What does an Apple "battery service" involve? I've got a mid-2012 13 inch MacBook Air that I've owned since new. Quite soon after I bought it, the drop-down menu that appears when I click the battery icon in the menu bar included the item "Service Battery". I never did anything about this, as although the battery seemed to drain more quickly than I would like, I'm usually close to a power outlet and use my MacBook while it's plugged in.

However, I thought I'd try to fix the "Service Battery" indication and see if I could get the battery running for longer. I reset the SMC, and when I rebooted the battery icon had a cross through it. I've seen this before on my MacBook, so I tried my luck and unplugged it. The screen went black, but when I plugged the MacBook back in it took me back to where I was, and the cross had disappeared from the battery icon. When I clicked on the icon, "Service Battery" had come back.

Do I really need to take my MacBook into Apple to get them to service the battery? Or is there anything I can do myself? I've attached a listing of all the data relating to the battery. Does anything look wrong?
That battery, while not old from age, has seen some, and then some more.

The charge count shows it as half life, but the charge it can hold shows it as 1/3 of life left.

The Service Battery is only a suggestion so do not wary about that one. The Replace battery is the next you get, and then the Replace Now is the final stage.

Considering the Charge it can hold iI would suggest you replace it. But yu can try the SMC reset to see if that fixes it. One full discharge (let the computer run till it shuts down due to empty battery) could also help in calibrating the numbers it reports.

For comparison here is my MacBook Air 2012.

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh):   3967

Fully Charged:    No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh):   4801

Health Information:

Cycle Count:  619

Condition:    Service Battery

Battery Installed:    Yes

Amperage (mA):    -1132

Voltage (mV): 7933