post battery times for MBP C2D

[dpope]

Hi all,

I thought my battery life was ~3.5 hrs with wireless and what not but someone recently told me they got 4 hrs with wireless and a dimmed screen. I decided to give it a shot and unplugged my MBP at 96% battery to see that it claimed only 3 hrs battery life (since then its been going up and down). Its hard to tell now but it seems like the battery life is lower then it used to be. I've calibrated it once since I got it (almost 3 weeks ago) but I almost never use it without power (because I always worry that this will reduce the battery quality in the long run). I've these batteries (Lithium-Ion) benefit from a certain amount of use (calibrating at least once a month) so should I be using my laptop with the battery more often? If so, should I avoid recharging it until its near to dry? I've heard short, frequent charging also reduced the battery life but so does using the battery a lot so which effect is more serious?

Could people post some MBP battery lifetimes as well as best practice tips.

thanks

 

[lu0s3r322]

i just disconnected mine from the magsafe and right now im running with full brightness and wireless. no bluetooth. im getting about 3 hrs. i got mine a few weeks ago too. i havent calibrated it yet though.

 

[Carguy172]

Thay battery life isn't very good compared to my dell it get's 7 hours (it's a 6400) that's with wireless on too. look's like dell's aren't so bad

 

[dpope]

7 hrs? I know the puny sony's get 8 hrs and my aunt had a little dell that could get 5 hrs (and its supposed to have an incredible battery life). My impression was that 3.5 hrs was decent for a top-end 15" like the MBP.

I just realized that I wasn't on "better battery" but on normal which probably explains why the reported battery life was worse than I remember. Can people reporting their battery lives please indicate what power settings they're using.

thanks

 

[dpope]

Thay battery life isn't very good compared to my dell it get's 7 hours (it's a 6400) that's with wireless on too. look's like dell's aren't so bad

Which 6400 do you have? This reviewer definitely gets a different result:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3089&review=Dell+Inspiron+6400

What is a standard battery life for a 15" notebook anyway?

 

[Carguy172]

I have xp professional
80gb
1.66ghz
1gb ram
15"ultrasharp with trulife
DVD RW+/-
Intel prowireless

 

[dpope]

I'm bumping this up in the hope of getting some responses in terms of battery life times of the MBP and best practices for maintaining the battery.

 

[phuong]

yeah i got 3 hours and a half with bt and wifi on
and the screen is at 140 candle light

 

[Max Payne]

The best I could get was 4:40 with bluetooth off and WiFi up and running.

 

[Gaokaos]

I always get around 3:30 out of it with brightness around 4 bars, bt off, airport on and while doing avarage to heavy load work. (multiple applications)
I never tried to see how long it would last with screen brightness to the lowest and airport off because i haven't been in a situation where the macbook would be usefull for me in such circumstances.
While I'm not wow'ed by this battery life I'm not dissapointed either. It's about what I expected. My friends similar sony vaio gets almost an hour less most of the time and hp notebooks seem to be even worse so I guess there's no need to complain.

 

[daneoni]

3:43 as soon as i disconnect and then gradually decreases. I usually run at 25% brightness, wi-fi and 85& speaker. No bluetooth. On average, 3 hrs max.

My PowerBook thwarts this as i regularly had 4 hrs plus change on it. With 85% brightness, 85& speaker, wi-fi

 

[kerisimasi]

mbp 2.16 2gb ram 80 gb HD

I usually always have wifi on, no bt, and a few apps running...powerpoint/word etc. I just unplugged at 99% battery and got 3 hrs and 25 minutes. a few minutes later - 3 hours and 6 minutes. This is w/ brightness at about half full. I usually average around 3 hours with full power - sometimes less, sometime more. I had a macbook before and waa spoiled by the battery life - i miss it.

 

[quicksilverpdx]

What is the recomende "FIRST CHARGEL time and can i use the macbook while its in its first charge? Could someone pm me so i dont mess up my bran new macbook!

 

[iW00t]

I get around 3 hours too, none of that super 4.5 hours advertised running time

 

[deadpixels]

I get around 3 hours too, none of that super 4.5 hours advertised running time

advertised time is always in impossible condition, like no network, no heavy load and screen brightness to minimum, apple always done that, sorry