#REPLACEMENT FOR ISTAT PRO 2017 UPDATE#
Update : Whoops, it looks like the smartmontools installation package is broken.
#REPLACEMENT FOR ISTAT PRO 2017 INSTALL#
To discover this information, download the free-of-charge smartmontools app, right-click the installer, select Open, then opt to install the app.
It’s possible it could be hacked but to my knowledge there’s no published method of doing so, so it’s very unlikely to have happened.Įvery modern hard disk/SSD records the number of hours it has been used, in hours, and this gives an indication of the number of hours the Mac has been powered-up (provided the disk hasn’t been replaced at some point, of course). Note that this setting is a firmware value within the battery itself, so will not be affected by any reinstallation of the operating system. However, on modern MacBook (Pro/Air) models it’s not trivial to replace the battery, so it’s less likely to have happened compared to older Macs. Of course, if the battery has been replaced then this info won’t be all that useful – and the best way to find out if it has is to ask the seller. In the window that appears, click the Power heading at the left, and then look at the Cycle Count figure on the right, beneath the Health Information heading. To discover this information, hold down Option (Alt on some keyboards), then click Apple > System Information. (For what it’s worth Apple considers batteries charged over 1000 times to be in need of replacement, on models sold since 2009 at any rate earlier models had maximum cycles of 500 or 300.) Although it’s impossible to estimate, if I saw something like 300 cycles on a three year-old Mac then I would be very impressed. This is a healthy average figure for the age of this computer. What’s a low number? My current MacBook Pro, which is 1.5 years old and spends half of its life on charge, and half running on battery, has a cycle count of 378. A low charge cycle figure on an older Mac means one of two things: either the Mac hasn’t been used much or – and perhaps more likely – the Mac has spent most of its life attached to its charger, so might rarely have left the owner’s home or office. This is represented as the charge cycle figure. This is obviously only of use on a MacBook (including Pro/Air), but the number of times a battery has been charged is useful information.
It’s not entirely accurate, and comes with substantial caveats, but could be worth a try. While physical condition of the Mac gives a clue, you can garner some further clues by a little software probing. A Mac three years old that’s been used very infrequently could be a better purchase than a two-year old Mac that’s been left running 24/7, for example. Knowing how much a Mac has actually been used by its owner can be very useful if you’re buying pre-owned.
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