Macbook Pro Battery Life

[SpAtZ]

I just got my MBP yesterday and i recalirbrated the battery. I am only getting a 1:45 minute battery life. My settings are set for better battery life. What should I do? Does anyone have a longer battery life?

 

[liketom]

i've heard that 3-3.5 is the norm so far , try charging up then letting it go all the way down to 0% and then do a full charge again

also turn the brightness of your screen down and see what it gets


pictures ?

 

[SpAtZ]

 

[bigandy]

this may be of interest... if microsoft are putting out a patch, i'm assuming that apple will too..

 

[liketom]

wow 1.20 at 83% thats just not right - try calibrating the batt again

 

[liketom]

this may be of interest... if microsoft are putting out a patch, i'm assuming that apple will too..

thats for Microsoft products only ie there driver not the Mac's one

 

[Chaszmyr]

Unless you're rendering something in Maya in the background or something and not telling us, it's a definite problem. Give Apple a ring, see what they have to say about it.

 

[kretzy]

Have you tried the detailed calibration procedure Apple gives? I say just keep using it and you'll probably find that it lasts longer than the time predicted.

 

[briangig]

thats for Microsoft products only ie there driver not the Mac's one

a core duo is a core duo.

 

[liketom]

a core duo is a core duo.

"It was just a few weeks ago that the sleuths at Tom′s Hardware uncovered the cause of a mysterious power drain that reduced battery life in some Core Duo-powered laptops: an uncooperative Microsoft power-management driver. Now, Microsoft has done the right thing, and is developing a patch to address the problem"

 

[aristobrat]

Not to speak for the poster that brought that up, but I think his point may have been that perhaps Apple made the same mistake with their Core Duo power driver?

 

[jacobj]

Not to speak for the poster that brought that up, but I think his point may have been that perhaps Apple made the same mistake with their Core Duo power driver?

Apple would have been damned careful with the driver since it was the hottest topic of debate after the announcement of the MBP. I find it highly unlikely that this glitch is in OSX.

 

[briangig]

"It was just a few weeks ago that the sleuths at Tom′s Hardware uncovered the cause of a mysterious power drain that reduced battery life in some Core Duo-powered laptops: an uncooperative Microsoft power-management driver. Now, Microsoft has done the right thing, and is developing a patch to address the problem"

haha...i missed the part about MS PM drivers. I thought the problem was with the cpu itself...silly me. I need more sleep.

 

[Spectrum]

Check System Profiler > Power. To see if it is actually registering as having close to a full capacity charge.

In the Powerbooks, it has both a mAh value (remaining charge) and current amperage (mA) - the amount of power being used (negative value).

For example I have full capacity of 4390mAh, remaining charge of 1187mAh, and I'm using -1176mA. So at current usage levels, I have just over 1 hour battery life left.

What is your Amperage value?

 

[SpAtZ]

Is it suppost to make a light buzzing sound when charging?

Edit: I was running no other applicatations.

Im going to charge it to 100%. Then try the system profiler.

 

[mikeabnooy]

coconut battery. can use this app and tell us more about the battery, take a pic and then post it? yeah? thx.

http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/index.html

 

[mikeabnooy]

oh and about battery life... with a full bright bright screen (they really are as bright as a ACD) 3 hours of battery life is expected. real world of course, hdd spinning and wireless enabled i imagine 2 hours and some change... however, turn that brightness down (i sure dont' need it THAT bright) and i'm sure the battery improves a bunch right?

I went to CompUSA the other day to see the battery life of a Core Duo inside a PC. I tested out a Sony Vaio laptop and i unplugged it and hung around for 15 minutes. Within those 15 minutes the battery dropped 15%. Granted, not the best battery test but that kind of battery life sucks ass on any machine. Wireless was on and no apps were running just moving the mouse and opening windows and closing them. 100% would of equlaed 100min about and 1:40. So the MBP with 2:30 really isn't that bad.

patiently waiting for the MBP to go on employee purchase so i can buy one at a fatty discount!

