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The most common issue found on aging Mac laptops is decline in battery performance. Although a lot of technology goes into Apple’s Mac batteries, ultimately they are not so different from any other battery in any other device. They will eventually wear down and will need to be replaced.

Apple designs Mac batteries to maintain 80% of their original capacity to hold a charge for as long as possible. This means that even after many years of use your Mac’s battery may still be at above 80%. Once the battery drops below 80% battery life and performance declines rapidly. This is the threshold where your battery is considered to be “failing”.

If your battery’s condition is below 80% you might see a message in the battery menu of your Mac’s menu bar that says “Service Battery”. If you are curious where your battery percentage is, and your Mac is running macOS 10.15 or later - here’s how to find out:

1. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your Mac.

2. Choose “System Preferences” from the drop-down menu.

3. In system preferences, select “Battery”.

4. In the Battery menu click “Battery Health”.

5. Here you will see a pop up that shows you what percentage your battery has left.

Remember - this number is not the amount of charge your battery has currently. The current charge percentage is found in your Mac’s menu bar, and moves up and down based on usage and charging. The percentage shown in battery health shows you how well your battery can retain a charge, relative to a new brand new battery. All new Mac batteries will show a battery condition of 100%.