Keep an eye on the health of your MacBook battery by viewing the number of charge cycles it has endured.
If the battery life of your MacBook seems to be starting to wane, it might be time to take a look at it for a replacement. On the pages of its online support, Apple explains that the batteries in its devices are designed to retain up to 80% of their original capacity once they reach their maximum number of recharges: 1,000 recharge cycles on the most recent machines.
Beyond this number of recharges, your machine can still be used and the battery can continue to operate, but it will not provide the optimum performance of a recent battery. To find out if your machine has exceeded this number of cycles, and whether or not you should have your Mac’s battery replaced at an authorized service center, you can get this information very easily.
1. Go to the About This Mac window
To access the About This Mac window, click the Apple menu , and then in the window that appears, click System Report.
You can also hold down the option (alt) key, click the Apple menu , and then click System Information.
2. Find the number of charge cycles
In the window System information that opens, in the left column, locate the Power line displayed under Hardware and click on it to select it.
In the main window pane, a Cycle Count row is displayed in the Battery Information section. It indicates the number of charge cycles of your machine.