Bad Battery Performance?

I was just wondering how people's macs perform off the charger.

My mac pro is about a year old and i have it plugged in most of the time when i am around the house. The battery has less then 50 cycles on it and i make sure to drain it fully( use it till it tells me its turning itself off) at least once a month according to battery care articles i read from apple.

I really only seem to get about 3.5 hours out of the battery and that's doing menial things like browsing the internet. I know that the more stuff you have going on the more juice the mac will need the draw from the battery, but im just wondering if others are getting more life out of their batteries off the charger.

"Menial" things like browsing the internet can be a big drain on your battery.
AirPort wireless is a major battery drainer on its own.
3.5 hours is pretty much par for the course with wireless internet browsing alone.

I would suggest dimming your display as low as you can with still being able to see clearly. Doing so will gain you some battery time.

I did a test on my brand new 13" MBP to see if all the hyped claims are true.

They are.

Brightness of the screen turned down, bluetooth off using the trackpad and internal keyboard (which is much improved over the old Whitebook I had) and only WiFi. Let it sleep between times I was actually using it.

Got about 6.5 hours before I plugged it back in. Could have gone for more but it was nearing quitting time when I close the lid and pack it up for transport.

ok thanks for the info guys. I was hoping i would get that response because i would have hated to have to send this baby back to apple.

Just got a new macbook pro 15incher and I'll tell you this thing is awesome when it comes to battery life. Using OS X i get atleast 5 hours if not more of use. (web browsing, ichat, wifi on, bluetooth turned off, keyboard dimmed halfway and screen dimmed about 1/3rd) It's great I just sit on my bed for hours on end and browse forums :-D. I love this thing. <3

If I am not using the mighty mouse then it lasts almost as long as apple state!

EggrollShop said:

Just got a new macbook pro 15incher and I'll tell you this thing is awesome when it comes to battery life. Using OS X i get atleast 5 hours if not more of use. (web browsing, ichat, wifi on, bluetooth turned off, keyboard dimmed halfway and screen dimmed about 1/3rd) It's great I just sit on my bed for hours on end and browse forums :-D. I love this thing. <3

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Make sure if you're sitting your Mac on the bed, you have it on a stand and not blocking the vents at the hinge.

In 2 1/2 yrs, I've never seen 4 hrs on either of the batteries from my MBP, although that's what it'll tell me upon first disconnecting it from power.

I'm curious what screen brightness compromises people make for battery.

I used to use a Samsung laptop for classes. I'd dim the screen to its absolute lowest, it was barely visible, but I obviously liked having it a bit brighter. I had to have it on its absolute lowest so that I could last for more than four hours, which I needed as some days I'd have that amount of lectures (seminars I don't usually use a laptop in).

Just curious how dim I'll need to go really on my 13" MBP. Is there a way, or an app, to create profiles too? I'd like to set a "profile" for when I'm in classes, so I just select it and it puts my screen, keyboard brightness at a level I set, and turns off bluetooth etc. I don't always want to have to enable/disable bluetooth as necessary when I'm on the battery

I was actually somewhat disappointed in my new MBP battery. Admittedly, I did get a little over 5 hours on it, but I could get 4.5 hours on a new battery on my old iBook. I was hoping for something closer to the actual 7 hours. As stated above, I was using wireless internet, but that was about it (a couple somewhat small apps running in background too). I'm not complaining really, just kind of surprised it wasn't much longer of a battery life with all the hype. Oh well, good thing I don't usually use it for more than 2 hours unplugged anyway.

I have been using my MBP for the last 45 mins off charge, med keylight, med screen, bluetooth off - and it is still showing 7h:36m left or 97%.

I have a new 17" MBP and I have been getting amazing battery results with it (using the slower video card). It surprised me as I was sure the claims were marketing ploys