Both total charging capacity and life of a laptop computer’s battery will diminish as you use your computer. To compare your laptop’s current battery capacity with what it was when you purchased the laptop, install either of the following applications.

Microsoft Windows users

Battery Eater - This utility performs a stress test on the battery, causing it to drain to 0. After the battery is completely drained, running the utility again provides you a full report that compares the estimated capacity of the battery to its current capacity.

Apple Macintosh users

Coconut battery - If you are using a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air with macOS X 10.5 or higher, Coconut is an easy-to-use utility to test your laptop’s battery.

If you plan on using the Battery Eater test, make sure to disable all power-saving features first. See: How to adjust power, standby, and sleep settings.

  • How long should a laptop battery last?
  • When should I replace my laptop battery?
  • See our battery definition for further information and related links.
  • Computer and laptop battery help and support.