Unibody battery life

I have a new, refurbed, macbook (unibody). Have had it for roughly 2 months. I can only get about 3 hours max without being plugged in and ONLY using firefox with no downloading, word processing, iTunes or anything. Is this a little short??? I just unplugged it about 20 minutes ago, fully charged, and it's already at 71%.

Is this a little ridiculous for a new MB and only using the internet??

haha watching porn videos does a number on the batteries too...

Check your screen brightness.

Yea, that seems short. I just got mine on thursday and browsing at night on a full charge with aim and itunes open, i get about 5-5:30. Also refurbed. 2GHz model, so no backlit keyboard or anything. But yea, maybe turn your screen down?

Or post your battery stats from System Profiler. What's the capacity?

Have you done this Not sure if this is applicable to the Unibody but probably worth a hunt for Unibody info.

Here is my battery info:

Battery Information:

Model Information:
Serial Number: SMP-bq20z951-3a62-120e
Manufacturer: SMP
Device name: bq20z951
Pack Lot Code: 0000
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 002a
Hardware Revision: 000a
Cell Revision: 0100
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4174
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4174
Health Information:
Cycle count: 12
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12529

System Power Settings:

AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 19
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 2
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: Yes

Hardware Configuration:

UPS Installed: No

AC Charger Information:

Connected: Yes
Charging: No

should the "Full charge capacity (mAh)" only be at 4174? I thought they were more than that...seems low to me. Maybe you have a one-in-a-few batteries that can't hold it's power. Considering the amount of time you have had it, and the fact that it is refurbed, having only 12 cycles is low. Use the complete battery up until it shuts down without having it plugged in. let it sit for about 20 minutes. Then, charge it up, most likely while you are sleeping. I would do this a couple of times. Try to do it before you go to sleep so that you don't mess with the charging if it were in use.

Download Coconut Battery and post the information here.

Sounds like it need calibrating at least, but it could be a dud. You might just want to save the hassle and take it back for a replacement.

Here's mine:

Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4338
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4338
Health Information:
Cycle count: 28
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 168
Voltage (mV): 12560

So yeah, your full charge capacity is looking a little low. If I turn my brightness down (way down mind you!) and turn off bluetooth, I get around 4 hours battery life with wifi on and 5ish with wifi off.

Aptmunich said:

So yeah, your full charge capacity is looking a little low. If I turn my brightness down (way down mind you!) and turn off bluetooth, I get around 4 hours battery life with wifi on and 5ish with wifi off.

Click to expand...

I have the 2 ghz CD MacBook Black (2006). A typical study session will be MS Word, a couple of PDFs, 5 - 10 Firefox tabs (usually Journal databases), Mail, iCal and Adium, and with 5 - brightness dots, I get almost exactly 4 hours as well. I thought the new Macs had much better battery life.

Zoolook said:

I have the 2 ghz CD MacBook Black (2006). A typical study session will be MS Word, a couple of PDFs, 5 - 10 Firefox tabs (usually Journal databases), Mail, iCal and Adium, and with 5 - brightness dots, I get almost exactly 4 hours as well. I thought the new Macs had much better battery life.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that was about my experience with my old 2006 white macbook as well... except that the battery life was quite a bit shorter towards the end (but I use the battery heavily).

The battery life is much better - relative to the performance improvements
Measured in hours, it's about the same. The only exception is the new 17" MBP.

Thanks guys. I will download coconut battery and post the details. maybe i'll try a trip to the apple store this week :-/

Link to battery info via coconut battery:

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2235/picture1gyw.png

What is your brightness set at that affects your battery time alot and your battery is normal

I have a strange problem with my battery...
The thingy on the top right corner (where the time is also displayed) tells me that my battery is charged. However, when i go to energy saver preferences it tells me that my battery is 97% charged. This is weird, because i've had my laptop plugged in for several days now. Coconut tells me exactly the same(that the charge is on 97%).
Is this just telling me that my battery cannot be fully charged anymore?
I have a brand new MBP unibody, that is 3 months old according to coconut, with 15 charge cycles.

Help anyone?
much appreciated

Slim-city said:

I have a strange problem with my battery...
The thingy on the top right corner (where the time is also displayed) tells me that my battery is charged. However, when i go to energy saver preferences it tells me that my battery is 97% charged. This is weird, because i've had my laptop plugged in for several days now. Coconut tells me exactly the same(that the charge is on 97%).
Is this just telling me that my battery cannot be fully charged anymore?
I have a brand new MBP unibody, that is 3 months old according to coconut, with 15 charge cycles.

Help anyone?
much appreciated

Click to expand...

it seems about normal considering there are only 15 cycles in 3 months.

you should have the warrant and battery should be covered talk to apple. my macbook white has a new battery(less then 1 month old) and lasts almost 8 hours, so the new macbooks should be better.