Mac - Battery status and life

[Whackhead]

Hi Guys and Gals,
Do you know whether battery calibration actually makes a difference on the battery health / life?

It seems that you can check your battery condition in the system profiler. On the net I've read about batteries being in good condition, etc.

Mine has done 48 charge-cycles and indicates being "normal".
Is that good / bad for 48-cycles.

I had a good >3-hours battery-life left when I checked this:

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 5569
Fully charged: No
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 6219
Health Information:
Cycle count: 48
Condition: Normal

Thanks

[fangpyre]

Calibration doesn't affect the battery's life.
But it does help to get the most out of it.
For example, your computer might say it has 2 hours battery life, but the battery actually has 2.5.
Calibration re-aligns the computer to the battery.

If it's normal, wouldn't that be "normal"? :P

[michl]

Actually, according to Apple calibration does affect battery performance as well:
"The battery needs to be recalibrated from time to time to keep the onscreen battery time and percent display accurate and to keep the battery operating at maximum efficiency."
I've always found it useful to follow their advice to perform periodical calibration. Very informative link...

[fangpyre]

This is to maximize the battery.
The battery itself won't benefit from the calibration.

Regardless of the semantics, it helps.

[binukalarickan]

Coconut battery is a good ware that can show your battery status

[michl]

Another one is Watts.

As this AppStorm review says, you don’t need it but it is well worth having.