My MacBook Pro is now on its 3rd battery. I bought the computer in November 2006 and this past summer, I brought it into the Genius Bar at Eaton Centre because my battery was lasting barely 2 hours. It had gone past 150 charge cycles and was less than 2500 mAh. So the Genius gave me a new battery. Today, my computer is out of warranty, but I decided to bring it into the Genius Bar anyway. I kind of expect a laptop battery to last at least a year (preferably two). But my replacement was on its last legs. It was at 1800 mAh at full capacity and my computer could barely operate for 40 minutes on battery power.
I told the Genius that I knew my computer was out of warranty but that I also had heard that Apple has a battery replacement program for faulty batteries and I just wanted to know if I was eligible for a replacement under that program. The Genius took a look at System Profiler, checked some serial numbers against an online database, and informed me that I was not eligible. He then went to the back of the store, came out a couple of minutes later and told me I would be getting a battery anyway because they thought they should make an exception this time. Awesome, I appreciate excellent customer service. I expect a laptop battery to last at least 2 years before it starts to become unusable, and despite the inconvenience of having to get 2 replacement batteries so far, it looks like I will be able to get to 2 years past the purchase of my MacBook Pro before I need to replace the battery by paying out-of-pocket.