Macbook Pro battery dying :(

[Feek]

Did you get yours fixed, LD or have you just not turned it off for months now?

[Belmit]

Just went to the iStore in Basingstoke. Had my Macbook been in warranty (<12 months) then Apple would have replaced the battery for nowt, but as such I've had to shell out for a new one. They explained that the best way to use the battery is to charge it up and keep running it down, rather than keeping it plugged in. I think what I'm going to do is use the old one when it's plugged in, and keep the new one charged for when I'm mobile and just swap it out every time. This battery is knackered anyway, but gives about 20 minutes of charge.

[Mark]

As noted above I just run my laptop with no battery now when on the desk. In that circumstance it's either docked or has several cables directly in the back so I never just yank the power plug. Only problem would be a power failure.

[Belmit]

The issue with the Macbook is the magsafe connection. It's great for if you're a clumsy fool, as the connector snaps out if you tug the wire. If you haven't got a battery in it's fairly diastrous though!

[Belmit]

Oh, and I may have gone and bought an iPhone while I was out. Tum-te-tum!

[Mark]

Aye - I know what you mean. The connector on my Mac Mini doesn't take much to pull it out.

[LeperousDust]

Originally Posted by Feek

Did you get yours fixed, LD or have you just not turned it off for months now?

I totally missed this sorry!

Well strange turn of events, it "fixed" itself for a while, and my laptop isn't technically under their umbrella problem warranty (even though it had the same graphics card which was causing the problems). Since its not showing any ill effects i can't really afford to waste the time and money sending it back to be told "it works". Theres no way of forcing it either, i've tried overheating it cooling it, it just seems to have solved itself. Occasionally when i restart it won't boot at all but turn it on and off again and its good to go. So god knows what i can really do about it. I've just silly unlucky with what was a superb laptop. I should have taken up their excellent warranty extension when i had the offer and i turned it down to "save money" .

You win some you lose some.

Can't complain too much, its occasionally unreliable upon restart, but apart from that it does the job...

[LeperousDust]

Originally Posted by Belmit

Just went to the iStore in Basingstoke. Had my Macbook been in warranty (<12 months) then Apple would have replaced the battery for nowt, but as such I've had to shell out for a new one. They explained that the best way to use the battery is to charge it up and keep running it down, rather than keeping it plugged in. I think what I'm going to do is use the old one when it's plugged in, and keep the new one charged for when I'm mobile and just swap it out every time. This battery is knackered anyway, but gives about 20 minutes of charge.

They're talking out their arse really! Everyone gets so confused about batteries and lumps them all in the same category. Li-ion don't work like ni-cad which do in fact need cycling. If you want to store li-ion you need to charge them around 40% and keep them cold. Otherwise just use, but keep them as cool as possible (within reasons no need to freeze them ) and they'll last a while. Even though i know this i don't bother with any of that anyway. They're consumable and have a limited shelf life so get the most out of them!

[Mark]

Thanks for the tip-off (again). Without you I wouldn't know I now have warranty protection until 2012 for this issue. Curiously, since I applied a BIOS update, my laptop is actually reading higher temperatures. I'm not sure if that's a consequence of the update or there's some other reason, but I'm now seeing mid-80s from the CPU readings.

[mejinks]

can I say that every ACER laptop ive had, the battery has died almost as soon as the warranty ran out on it, but this Fujitsu one I have now is still perfect after three years continual use