Battery Life: Problem?

occupiedbytim · Jun 8, 2008

I just recently got my MacBook Pro and I noticed that it doesn't charge to the mentioned 5 hours of life. It only goes to 3 hours and 40 minutes or 97%.

This may be because I upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 320HD. Can anyone confirm this?

Should I take this to the Apple store? I'm a videographer who is always on the move and battery life is very important to me.

christm · Jun 8, 2008

Batteries always loose some capacity over time. This is probably normal, to save more battery, reduce your screen brightness and reduce the cpu performance

mac57 · Jun 8, 2008

occupiedbytim said:
This may be because I upgraded to 4GB RAM and a 320HD. Can anyone confirm this?

Just out of curiosity, which make/model of 320 GB HD did you select? Did you do the update yourself or get the Apple Store folks to do it?

I am thinking of exactly the same upgrade for my MBP - that is why I ask. I have been looking at Seagate's Momentus 7200.3 340 GB drive. It is on their web site, but they don't yet appear to be in the retail channel. All things in time.

christm · Jun 8, 2008

I think if you replace the hard drive the warranty is no longer active. Only ram allows the warranty to stay active

occupiedbytim · Jun 8, 2008

mac57 said:
Just out of curiosity, which make/model of 320 GB HD did you select? Did you do the update yourself or get the Apple Store folks to do it?

I am thinking of exactly the same upgrade for my MBP - that is why I ask. I have been looking at Seagate's Momentus 7200.3 340 GB drive. It is on their web site, but they don't yet appear to be in the retail channel. All things in time.

I actually just got this laptop off a friend's friend. It is just under two months old. He is an Apple Store employee and did it himself.

christm said:
I think if you replace the hard drive the warranty is no longer active. Only ram allows the warranty to stay active

Hopefully this isn't true.

occupiedbytim · Jun 8, 2008

Does anyone have a copy of the warranty terms?

Macks · Jun 8, 2008

I THINK changing the HD in a macbook pro voids the warranty as its alot more of a lengthier process than replacing it in a macbook, because in a macbook im pritty sure that changing the HD doesnt void the warranty

occupiedbytim · Jun 8, 2008

Hmm, even if the modification was done at an Apple Store from an Apple Store employee?

skaheadpunk · Jun 8, 2008

Macks said:
I THINK changing the HD in a macbook pro voids the warranty as its alot more of a lengthier process than replacing it in a macbook, because in a macbook im pritty sure that changing the HD doesnt void the warranty

Yeah, I think on a Macbook it's fine because it's hardly any more difficult than changing the RAM. Not sure about the Pro.

Apple Bottom · Jun 9, 2008

My MB Pro 17" goes about 4:40 if i dim the screen a bit. I dont think i can get 5 hrs unless i dim it to the lowest setting before it blacks out.

blackhand · Jun 10, 2008

I timed it and I did hit just under 5 hours, it was 4:40 something, with a dim light and simple internet browsing. But nothing fancy like playing flash games or streaming a lot of media. Really 5 hours in the max you'll get without doing very much at all.