03-19-2008, 02:17 PM

I got my MBP about 4 months ago and was amazed that it could last 4 hours when fully charged (Energy Savings Mode but Bluetooth and Airport on). But two and a half months later the the most I could get out of it was a little under two hours. coconutBattery says battery is still at 94% total cap. so I'm confused. Is the computer just draining the power faster now? Is two hours of charge actually totally normal for a MBP?

Thanks

On another note: fans always kick in now when battery is charging

03-19-2008, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by munki

I got my MBP about 4 months ago and was amazed that it could last 4 hours when fully charged (Energy Savings Mode but Bluetooth and Airport on). But two and a half months later the the most I could get out of it was a little under two hours. coconutBattery says battery is still at 94% total cap. so I'm confused. Is the computer just draining the power faster now? Is two hours of charge actually totally normal for a MBP?

Thanks

On another note: fans always kick in now when battery is charging

Batteries are consumable, meaning that over time (depending on how they were cared for), they will lose capacity and eventually need to be replaced. My old MBP's battery lasted about 3:30 when new. After about a year, it went down to 2:00-2:30 (sometimes longer).

My brand new MBP lasts about 5:30 by my estimates. I would imagine that to be degraded significantly in about a year or so.

03-19-2008, 03:26 PM

I heard some other threads suggesting getting the battery replaced under applecare warranty. How bad does the battery have to get for this to be an option? I'm guessing my case doesn't apply here but, 94% after only 7 load cycles just seems kinda odd.

03-19-2008, 03:29 PM

94% after such a short while is odd. Does apple warranty cover battery life? I've got a three year APP on the iBook and I find the battery life significantly lower than it was (around 4 hours now). Any chance of getting back to the old days?

Also the display has gone really really dim. I can hardly see anything.

03-19-2008, 04:35 PM

Im getting a macbook pro in about a week or two and one thing that I am worried about is the battery life which I hear is shorter than the normal macbook that I currently have.

03-19-2008, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by imme

Im getting a macbook pro in about a week or two and one thing that I am worried about is the battery life which I hear is shorter than the normal macbook that I currently have.

Yes, more powerful hardware use more energy. More energy use = less battery life. The current iteration of the MBP uses the new 45nm Penryn processors which are more power efficient than older models, but you still have a larger screen to power and keyboard backlighting and a true video card, so yes, the video life is potentially shorter. I get about 5 hours (presently). I'm sure the Penryn Macbooks will do better than that even.

03-19-2008, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by goobimama

94% after such a short while is odd. Does apple warranty cover battery life? I've got a three year APP on the iBook and I find the battery life significantly lower than it was (around 4 hours now). Any chance of getting back to the old days?

Also the display has gone really really dim. I can hardly see anything.

while lower than you like, thats normal. the batteries arent manufactured when you press submit order.

batteries sit for a period of time in the box before you order, could be months.

94% is fine.

03-19-2008, 08:51 PM

Originally Posted by cwa107

Yes, more powerful hardware use more energy. More energy use = less battery life. The current iteration of the MBP uses the new 45nm Penryn processors which are more power efficient than older models, but you still have a larger screen to power and keyboard backlighting and a true video card, so yes, the video life is potentially shorter. I get about 5 hours (presently). I'm sure the Penryn Macbooks will do better than that even.

the MBP are rated by apple for 1/2 hour MORE than the MBs.

im guessing they have a slightly bigger battery thought than the MBs.

im sure battery life has the potential to be sucked up much faster by the MBP with its ded card too.