[selowitch]

I just bought a new battery for my iBook, the NewerTech 55.5-watt hour version shown here. Right out of the box, this 5000-mAh battery reads as having a maximum capacity of only 4400. I am in the process of conditioning the battery now (and completely charging/depleting it several times) and I plan to reset the power manager and PRAM after that.

Is it reasonable to expect that the battery's original capacity will read as 5000 after that, or are batteries like hard drives so that they always have less capacity than advertise when they are actually used?

[Jasoco]

I would expect that after it's calibrated it should be accurate.

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by Jasoco 

I would expect that after it's calibrated it should be accurate.

Interesting. I checked the battery level this morning after an overnight drain-and-recharge and the "original" and current battery level is now up to 5304 mAh!. I guess the conditioning process is working. That actually exceeds the initially stated maximum of 5000 in the tech specs. Intriguing.

I guess a little bit of faith helps in these situations! :-)