Feed
 

Laptop battery power loss

Avatar John Nicholas
My wife purchased a 2019 16" MacBook Pro from Cex in August 2025, with a 5yr warranty. Obviously we imagine wear & tear, accidental damage , and other possible items are excluded. However usage of the Laptop is light and we would not have expected the battery to fail in less than a year.

However fully charged and turned off we have experienced battery power loss for a while now and, today 48 hours after last 100% charge, the level is showing below 10%.

Is something awry or is the battery at the end of its life?

Haven’t contacted Cex yet; should they rectify at their cost?

Advice and comments please.

If we have to get battery replaced…….where and what cost?

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar John Nicholas
Have read older posts (2021 ?) and I fight shy of tackling DIY battery replacement, .......but Apple's apparent today price for new battery is circa £245.

Have gone in to System Settings > Battery , and battery health shows as 'Normal' rather than Service recommended. It happily charges to 100%, ie it doesn't fail to reach 80%.

So superficially battery is ok after all? But why the power drain (yes always turn off rather than put to sleep). As I said in the original post, is something else awry?

I suppose could get a "Genius" at Apple to run checks on what is up. Then if Cex need to honour warranty I would know what needs attention (Removable Batteries are counted as consumables and are not warrantied. Even though posts about removal describe Laptop batteries are almost fixed /glued in).

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar Mick Burrell
Unless it's already had a new battery, I'd expect it to need one after 7 years!

macOS doesn't have the same feature as iOS but if you check on a phone, you'll see Battery Health. This will show something like 80% which means that after a full charge (which will show charged to 100%), the battery is only capable of performing to 80% of what it was when new.

Check the Mac App Store - it's full of battery health monitors! One of these may give you more insight though my money is on a dead battery. Not sure what the situation with CEX will be if that is the case.

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar Douglas Cheney
You could have a word with Adamant at this web page he seems to be very good with Apple products and has repaired two of my Grandaughters Mac Book Airs at reasonable cost https://adamantit.co.uk

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar John Nicholas
Thanks chaps. Have downloaded a health monitor app and all "appears" ok.

I overaged the 2019 model laptop because I see it was manufactured April 2020 !! But Mick, I take your point.

So, for the moment, we will keep an eye on things and try to keep a note of what occurs to see whether we can fine tune the diagnosis/prognosis.

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar Tony Still
Just to add a little nuance to Mick's reply, if you can run macOS 26 (Tahoe) then there is a built-in battery status of sorts.

System Settings > Battery (near the top) and click on the 'i' icon next to battery health.

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar John Nicholas
Battery charges to 100% and Health 83%, but leakage persists.

Attended Genius Bar at Apple Westquay Southampton today. They found battery ok, and they ran diagnostic tests, checked Activity Monitor and various things, and found nothing awry. They noted its age but didn't use that as the reason/excuse.

They suggested we give it a charge on a more regular rather than "when caught out" basis and perhaps run it on mains whenever convenient. They said the battery is nearing the "iffy zone, as it drops towards and below 80%" BUT when it drops to 79% a message should appear telling us to get new battery. I said as it's nearly down to 80% we might bite the bullet and replace now.

Interestingly, until it drops to 79% or more particularly until that message appears, they refuse to change the battery even if I wave lots of cash in their face. They suggested also that for the limited use my wife makes of the laptop, common economic sense says hear what the say, don't replace the battery elsewhere or diy or in fact anywhere, but just to soldier on in the careful fashion, as per their advice.

Re: Laptop battery power loss

Avatar John Nicholas
Battery charges to 100% and Health 83%, but leakage persists.

Attended Genius Bar at Apple Westquay Southampton today. They found battery ok, and they ran diagnostic tests, checked Activity Monitor and various things, and found nothing awry. They noted its age but didn't use that as the reason/excuse.

They suggested we give it a charge on a more regular rather than "when caught out" basis and perhaps run it on mains whenever convenient. They said the battery is nearing the "iffy zone, as it drops towards and below 80%" BUT when it drops to 79% a message should appear telling us to get new battery. I said as it's nearly down to 80% we might bite the bullet and replace now.

Interestingly, until it drops to 79% or more particularly until that message appears, they refuse to change the battery even if I wave lots of cash in their face. They suggested also that for the limited use my wife makes of the laptop, common economic sense says hear what the say, don't replace the battery elsewhere or diy or in fact anywhere, but just to soldier on in the careful fashion, as per their advice.
 
Feed