MacBook Battery Life Terrible

I switched for PC to Macs this fall before coming to school. I dont regret the switch one bit but part of the reason that I switched is because of the Battery life claiming to be 10 hours. So far I have been less than impressed.

I charged my MacBook last night, it was 100% full when I un plugged it. All I have done on it is Typed about 10 lines in Open Office, Read those 10 lines for 45 minutes and typed this and I am at 75 percent. The screen is set to 2 squares before its completely dark.

I just got this Mac and update it regularly. So everything is up to date. Is there anything I can do to make the battery last longer?

Try this procedure from Apple: (If it doesn't improve how long the battery lasts, you might want to have Apple check it for you.)

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Calibrating a MacBook or MacBook Pro battery

Calibrate the battery in your MacBook or MacBook Pro every month or two to keep your battery functioning at its fullest capacity.

To calibrate the battery:

Plug in the MagSafe power adapter and fully charge the MacBook or MacBook Pro battery until the light on the MagSafe connector changes to green and the Battery icon in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.

Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for two hours or longer. You may use your computer during this time as long as the power adapter is plugged in.

Disconnect the power adapter with the computer on and start using it with battery power. When the battery's charge gets low, you’ll see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.

Continue to keep your computer turned on until it goes to sleep. Save your work and close all applications when the battery's charge gets low and before the computer goes to sleep.

Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or longer.
Reconnect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged. You may use your computer during this time.

Repeat the calibration process every two months or so to keep the battery fully functioning. If you use your MacBook or MacBook Pro infrequently, it’s best to recalibrate the battery at least once a month.

Also, you have to keep in mind that battery life is contingent on load. If you have background programs or processes that are consuming resources, your battery life will be shortened significantly.

The first thing I'd do would be to open up Activity Monitor (Applications => Utilities) and sort by CPU utilization. If you see processes running and spiking the CPU, it should be no surprise that battery life is shortened.

I have a 2008 MacBook Pro. The battery is rated for 4 hours. Even under load, I generally get about 3 hours between charges -- and that battery carries a mAH rating well below yours. Apple always tends to be optimistic about battery life and runtime, but you should be getting at least 7-8 hours on a charge under nominal use.

Also realize that battery life is not a precise science. There is no "float in the tank" so to speak, so the readings you see in the OS are guesstimates based on trending. Calibrating the battery should improve those guesstimates, but I wouldn't take the claims of 75% life at any given moment for gospel.