Tips for maximizing apple battery charge

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Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/laptops-articles/tips-for-maximizing-apple-battery-charge-1505944.html

Frequently Asked Questions

1. QUESTION:
   macbook battery?
   i bought a macbook 2 weeks ago and the battery life has been cut in half. I only plug it in when its completely dead, so why is the battery life so crappy now?

   • ANSWER:
     Have you calibrated it?
     http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284
     If it's still the same call Apple.

2. QUESTION:
   Macbook battery?
   ive had my macbook for 17 months and my battery life is terrible. I have another year of warranty at fry's. Should i go get a new battery or what?

   • ANSWER:
     Unfortunately battery life is the biggest weakness of the Macbooks. For most people 17 months is around the time when it starts becoming annoying enough to replace the battery. It's an expensive item and it will be replaced at Apple service centers if it's within its warranty period. However Applecare extended warranty does not cover batteries so you are probably out of luck. I have known of some people getting lucky though. Take it to a few different service centers (including Fry's) and you may find one that is happy to replace your battery. (don't ask me why some can do it and some can't!). Bear in mind that if they examine your Macbook and find that you a 1000+ charge cycle count on the battery (see system profiler>power), you won't be able to talk anyone around. If that's too much trouble, then the only option is to buy a new one.

     Unfortunately if you own a Macbook, you are accepting that battery changes every couple of years is part of the deal.

     Even so, when you do buy your new battery, you can extend its useful life by making sure you calibrate it regularly and allow it to go through complete charge cycles - ie. charge it fully before going onto battery mode, let the charge fall to around 10% before fully recharging again. If you continually have the battery hovering in a semi-charged state, ie between 20-80%, the battery will die sooner.

3. QUESTION:
   Macbook Battery?
   Lately when running my macbook on just the batter, at 40% my mac just shuts off. When i plug it in, it never fully charges constantly flipping back and forth between 99 and 100% the plug goes from green to orange about every second. Anyone know whats going on.

   Istat says my battery health is 89% and i have 111 cycles.

   • ANSWER:
     Is it possible for you to try another battery from, say a friend??
     It's possible you may have a charging circuit problem or..Two other issues going on..1. The need for a new battery..For one thing, you must remember that you laptop battery isn't just one big battery internally..It's made up of 6 cells(the norm) or, if you have a heavy duty version, it could be as much as 9 cells..Each cell within the battery pack are charged together but, it only takes one or two bad cells to take your entire battery pack down..Okay?
     2. The second thing, check ur laptop's BIOS date..it's possible that you may have an outdated BIOS. For example, on my laptop..fresh from the box, I found that the BIOS was already old..Since I have had it, there has been 3 additional version upgrade. The updates are for a reasons..Chances are, if your overall performances is good..You may not need to flash the BIOS..BUT, you should check it, just in case it helps solve this problem.. To flash a BIOS today, is no big deal..Just make sure you do it on AC power and, not a battery~!! It behoves you to read all of the info about your BIOS..
     Good Luck`!

4. QUESTION:
   MacBook battery?
   On my MacBook the battery says 0% no matter what. I have to keep it plugged in, or else the computer goes into sleep. This is the second battery I'm on, and the first one went bad within 6 months or so. The first one had an black X, and this one is just 0%, like its charging normally, but it just doesn't go up. The one thing that may have caused it to go wrong was, when I was on vacation two weeks ago, the computer ran out of charge my charger was broken(connector had snapped) when I got home, my dad(a Mac specialist) attempted to get the charger working again, but just couldn't. So we went out, got a new charger and charged the computer. Except the battery never actually charged. Any help? Like why it won't charge or anything I can do(already re-seated it and reset it)

   • ANSWER:
     here is your exact promblem
     http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304301

5. QUESTION:
   What is the difference between an original Apple MacBook battery and the replacement batteries?
   I am looking to buy a new battery for my MacBook. I am looking to buy it on eBay. I notice there are two types of batteries on sale. One is an "original" MacBook battery, which I'm assuming is a brand new battery. The second is a rechargeable battery (like the ones sold on the Apple website). Is there a difference between these two or are is the difference really just that the ones that say "original" are actual Apple batteries. The other ones do not say "Apple," so I'm assuming they're just generic batteries.

   • ANSWER:
     Usually there are the Apple batteries (like the original one that came with the Macbook) and the non-Apple batteries. The Apple batteries will typically be of better quality, i.e. last longer on a charge, have more charge cycles, etc but it'll cost more. The non-Apple batteries will save you a fair bit but you won't get the same performance out of them.

     If $$ isn't a concern stick to the Apple batteries. However, it is eBay so be careful who you buy from. There's bound to be some sellers trying to pass non-Apple batteries as genuine Apple batteries.

     Another alternative is buying from an Apple accessory manufacturer directly. Like Fastmac for instance: http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/02/09/fastmac.macbook.battery/