Battery Life

[mraamohamed]

Hello all, maybe this seems to be a stupid question but I am always told the only foolish question is the one that is never asked, so here I go. OK, I have a 206 Macbook Air and have about 180 cycles on the battery I am trying to make this last as long as I can. I have been told that the battery can last to 1000+ cycles, now my question is this, does a cycle count as a FULL discharge and FULL charge? For example, I usually use my Macbook till less than 5% then plug in and charge to 100 again, but just now I had to go and do something and the charge is at 80% now if I unplug and then come back and plug again charge to 100 would that be considered 2 cycles?

Thanks
Abdulah

 

[Lufbrarunner]

No,
When you use your MacBook, the battery goes through charge cycles. A charge cycle happens when you use all of the battery’s power – but that doesn’t necessarily mean in a single charge.

For example, you could use half of your notebook's charge in one day, and then fully recharge it. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two.

 

[Steve Hope]

For longevity do what you are doing, charge when it needs it and use it when charged. I have an early 2015 MacBook Pro I bought in summer of 2015 and only had to have the battery changed earlier this year, Feb 2022. Thats a good lifespan in my book. Seven years and the local Mac dealer sold me a $150 battery ( apple battery) with a $150 install charge, took him 40 minutes to install. He told me charge it to full then at 20% charge up again, use down to 20% each time and charge back up to 100% to maximise life. To know your batteries life click on the battery logo next to the percent charge icon at the top of your screen and it will tell you if the battery is ready to be serviced, ie , changed.