A couple of questions regarding MacBook battery capacity?

Charge cycles are only a part of battery aging.  Other factors include build quality, age, patterns of use and environmental factors like heat and cold.

Apple considers a health of 80% to be the replacement threshold. All batteries will die. Some faster than others. The battery health drop rate may not be linear, and battery health may even increase from time to time.

To get the most from your battery:

• Let the OS and charging circuits manage the charging.

• Plug in when using the computer near available power.

• Use on battery when ac is unavailable or when you must be mobile.

• Don’t subject the computer and battery to extreme temperatures.

• Don’t allow the battery to regularly discharge deeply before plugging in. Yes, it may happen from time to time, just don't make it a habit.

• Don't obsess over battery life and/or health.  

Here is Apple's guidance on the subject.

Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple Support

About battery health management in Mac laptops - Apple Support 

❝Worry is the misuse of imagination.❞ – Zadra

mrmagnetoman88 wrote:

I typically discharge it from 100% to 15%, and then plug it in and charge it back to 100%, and the cycle continues. I never leave it plugged in at 100% for more than several minutes, nor do I ever let it drain below 15%. I occasionally use AlDente if I keep it plugged in when the battery percentage is in between 50% and 70%. I'd be grateful if anyone could fill me in on these things, please.

Stop micromanaging the battery. Leave the battery plugged in when near a power source. Neither the battery nor the computer will be damaged by leaving it plugged in. Stop using third party apps to monitor/control the battery/charging system. The MacOS manages the power/charging system very well.

mrmagnetoman88 wrote:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/4d4bfd85-a4c8-4f36-b563-627fdaa2d67b

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/148d8a2e-e540-47b9-9552-4b7e1bfc914d

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/ecf0aa80-211d-4d97-ac3e-3194b71e5c73

Hello, I have an M3 MacBook Air which I bought in June 2024 that runs MacOS Sequoia. I recently noticed two things about the MacBook's battery capacity:

(i) the battery capacity percentage recorded on CoconutBattery is 94.2% whereas the battery capacity percentage recorded under System Report is 100%, as can be seen in the attachments. Why are the recorded values different from each other?

My M-series Mac is showing a non-100% value for "Max Capacity", however, that value does differ from that reported by Coconut Battery by about 4% (macOS is reporting a higher value). Coconut Battery is giving more accurate details regarding the battery.

There are parts of macOS where its reporting of the Battery's "maximum capacity" is stuck at 100% because it is reading the data incorrectly or performed a bad calculation.

I have done a lot of research regarding the Apple batteries in order to better detect worn out & failing batteries since the Apple Diagnostics & the "Battery Condition" shown in macOS has never been enough (it is even less helpful ever since the release of Sequoia where bad batteries are no longer failing the diagnostics or being reported as "Service Recommended". I've gotten battery information from macOS using the command line and it aligns with what Coconut Battery reports. It also aligns with many tests I have performed for diagnosing the Apple batteries. macOS is always misreporting the battery details to the end user (many times by 4-5% higher and this includes the actual battery charge level shown on the menubar).

(ii) My battery capacity percentage as recorded by Coconutbattery had consistently been in between 98% and 99.6% or so over the last few weeks, but as of the 20th of June, it appears to have dropped significantly below 96% and hasn't risen to a value over 98% or 99% as it used to in the past when it fell into the 97%-98% range. Why did it suddenly(and is continuing to as I speak) fall below 96% and why hasn't it risen back to 98% like it did in the past? Is this normal after having used the MacBook on battery consistently for a year?

That is perfectly normal for an Apple battery. Those fluctuations can easily be 5% up & down with those fluctuations increasing in range as the battery wears & ages.

Ignore the battery details until you begin to have issues where the battery is no longer performing to your expectations. Then & only then look at the battery details to determine if the battery is wearing out or failing. Unfortunately Apple will only replace the battery if it fails the Apple Diagnostics or is reporting the battery condition as "Service Recommended".

Hi,

I think it's hard to calculate battery capacity. You shouldn't swallows whatever you read the battery capacity values.