MacBook Pro battery cycle rate

[Colonel_Panic]

My mid-2009 13" MacBook Pro has been in heavy daily use since the end of 2009 and the AppleCare is done at the end of 2012. Checking iStatNano, I see charge cycles of 188 and a health of 88% new.

Anyone know what rate might allow a battery replacement through AppleCare?

Those with similarly aged machines, what are your cycles and health?

 

[ezrem]

AppleCare still only replaces batteries in the first year, like the original warranty, if I recall correctly.

At least that was the case with my 2008 MacBook pro.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

It would have to be an abnormal amount of battery loss denoting a defective battery.
I had a battery replaced in my (almost) third year of Apple care because I had a battery that cycled 40 times and was at like 70%.
Applecare doesn't cover "normal wear and tear."

 

[Morazl]

Colonel Panic,

88% sounds about right given the age/cycle count. Are you noticing some large amount of lost battery life or something? Or you just see 88% and think that needs replacement? I'm not really seeing a problem here. This is normal wear and tear.

I know your question was specifically about what Applecare covers in this department - wouldn't it be simple enough to just.. check with them? I don't mean to sound like an ass, but they can give you a quick answer. Probably much faster than these apple forums, given their low activity for the most part.

 

[lamboman]

It's "supposed" to be 80% after 1000 charge cycles; it's presumed that this is what the battery health percentage means.

To be honest though, I'd ignore it. Concentrate on battery life instead; after all, isn't that what the battery is for?

 

[Morazl]

Exactly.

 

[Colonel_Panic]

Colonel Panic,

88% sounds about right given the age/cycle count. Are you noticing some large amount of lost battery life or something? Or you just see 88% and think that needs replacement? I'm not really seeing a problem here. This is normal wear and tear.

I know your question was specifically about what Applecare covers in this department - wouldn't it be simple enough to just.. check with them? I don't mean to sound like an ass, but they can give you a quick answer. Probably much faster than these apple forums, given their low activity for the most part.

Thanks for the thoughts. 88% is in the "butter zone", so to speak, so I'm more interested in seeing at point I should consider an AppleCare replacement before the warranty runs dry.

 

[ryken]

Thanks for the thoughts. 88% is in the "butter zone", so to speak, so I'm more interested in seeing at point I should consider an AppleCare replacement before the warranty runs dry.

It would have to be so bad that they determine it's defective. If it couldn't hold a charge for an hour with normal internet use, then maybe you'd get somewhere, but it would probably have to be like <30-45 minutes.