Apple Portables: Determining Battery Cycle Count
Summary
For computers with Mac OS X v10.4.x or later, use the steps in this article to determine the cycles on your Apple portable computer's battery.
Products Affected
Use of your Apple portable computer battery on accrues in the form of "charge cycles". Each time a charge cycle is completed on a battery its overall capacity is slightly diminished. Knowing how many charge cycles are on your battery and how many are left can help you determine when a battery placement is required.
Follow these steps to access information on your Apple computer's battery, including the cycle count:
- Open Apple System Profiler (Choose About this Mac from the Apple () menu, then click More Info.)
- Select Power in the Contents list (under the Hardware section as seen below).
- Cycle Count is listed under the Battery Information section.
Example 1: The example above shows Battery Information as listed under System Profiler on Mac OS X v10.6 on a MacBook Pro. The battery here has six cycles on it.
About Battery Cycles
A charge cycle means using all of the battery’s power, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a single charge. For instance, you could use your notebook for an hour or more one day, using half its power, and then recharge it fully. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two, so it may take several days to complete a cycle.
Batteries have a limited amount of cycles before they are considered to be consumed and a replacement battery would be recommended. The cycle count limit will vary based on your Apple computer. Consult the table below to see the maximum cycle count for your computer's battery before it is considered consumed:
| Computer | Maximum Cycle Count |
| MacBook | |
| MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010) MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009) |
1000 |
| MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008) | 500 |
| MacBook (Mid 2009) MacBook (Early 2009) MacBook (Late 2008) MacBook (Early 2008) MacBook (Late 2007) MacBook (Mid 2007) MacBook (Late 2006) MacBook (13-inch) |
300 |
| MacBook Pro | |
| MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53 GHz, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) |
1000 |
| MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2008) | 500 |
| MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008) MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHz) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Core 2 Duo) MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy) 15-inch MacBook Pro MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2008) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008) MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHz) MacBook Pro (17-inch Core 2 Duo) MacBook Pro (17-inch) |
300 |
| MacBook Air | |
| MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010) MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) |
1000 |
| MacBook Air (Mid 2009) | 500 |
| MacBook Air (Late 2008) MacBook Air (Early 2008) |
300 |
| PowerBook | |
| All PowerBook G4 12" 15" and 17" computers | 300 |
| iBook | |
| All iBook G4 12" and 14" computers | 300 |
Although you can use a battery after it reaches its maximum cycle count, performance may be affected.
Additional Information
For more information on batteries consult http://www.apple.com/batteries.
For information on battery terminology refer to Apple Portables: Battery terminology and key concepts.
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