02-20-2007, 10:51 PM

how long is the battery supposed to last. this macbook is only a month old and wen it is fully charged it says it has 2:35 remaining... is this normal?

02-20-2007, 11:04 PM

what are the specs on your macbook?

Tips for maximizing your Notebook battery charge

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50666

02-20-2007, 11:13 PM

macbook c2d 2.0 GHz, 1 gb ram, 80gb hard drive...

02-20-2007, 11:21 PM

here are the specs on your machine..

http://support.apple.com/specs/macbo...late_2006.html

in there it states you should get 6 hours.

02-20-2007, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by jamesx

macbook c2d 2.0 GHz, 1 gb ram, 80gb hard drive...

It's useful life will degrade over time and more rapidly depending the conditions in which you keep it. It also doesn't hurt to calibrate it now and then. CoconutBattery is a handy little app to compare the potential of your battery to how you might expect a new one to perform. And of course the length of charge will vary widely depending on what you have turned on (Bluetooth, Airport, brightness of the screen, performance level, etc...).

02-20-2007, 11:24 PM

one thing I can tell you. my PB says it should hold a charge for 5.5 hours.. I have NEVER gotten that much out of one charge. Even with the screen set of really low brightness.. I am lucky to get 2.5hrs on a full charge with the screen brightness turned down to half or less.

02-21-2007, 02:52 AM

James,

You ought to check on your battery's capacity using Coconut Battery. When your battery information says 2:35 remaining, does it really turn out to be 2:35? If not, you should also try calibrating your battery.

About the six hours of battery life... I don't know if that is really realistic. With bluetooth turned off and wifi turned off as well I still only get about five hours of life maximum. It all depends on your usage. Something that is graphic or cpu intensive will obviously draw more power (games, dvds, heavy computing, ect.)

After 106 Loadcycles and 7 months of life for my Macbook I am at 95% of my original battery capacity.

EDIT: I bring my macbook to class every day and get about 4.5 hours out of one charge with wireless on and brightness turned down to about 1/3, so it's not like it's bad or anything. I am generally very pleased with the battery life of my lappy :bone:

02-21-2007, 02:55 AM

Originally Posted by walmartconnect

James,

You ought to check on your battery's capacity using Coconut Battery. When your battery information says 2:35 remaining, does it really turn out to be 2:35? If not, you should also try calibrating your battery.

About the six hours of battery life... I don't know if that is really realistic. With bluetooth turned off and wifi turned off as well I still only get about five hours of life maximum. It all depends on your usage. Something that is graphic or cpu intensive will obviously draw more power (games, dvds, heavy computing, ect.)

After 106 Loadcycles and 7 months of life for my Macbook I am at 95% of my original battery capacity.

That's weird, I got my MacBook just 3 days ago and I'm at 95% too.

02-21-2007, 09:44 AM

i drained my battery completely last night and charged all night. according to coconut, my battery is at 94% of it s original capacity (4904 0f 5200). it is 7 weeks old and has 16 load cycles...

does apple offer a better battery? or is this the only option?

02-21-2007, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by jamesx

i drained my battery completely last night and charged all night. according to coconut, my battery is at 94% of it s original capacity (4904 0f 5200). it is 7 weeks old and has 16 load cycles...

does apple offer a better battery? or is this the only option?

That's it from Apple. I'm not sure about 3rd party. But keep in mind that your runtime will vary widely based on your settings. Turn your display brightness down, turn off Bluetooth (if you're not using it) and make sure Energy Saver is set to "Better Energy Savings" and you should be able to get 4 hours+, even with the slightly diminished capacity.

02-21-2007, 01:08 PM

alright, thanks for your reply. yesterday on a full charge it showed 2:30 remaining. after draining my battery completely, and charging all night, it now shows 4:35 remaining with the screen brightness low and it set on "better battery life". looks like its good to go. maybe good idea to drain the battery once a week or so...

how long do batteries usually last before needing to be replaced with a new one. i use it on batteries probably 5 or 6 hours a week... thanks.

02-21-2007, 04:38 PM

It varies, but as a general rule, they're usually good for a year (sometimes more) if you use them quite frequently.

02-21-2007, 06:14 PM

alright thanks a lot for all your help.

02-21-2007, 08:08 PM

how do you know how many load cycles has your battery gone through................is there a place that gives you the number or do you just remember how many times it nearly drained and u recharged it?

thanks

02-21-2007, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Mactime

how do you know how many load cycles has your battery gone through................is there a place that gives you the number or do you just remember how many times it nearly drained and u recharged it?

thanks

CoconutBattery (referenced above with download link) will tell you.