 

[macrants]

oh and about battery life... with a full bright bright screen (they really are as bright as a ACD) 3 hours of battery life is expected. real world of course, hdd spinning and wireless enabled i imagine 2 hours and some change... however, turn that brightness down (i sure dont' need it THAT bright) and i'm sure the battery improves a bunch right?

I went to CompUSA the other day to see the battery life of a Core Duo inside a PC. I tested out a Sony Vaio laptop and i unplugged it and hung around for 15 minutes. Within those 15 minutes the battery dropped 15%. Granted, not the best battery test but that kind of battery life sucks ass on any machine. Wireless was on and no apps were running just moving the mouse and opening windows and closing them. 100% would of equlaed 100min about and 1:40. So the MBP with 2:30 really isn't that bad.

patiently waiting for the MBP to go on employee purchase so i can buy one at a fatty discount!

Me too, except I am NOT patient. WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME, EPP STORE?

 

[Timepass]

oh and about battery life... with a full bright bright screen (they really are as bright as a ACD) 3 hours of battery life is expected. real world of course, hdd spinning and wireless enabled i imagine 2 hours and some change... however, turn that brightness down (i sure dont' need it THAT bright) and i'm sure the battery improves a bunch right?

I went to CompUSA the other day to see the battery life of a Core Duo inside a PC. I tested out a Sony Vaio laptop and i unplugged it and hung around for 15 minutes. Within those 15 minutes the battery dropped 15%. Granted, not the best battery test but that kind of battery life sucks ass on any machine. Wireless was on and no apps were running just moving the mouse and opening windows and closing them. 100% would of equlaed 100min about and 1:40. So the MBP with 2:30 really isn't that bad.

patiently waiting for the MBP to go on employee purchase so i can buy one at a fatty discount!

I would like to point out some flaws in your test besides how you did it. Battery drop off very quickly from there starting charge of 100% to about 80% where they slow down. So it is a very bad test. I watch my laptop go from 100 to -80 pretty quickly and then slow down a lot the closer it gets to being dead.

 

[macrants]

Hmm... I don't notice that on my 1.67 PBG4.

And set to "Better Battery Life", I get about 2 hours 15 minutes, maybe 2:45 MAX. Way worse than the TiBook I traded up from last May.

If the MBP can beat that, then I shan't be disappointed.

 

[entropy1980]

After I charged my Macbook yesterday and began to drain it to condition/calibrate I noticed that it was reading around 1:45 but it actually lasted about 2:15.... I was installing World Of Warcraft, copying 30 gigs of MP3's and surfing the web.... 2:15's is amazing when you think about the fact I was using the opitcal drive, hard drive (heavily) and WiFi!!! I am loving it!

 

[SpAtZ]

the Coconut battery application will not run on my computer.

Here is what the system profiler says under power. Right now im at 46%.
System Power Settings:

AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 0
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 20
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 5
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 1
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: Yes

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5391
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 2562
Amperage (mA): -1710
Voltage (mV): 11208
Cycle Count: 2

AC Charger Information:

Connected: No
Charging: No

Hardware Configuration:

UPS Installed: No

 

[bpd115]

I unpacked it, plugged it in and charged to 100%, installed apps, copied some large files, etc. Went on battery at 8:22 PM and MBP went to sleep at around 11:30...

Screen brightness was down a few notches, airport on, bluetooth off.

Not bad for the first charge....

And in a dark room, the MBP screen at 2 or 3 bars is totally usable...that will be my next test after batt. calabration.

 

[Meyvn]

For a point of reference, running four or five apps, I get 4:30-4:50 on my PowerBook G4 15". That's with the brightness set to low, though, which I think is the ONLY way to go when you're not plugged into a wall outlet. That's just me, though.

 

[nimr0d]

Can someone explain this battery calibration thing to me? is this the first thing i should be doing once i unpack my MBP? or something i should do like within the first 2 weeks of getting it? what does it do, make the battery last longer? or it just makes the numbers(time left and %) more accurate?