How can I improve battery health on my MacBook Pro?

I had a MacBook Pro (Core Duo 2.0 Ghz bought during August ‘06), and I had always a good battery health (at least 91 %), and after an update available few month ago my battery health as reached 99% and it remains the same.

I think you should do this update concerning MacBook (pro?) battery, many other users are in the same situation than me, with a great gain of Battery Health.

Moreover don’t forget to make battery calibration.

Edit : Here a link for the update http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305540

I’ve had a number of issues with MBP batteries over the last few years. Since your laptop is less than a year old (i.e under warranty), you can do what I’ve done: walk back into the store and let them give you a new one, free of charge. I’ve never had any trouble with that.

i’ve had my mbp since july 06 and i just started monitoring my battery health a few weeks back. it often ranges from 84% to 65%. it tends to go up when i run it off the battery. so i’m not so sure how accurate it is. running the battery dry about once a month should keep it healthier longer. (i have been really bad about doing that since i keep it plugged in most of the time.) i dont know if this helps any…

try going to Apple’s support site and updating EFI firmware and if necessary look up resetting SMC. Sometimes this will affect system resources and power and memory management.

Also try fully discharging your battery (run battery down with some processor intensive task while on battery such as streaming full screen video), then allow the computer to shut itself down by depleting through the reserve power. Once the MBP enters sleep plug in and allow a full recharge cycle to complete. this should reset the battery memory.

If you still do not see a full 100% send in the battery for warranty replacement.

i have the exact same problem as Tiera. My battery life has dropped from above 90 to 59% now! Didn’t notice it till a 2 days ago and it was at 61%
And i just bought my macbook in July 07.

Ben, can i ask, what did u have to tell the people at the store that entitled you to a new macbook battery? never knew bad battery life is covered in the warranty!

Thanks

Standard Warranty on MBP and accessories are 1 year from date of purchase; extended warranty via Apple Care Protection Plan will take you to 3 years. Sounds like the battery is defective if you’ve tried the techniques listed above. Just bring your receipt for the original purchase and they’ll be able to check out the lot for the battery (there have been some recalls-check the apple support site if you can pull the serial from the battery and check against the recalled lots).

Hope this helps.

@clarc21
I just told them the truth: that the battery wasn’t working as well as it should. I think it’s pretty common—they didn’t give me any trouble at all. I remember the guy who helped me said the technical term form what happened to my battery was “getting hosed.”

For what it’s worth, I think batteries are only covered for the first year, even if you buy Applecare.

If your in the 60% range or lower, it’s about time for a new battery. Get a new once (yours should be free if its less then 1 year), then make sure you use the battery! Every week or so, unplug it, let it drain a bit, even all the way, then charge it up to full charge. A battery that is always fully charged degrades very fast. Also make sure you keep it away from any moisture, but that should be an obvious one.

I own a MacBook Pro and the battery life just wasn’t good enough for me. I got only a few hours per charge and that is if I was lucky. My eventual solution was to get an external laptop battery from Novuscell Batteries. So far, no regrets because I’m now getting an extra 12+ hours of battery runtime per charge on my MBP.