13" Macbook Pro Battery

So I bought a 13" MBP from Craigslist last Friday. It was in literally new condition, battery has 0 charges, and everything is in tact. I actually bought it for my girlfriend; she only uses lightweight programs: Safari, Skype, MS Word. Thats kind of it.

Well the problem is at most she only gets 3-4 hours. Isn't it suppose to provide up to 7 hours? What can be the problem? Faulty battery perhaps?

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks

-Roger

Was it listed as new...
I might be a sceptic but would be a little weird as to not have a single cycle .....

Have you tried to calibrate the battery ?? Calibrating your battery .......

And you should get more out of it than that .....

Cheers

Hey thanks for the reply. I bought this Macbook off of Craigslist and yes I checked the "About this Mac" before I bought it and the cycle count was 0. With Cocunut Battery, it says the Macbook is 3 weeks old. Everything in the MBP's box was still new; black cloth still in its plastic, stickers still on sheet, even the charger still had the plastic over. The battery is a user non-servicable one so thats something for you to think about.

I calibrated it as soon as I reinstalled the OS. Still it caps out at 4 hours, more or less with those lightweight applications.

I am skeptic about taking it to the Apple Store as I do not know about the previous owner (whether he actually owned it or not). Whats my next option? Buy a new battery and install it myself?

Give it a few more days.... 4 hours is still pretty good for a notebook.

What is your brightness set at? If it is at full brightness, it may only get 4-5 hours of battery life.

And on coconut battery, what does it say that the original battery capacity is? It should be 5450 mAH and around 5450 mAH for the current capacity.

Well the uMBP is at my girlfriends house, so I can't check it but I have noticed the capacity is at least 700+ mAH at least over the actual capacity.

As far as the brightness, It is usually at about 70-90%. I know that does play a factor in battery life but I don't think it should because even with my 15.4" uMBP (Late 08) I can get up to 4 hours.


The reason I am also complaining is because she spends hours away from an outlet at a time and sometimes just needs the computer. For example today, she spent 13 hours away from the outlet. She obviously didn't use it for that long but in intervals.

Thanks.

-Roger

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the battery holds 700 mAH less than it should?

This would for sure cause the problem... Probably a defective battery.

Bring it into the Apple Store and get it replaced.

You may have to register your mac, but I am not quite sure how that works.

Check out this.

No what I meant was the the capacity is lower than the actual current state.

Very interesting....

Try doing this when you get the chance and see if there is any improvement.

Instructions are kind of hard to find, so here they are.

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.

On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.

Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.

Press the power button to turn on the computer.

quick question.... how much time during the 4 hours video chatting on skype?

At most we did skype video last night for about 5 minutes.

@alexsd What is this process? Will try today.

It resets the SMC. It won't erase anything, don't worry!

The System Management Controller (SMC) is responsible for many low-level functions on Intel-based Macs including some stuff to do with the battery.

I hope that it resolves your issue. =)

Here's the link again. Clicky


Scroll down to where it says:
Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own.

Alright, thanks. I spoke before clicking on link. I will try it an report back with results.