14 DAY TRIAL // The fact that MacBooks are selling well and become more and more popular doesn't mean they are perfect machines, so from time to time, problems start to appear. Some time ago, I was telling you about the display problems developed by a number of Powerbook G4 laptops after around 18 months of life, and now the time has come for the new MacBooks and MacBooks Pro that are using Intel processors, but first of all, let's go back through some history, because I think this is needed...
At the end of last spring, AppleCare found out about an issue with a part of the early MacBook Pro batteries and shipped fresh replacement for the customers experiencing them. At that time, the MacBooks Pro produced in the first two weeks had some strange symptoms that included battery power level dropping from a full charge to 90 percent and then off, failure to respond and a sizeable loss of battery capacity.
Although it won't help your Mac escape such problems, a handy software tool for diagnosing battery issues can be downloaded from Softpedia here, and its name is coconutBattery.
Users experienced even worse issues, such as low battery warning and then a sudden shut down of the computer, but without the usual shut down procedure taking place, since in fact their Macs simply lose power, just like the battery would be removed from the system! Don't think that I am talking about stories that happened last year, because even recently such things happened.
For an example, MacBooks Pro started to shut down with 50% or more of apparent battery life, and this is not only the problem of a battery, since user reports say that even after changing four or five of them, the problems persist. Could it be the fact that the MacBooks and MacBooks Pro are great laptops that use not-so-great batteries? I can't really say anything at this time, but I hope Apple will have something to say about this problem soon, and be sure that I'll keep you informed!