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MacBook Pro battery problems? (1 Viewer)

DaveF

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Anyone having battery problems with their (recent) MacBook Pro?

I bought my MBP last summer; over Christmas the battery suddenly plummeted from 98% health to 60% health (with 60 cycles). It wouldn't charge and battery life dropped from over 3 hours to barely 2. I did the battery calibration process, and I pulled and replaced my battery. A day or two later it was normal. Then, two weeks ago, the batter health nosedived again from 95% to 59%, and battery life commensurately decreased.

I finally got through to AppleCare today, had a short chat, and they're sending me a new battery (due next week.).

I'm wondering, first has anyone else had battery issues? There was a battery replacement policy in 2006, but doesn't specifically cover my battery. And then, noodling over whether I've gotten a bum unit. This is my second major hardware problem since buying last summer. I'm glad that Apple has fixed each one promptly. But I'm disappointed that Apple's vaunted quality control may have skipped my machine.
 

DaveF

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A followup: Called AppleCare and they shipped me a new battery; I returned the old one. The new one had a small dimple-like dent in the outside. I called AppleCare again, was elevated to a specialist and he told me they do what I wanted: I could keep the battery or have it replaced. I asked for a replacement. The new batter arrived three days later and looked perfect.

I don't know if my AppleCare extended warranty helps, but -- phone wait time aside -- service has been friendly and expedient. So far, Apple does it exactly right, by quickly and easily solving frustrating problems.
 

DaveF

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A year ago I had a defective battery, replaced under Apple Care. Today I got a "Service Battery" alert in the Menu-bar Battery icon. Called Apple Care, did some diagnostics, and this one is now defective. Off to Apple Store for replacement tomorrow.

A minor inconvenience. I'm hoping it's a new replacement. That will save me from buying a new battery next year, as I originally anticipated.
 

DaveF

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And they appear to have given me a new (or close to it) battery. Sweet! I've got 30 - 60 min more battery life than I did a day ago.
 

Ronald Epstein

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Dave,

I seem to remember that you bought your first Mac
over the past year or so.

(Hope my memory serves me correct)

I don't know if I asked you this yet, but...

How are you enjoying Mac vs. PC? Would you
go back to a PC again?
 

Parker Clack

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Dave:

It is strange that you are having issues with you battery more than once. I would look into another cause for the battery to keep going South on you.
 

jotto

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I have a MacBook Pro from July 2008 and after only 6 months of light usage I started getting less than 1 hour of usage out of it and now that it's ~16 months old I get about 25 minutes out of it. I unfortunately missed the 1 year deadline for sending it in (I did not buy AppleCare).

Worth noting that the MacBook Pro's 15 and 17 are big energy consumers, the Core 2 Duo, big screens and powerful graphics cards are not ideal for long term battery usage, the other thing I've noticed... does OS X not handle PowerStep for Intel's Core 2 Duo? I know that Windows and Linux allows you to step down the processor voltage to save energy but I don't think that's the case with the MacBook Pro/OS X. So part of me doesn't want to spend money on a new battery if its just going to get worn out from the MacBook Pro so fast.

Looking forward to next generation laptops:

I really like Intel's new CULV (ultra low voltage) line of processors they are putting in the ultra thin Laptops. They aren't very powerful but those laptops are getting over 4 hours of battery life.

Even better performance/efficiency: Intel is releasing the 2-core version of their i7 chip in early 2010, only 17 watts (the desktop version is around 100 watts, and Intel Nano is about 5 watts for comparison) AND it will have built in GPU, imagine the efficiencies of that line.
 

Sam Posten

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Quote:
Originally Posted by jotto

I have a MacBook Pro from July 2008 and after only 6 months of light usage I started getting less than 1 hour of usage out of it and now that it's ~16 months old I get about 25 minutes out of it. I unfortunately missed the 1 year deadline for sending it in (I did not buy AppleCare).
It doesn't necessarily matter that it's out of warranty with Apple. Sign up in advance for a genius meeting, go there ahead of time, act polite and friendly and explain the situation and accept what they offer you as far as replacement with grace and a smile, then let them know if they say it might be full price that you will have to think it over weigh the cost. You might be surprised at how well Apple is willing to cover you to keep you coming back as a happy customer. I'm not saying they will definitely give you a discount but Apple is much more likely to treat you better than right than any other company I have dealt with.

Sam
 

Carlo_M

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I went to get a battery that literally went from 5000= mAh to less than 2000 (it would fluctuate wildly from 1200-2400) replaced, made a Genius appointment and was rejected for a replacement (late 2006 MBP).

Three days later I received an email survey asking how my Genius service went and I replied that I was dissatisfied with the outcome. Within a couple of days an advanced Apple tech from the store called, I explained my situation, and he said to bring it in and just gave me a free replacement on the spot.

So I agree with Sam, go the official Genius route and be courteous. If they don't offer you something there, wait until the email survey and reply back. The "second tier" techs are much more knowledgeable than the frontline Genius staff of the well known battery problems of the MBs and MBPs.

Part of me believes that's why they went to the built-in battery solution of the current gen of notebooks...
 

DaveF

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Eschewing the quotes :)

Been Mac since summer '07 and it's good. I really like my MBP; for home use, it's a great solution. If I could only find a satisfactory personal finance app for OS X I could effectively jettison Windows.


My first battery failure was the plummet in life that is not uncommon to these batteries. It was diagnosed and replaced under warranty.(Carlo's situation sounds like the same problem and should have been replaced first try).

This new issue is something that OS X self-reported. I didn't notice any change in performance. I called Apple Care, and they had me do some diagnostics, which identified it as warrantable failure, leading to replacement.

So is there a deeper problem wrong? I don't think so. But I wouldn't even know how to look for it, if there is. If you've got suggestions, I'm interested.
 

DaveF

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Thinking a bit more about the "how do I like my Mac" question, as my praise can be a bit muted at times, my best answer is:

If it were time to buy a new computer, I would buy a Mac laptop without a second thought. The hard part would be deciding just which one.

And I'll probably get an iPhone next year in large part for its (reputed) high-quality of integration with OS X.
 

Popovic

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Hi Guys!


I have problem with mac battery, i can start it without charger. It was working perfect but all of a sudenn battery went empty.


After that i couldnt swich it on without charger. On a cherger it says that battey is full


So can you tell me please what can be a problem?


Please help
 

DaveF

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Call AppleCare or go to an AppleStore. If the battery is having serious problems holding a charge, especially if the Mac's battery reporting says differently, you may have a bad battery. If this is a new computer, you get a free replacement.
 

Carlo_M

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Even if it's not a new computer, read my previous post (#10 here) from December. I had run out of Apple Care (3 years, two months) and even though the first Genius said no, I reported on the followup email how I was unsatisfied with my Genius Bar experience and the second-level tech who scheduled a second appointment for me instantly approved the battery replacement for no charge.
Originally Posted by DaveF

Call AppleCare or go to an AppleStore. If the battery is having serious problems holding a charge, especially if the Mac's battery reporting says differently, you may have a bad battery. If this is a new computer, you get a free replacement.
 

Popovic

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I've changed the battery and now is working fine. Thank you for information!
 

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