best way to make the battery last?

[formatc1702]

hey!

i just got my macbook pro and i am wondering what the best way would be to preserve my battery life.

i use my mbp mainly at home as a desktop replacement (so no need for batteries), but it's always nice to know you have a battery that will last more than 5 minutes when you need it.

so what's the best way?
- keep the batter inside and keep it charged at 100% by never disconnecting the mbp from the wall socket? (i used this on my previous vaio notebook, and the battery lasts like 20 minutes now!)
- remove the battery and use the wall socket at home, insert the battery only when i need it? in that case, what charge should be in the battery for storage? i once heard it should be at around 50%...
- use a combination of wall socket and battery at home to achieve complete charge and discharge cycles?
- something completely different maybe??

i hope you can help me out! thanks!

 

[novicew]

I found this article in Apple.com

 

[yellow19man]

If you use the computer exclusively as a desktop replacement let the battery go to 40% charged and take it out. Heat generated from your computer will affect battery performance. If you want some extra protection from loss of data because of electricity outage buy one of those Uninterrupted Power Sources.

But the above link provides information straight from Apple and I do follow it.

 

[formatc1702]

hey!

thanks for the apple link! that info is pretty detailed.

do you think dust could be an issue if i took the battery out? of course that "hole" would only be present when the mbp is sitting on the desk.. i think that is the best option for me, at least most of the time

 

[yellow19man]

hey!

thanks for the apple link! that info is pretty detailed.

do you think dust could be an issue if i took the battery out? of course that "hole" would only be present when the mbp is sitting on the desk.. i think that is the best option for me, at least most of the time

I've never had problems with dust with my old laptop when taking out the battery. If you are worried about this, just grab some compressed air.

 

[louiscy1]

the biggest issue is that when the battery is removed the macbook lock on 1gh...and with the battery installed launched to 1.83 etc...
because i had the same question i notice that when you take off the battery(then the processor speed locks to 1 ghz) and put my mac to sleep for 10 sec it use the maximum speed.
2. if you take some image captures from the system profiler/power you will see that the battery's mah are reducing from day by day if you leave it on all the time

 

[formatc1702]

hey?

where can i check if the processor is running at full speed? the system profiler still displays 2.2 ghz and that's what it should be... and why would it want to slow the processor down without battery? is there any real reason for it?

 

[louiscy1]

try coreduotemp and apple said that macbook couldnt handle the power for 2.2 ghz like urs without the battery installed...do some reaserch on the web for it...but as i told u before try my way

 

[formatc1702]

hey!

wow seems like you were right, but i still dont quite understand it.

i installed coreduotemp and it gave me the following result:
mini: 1.0 ghz - maxi: 1.83 ghz
current (no battery): 1.33 ghz
current (with battery): 1.83 ghz

so, it's true that it runs slower without it. but i have a 2.2 ghz cpu installed! (according to system profiler). so why isn't it running at full speed? i have energy settings set to better performance...
thanks for your help!

edit: or is there another cpu monitor program to get like a "second opinion"? maybe the change to santa rosa or something might not output the right readings?? (just some thoughts...)

 

[louiscy1]

maybe because with your use you dont need 2.2 ghz...did u try to put ur mac to sleep for 10 sec?

 

[formatc1702]

yes i tried the sleep thing, but the maximum i get is 1.83 ghz... i got some little program to calculate pi, but it doesn't get the cpu to 100% so i can't tell (right now i basically just have itunes and safari running..) what program would you recomment (free) to test the processor under heavy load?

the strange thing is that the cpu speed DOES change, but always between 1.0 and 1.83 ghz, according to coreduotemp, 1.83 is the maximum i can get

 

[louiscy1]

whys that tho?
i have a friend with a 2.2 and he can get the maximum speed...am not quite sure...well try using a heavy software like logic,photoshop etc

 

[formatc1702]

hey!

could you maybe recommend another program to measure the cpu frequency ? maybe one that officially supports santa rosa?

and the sleep trick isn't working, i can't get more than 1.0 ghz without the battery

 

[hvico]

CoreDuoTemp shows wrong ghz information on Santa Rosa Macbook Pros. This program shows the real thing:

http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.html

It is worse than you think, without the battery my 2.4 C2D Santa Rosa MBP runs at 800 Mhz!

This CoolBook software allows you to generate load on the processor to force it to throttle its speed, but without the battery it would not run over the min speed which is 800 mhz.

 

[akira_mac]

my macbook runs at full speed without the battery on!

 

[formatc1702]

isn't there maybe a hack to make the system/processor/whatever think there's a battery installed? there's always a hack for everything!

akira_mac: is it a santa rosa?

 

[hvico]

isn't there maybe a hack to make the system/processor/whatever think there's a battery installed? there's always a hack for everything!

akira_mac: is it a santa rosa?

And more important than that: Is it a Macbook Pro?

 

[husky]

the biggest issue is that when the battery is removed the macbook lock on 1gh...and with the battery installed launched to 1.83 etc...
because i had the same question i notice that when you take off the battery(then the processor speed locks to 1 ghz) and put my mac to sleep for 10 sec it use the maximum speed.

where are you going to see this info ?? (like what application..)

or are you using those programs..
thanks.