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No battery lasts forever. If you’ve had your laptop for a couple years, there’s a good chance the battery doesn’t last as long as it used to. Here’s how to check your battery’s long-term health in Windows and macOS.
Check Your Battery Health in Windows
Windows doesn’t make this information as easily accessible as, say, the iPhone does, but you can still find it with a simple command from Windows’ PowerShell or Command Prompt terminals . Click the Start menu, search for “PowerShell” or “Command Prompt,” and right-click on the icon and select “Run as Administrator”. Then type the following command and press Enter:
powercfg /batteryreport /output “c:\batteryreport.html”
This will generate a report that you’ll find at C:\. It’s a simple HTML file, so just double-click it to view the contents. Scroll down to the Battery Capacity History section, and view the last entry in the list. You’ll see the full charge capacity on the left, in mWh, and the battery’s initial capacity on the right. On my laptop, the battery can currently hold about 45,007 mWh of its original 48,944 mWh capacity, which means it has about 91% of its health left. Not too shabby!
You can also scroll all the way down to the bottom of the document to see what Windows estimates your battery life to be in hours, though this obviously depends on a lot of factors (like whether you’re browsing the web, watching videos, or playing games), so don’t take it at face value.
If your battery’s health has degraded to the point where you’re cursing yourself every time it drops to zero, you can restore its original longevity by replacing the battery. You can buy replacement batteries in the iFixit parts store for a number of Windows laptops. Depending on the model of your laptop, these can range anywhere from $30 to $75, which is a small price to pay for getting a few more years out of a multi-hundred-dollar computer. Once you’ve got your battery, check out our free laptop repair guides for instructions on how to perform the swap.
Check Your Battery Health on a Mac
MacBook users have to do just a tiny bit of legwork to get this information, but it’s easy enough for anyone to handle. Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of your screen, then click About This Mac. Take note of your MacBook model—e.g. “MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)”—then click the System Report button and scroll down to Power in the left sidebar.
Under the Battery Information section, you’ll see Health Information—if the condition is Normal, you’re probably fine—if your battery has degraded a lot, it’ll say “Replace Soon.”
If you want more detailed information, you can compare its Cycle Count to the maximum number of cycles for your MacBook model, compare its Full Charge Capacity to the original size of your battery in mAh (check our parts store if you aren’t sure), or download an app like coconutBattery that presents this information in a much easier-to-read layout.
If your MacBook just isn’t holding the charge it once did, consider replacing the battery yourself. We sell replacement batteries for the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and other Mac machines along with the tools you’ll need to perform the job. We’ll even show you how to do it with our handy MacBook repair guides.
A fresh battery can easily get you a few more years out of an aging device. And with batteries costing less than $100 (or a bit more if you want the full “fix kit” with included tools), that’s a pretty great return on your investment—after all, most laptops cost hundreds or thousands of dollars and only last a few years before their batteries degrade.
MacBook Air 13" Early 2017 Battery Replacement
Use this guide to replace a faulty battery in…
Originally published July 17, 2019, updated for August 2023.
20 Комментариев
How about android? Any way to check it there, reliably?
Fixandinstall - Ответить
I’ve been told that there’s no official way on Android. A good option (which I started using recently myself) is an app called AccuBattery. The only downside is that it requires some time spent with the app on your phone before it can give you a good reading of your battery health.
Haig Karakashian -
Acer 15 Chromebook (but should work for any Chromebook.)
Ctrl+Alt+t to open a crosh window:
With charger plugged in, run “battery_test 1”. This will should give you a percent charged, that the battery is charging, and battery health percentage.
With charger unplugged, run “battery_test 30”. This runs the test for 30 seconds. Battery discharge should be low (0.01%).
Type “exit” to exit the crosh screen.
Vincent Dovydaitis - Ответить
This is very helpful. Thank you for posting this here! Kudos!
Stephen Joseph Cambal - Ответить
Very informative. Thanks for sharing.
Dima Simonishvili - Ответить
Very Helpful! Thanks.
