Geek Posted June 23, 2011 Posted June 23, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/battery-cycle-count.jpg" alt="Battery Cycle Count" title="battery-cycle-count" width="620" height="388" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17779" /></p> <p>If you have a MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, you can check the battery cycle count to get an idea of overall battery health. </p> <ul> <li>Launch Apple System Profiler (called System Information in Lion) either through /Applications/Utilities/ or by going to “About this Mac” and selecting “More Info”</li> <li>Under Hardware, select “Power”</li> <li>Look for “Cycle Count” under the ‘Battery Information’ portion</li> </ul> <p>Now that you have this information, let’s make some sense of it. <span id="more-17778"></span> <strong>What is a Battery Cycle?</strong> A battery charge cycle is when the battery has been drained to 0% and then refilled to 100% of it’s maximum capacity, it is not every time you plug your MacBook to the power adapter.</p> <p><strong>Why Do Battery Cycle Counts Matter?</strong> Knowing the cycle count is helpful if you suspect your battery is having problems retaining a charge. Apple says new notebook batteries are designed to retain 80% of original capacity after 300 cycles. If your battery is performing at less than expected and is still under warranty, it may be a good idea to schedule an appointment with an Apple Genius.</p> <p><strong>Tracking Battery Cycles and Health Over Time</strong> Using a free utility like <a href="http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/index.html">CoconutBattery</a> allows you to keep track of your batteries health by saving data points like cycle count and charge capacity. <img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/coconutbattery.jpg" alt="CoconutBattery" title="coconutbattery" width="619" height="468" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17780" /></p> <p>If you just want to see how much battery life you have left on your current charge, you can <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/14/show-remaining-battery-life-in-the-mac-os-x-menu-bar/">show that in the battery menubar</a>.</p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2vLJC98FAkvz3jtiI8nqzQJ1ZVU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2vLJC98FAkvz3jtiI8nqzQJ1ZVU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2vLJC98FAkvz3jtiI8nqzQJ1ZVU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2vLJC98FAkvz3jtiI8nqzQJ1ZVU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=hnj8Oz2rPdA:UiYbNZf9r7Y:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/hnj8Oz2rPdA" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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