have told me by looking up the serial number. He offers to sell me a discounted 90 day warranty, which I tell him I appreciate but I want to know if Apple has fixed the “problem” (he tells me Apple hasn’t officially recognized that there is a “problem”) so that this battery won’t just conk out after a few months. He gets hushed and quietly sets me up with a free 90 day warranty battery.

I think this is how it should be done. The Apple Rep tried to shake me off, but I was persistent and ultimately I’m very pleased with the way the rep handled it. Apple can’t just go around handing out free batteries to everyone who asks, but I’m glad the reps have some discretion to make the right thing happen when it should.