Macbook Battery Life

[Jimmieboy]

Hey everyone.

I was just wondering if you would be able to post how long your battery lasts on the latest Macbooks. If you could post what programs that you were using, that would be great.

Also a quick question. I've never used an apple laptop even in my years of experience with apple computers. When the battery runs down what happens? Does the computer go into standy by?

 

[iToaster]

My old MB got round 4 hours if I wasn't doin' much on it, 3 hours for web browsing, 2 hours for ~50% processor things, and ~1 hour for 75-100% processor intensive tasks with a high fan RPM. When you get low on power, it will go into sleep and will not wake until you plug it in. It will sleep for about 5 hours before the battery completely dies... this is called calibrating your battery (for future reference, it's good to do this every month so you get accurate readings).

 

[Nick012]

My battery lasts about 3 hours with full brightness and airport on. If I turn airport off the battery time goes through the roof. A couple of weeks ago I was on the Ferry (Dover to Dunkurk if anybody vcares) and I managed to watch 2 hours of superman returns in VLC (not off the DVD but off the HD) with the screen on a comfortable brightness and airport off. The 2 hour crossing ate 45% of the battery. In short, the macbook's batteryu is amazing (my last PC laptop got 40 mins of battery out of the box).

 

[Joshua8o8]

My old MB got round 4 hours if I wasn't doin' much on it, 3 hours for web browsing, 2 hours for ~50% processor things, and ~1 hour for 75-100% processor intensive tasks with a high fan RPM. When you get low on power, it will go into sleep and will not wake until you plug it in. It will sleep for about 5 hours before the battery completely dies... this is called calibrating your battery (for future reference, it's good to do this every month so you get accurate readings).

same battery stats here.

 

[Jimmieboy]

same battery stats here.

Cool! Well I was just wondering about those issues, like mac fans may do when they need a break from their work. Hopefully I'll be purchasing a new Macbook early next year for my start at UNI.

Thanks for replying!

 

[mick4394]

The battery life of the Macbook is one of the greatest things about it. I could get almost five hours of battery life, browsing the web, at low screen brightness.

I miss that. I'm lucky to get three on my current machine.

 

[BlackMax]

During a regular work load (Camino, NeoOffice, iTunes, etc.) and without turning down the screen brightness I usually get 3.5+ hours. If I'm working lighter (just browsing the web) and turn down my screen brightness a little I can get over 4 to 4.5 hours.

 

[polycat33]

You get a little popup warning telling you the battery is really low before it goes into sleep. I think it gives you just a few minutes notice.