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Studying the Slow Decay of a Laptop Battery For an Entire Year

Posted by timothy on from the ashes-to-ashes-dust-to-dust dept.

First time accepted submitter jradavenport writes "I've been keeping a log of the health of my MacBook Air battery for the past year, taking samples every minute I use the computer (152,411 readings so far!). This has allowed me to study both my own computing/work habits, but also the fascinating rapid decay of battery capacity. Comparing it to my previous 2009 MacBook Pro, the battery in this 2012 Air is degrading much faster."

2 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Survey says... by djupedal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's see the comparative graph where you did identical tracking over time for both, instead of detailed now against casual before, which seems a bit weak. I'd also like to see how you factor out the constant logging's effect as well.

  2. Re:Love my MacBook Air, hate the battery by samkass · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love the machine but I hate that I cant change the battery myself. I'll have to pay the Apple tax to get this fixed. I am holding out hope for Mavericks though, hopefully the power saving features can breathe some new life into this thing.

    If you are willing to unscrew two dozen little screws, the battery swap-out is actually pretty easy according to iFixit. Of course, the battery itself will cost you over $100 bucks new, and Apple only charges about $120 installed, so the only real reason to do it yourself is if you live far away from an Apple Store and don't trust a carrier service with your laptop.

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    E pluribus unum