Samuel Rojas - Ответить
This doesn’t work on my Acer Aspire 7560-416. I copied and pasted the command from the article so I know the command was right. Is there maybe a different command for an older Aser?
Carolyn Hardy - Ответить
Would it be better to keep a Mid-2015 MacBook Pro on its charger 24/7? I normally take it off the charger when it gets to 100%, and then recharge when it drops to 20%-30%. I’m worried about using up the battery’s cycle counts, it's already at 422, and I bought it new 23 months ago from Apple.
Frank Gee - Ответить
what about lignux
Meow Purr - Ответить
This is not working on my HP running Windows 11 home. Switches to app and immediately closes before running it.
Paul Bunce - Ответить
Everyone needs this info!
Though I'd suggest to change the command to
powercfg /batteryreport /output "batteryreport.html"
to match what the text says or just change the text to say that it outputs toC:\batteryreport.html
.Erwin Alva - Ответить
Does not work on Windows 10, using Command Prompt. Error:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>powercfg /batteryreport /output "c:\batteryreport.html"
Unable to perform operation. An unexpected error (0x10d2) has occurred: The library, drive, or media pool is empty.
Kevin Stark - Ответить
Or under Powershell: Same error:
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> C:\WINDOWS\system32>powercfg /batteryreport /output "c:\batteryreport.html"
>> Unable to perform operation. An unexpected error (0x10d2) has occurred: The library, drive, or media pool is empty.
>>
Kevin Stark - Ответить
For Linux there is power statistics. (gnome-power-statistics).
ckblackm - Ответить
When I open the Command Prompt on my HP Pavilion laptop the default directory is
C:\Windows\System32
Then when I put in the powercfg command, I just get an error message.
Help please.
Keith Gooley - Ответить
On Linux with the KDE Plasma 5 desktop, it displays the health info as a percentage in the battery icon in the system tray. A battery with a short life will display a message like this example: "The capacity of this battery is 29%. This means it is broken and needs a replacement. Please contact your hardware vendor for more details."
You can also use the "acpi" command to display the current battery health status.
Running it with the '-i' switch will display the current capacity info, and if available, the temperature trip points. The below is an example on a Dell E7470:
peter@slatebook:~$ acpi -i
Battery 0: Discharging, 100%, 09:41:32 remaining
Battery 0: design capacity 7236 mAh, last full capacity 6678 mAh = 92%
For a full list of switches in the acpi command, use
man acpi
to get a short manual.Peter Low - Ответить
In Mac OS, you can click "Show battery status in menu bar" in the Energy Saver control panel. My battery status displays:
97% (battery charged icon)
Condition: Replace Soon
Battery is Charged
Power Source: Power Adapter
Apps Using Significant Energy
Brave Browser app
√Show Percentage
Open Energy Saver Preferences
Checking full information as described in the article shows that the 2008 MB Pro's battery has been through 312 of its rated 300 cycles and has a capacity of 3178 mAh compared to the standard 5300 mAh. This battery can be changed without tools, so the hard part is finding a good quality replacement at a price I can afford or justify given the limited OS upgradability.
PAB1130 - Ответить
Don't waste your time on this... the instructions are not up to date. Of course, we can see how that happens with the great and powerful Assle changing these things gratuitously at every opportunity.
Seamus - Ответить
A interesting idea but powercfg can't be found.
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\windows\system32>powercfg /batteryreport /output "c:\batteryreport.html"
Invalid Parameters -- try "/?" for help
C:\windows\system32>c:\powercfg /batteryreport /output "c:\batteryreport.html"
'c:\powercfg' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
C:\windows\system32>\powercfg /batteryreport /output "c:\batteryreport.html"
'\powercfg' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Wayne Robey - Ответить
powercfg /batteryreport
works for me on my HP notebook. I don't have admin rights, so the complete command as shown in the article produces an error.
With my command, batteryreport.html is saved to my home directory.
Ed. Floden - Ответить