How to get up to 7 hours life?

[CafeRacer]

I just bought a brand new 13" MBP last week and I notice I am not getting nowhere near 7 hours of battery life. Take into consideration that I am only surfing the web, what can be wrong? My friends acer mini laptop battery last for ever, it's not fair I paid $1200 and he only paid $400

 

[6string]

Ok.... it is upto 7hrs battery life, not 7hrs.
However, the norm is around 4hrs.
To get the maximum life out of it, you need to make sure that your airport is off, your bluetooth is off, your screen is dimmed, and your energy saver settings are set appropriately.

 

[chscag]

You can't compare a low powered Netbook with your MBP. Otherwise, you should have bought the Netbook. Apple states that the battery life is up to 7 hours and that depends on how it's used. Using WiFi is going to eat up battery time, screen brightness level, keyboard light, surrounding temperature (Fans coming on), etc. are all variables which are involved.

Regards.

 

[6string]

1 minute chscag
As for the Acer Mini, as chscag stated, and also, which would you prefer, your MBP, or that wee little netbook?
I would prefer one hour of battery life and having your MBP rather than having that Acer.

 

[alexsd123]

Half brightness, bluetooth turned off, and only using Safari should do the trick.

I have quite a bit of apps running when I use my MBP, so my battery life is less than the 7 hours too.

Have your friend with the acer try to run Call of Duty and see what it does. =D

 

[EndlessMac]

I just bought a brand new 13" MBP last week and I notice I am not getting nowhere near 7 hours of battery life.

What else do you have turned on? I get about 6 hours with Bluetooth, Airport card, and keyboard lights off. I also have my screen set to half power. My MBP was shipped with everything turned on so I assume that's how everyone's MBP is shipped. Try turning off anything unnecessary.

 

[quin]

I usually turn my MBP screen down to the last 2-3 notch. Airport on. Have Firefox, Mail, and Finder running. Bluetooth off. Keyboard light on the last setting. And the most important, placed the notebook on a cool flat surface. That power meter is very sensitive to anything warm on the notebook. When surfing the net limit to 2 or 3 tabs. No running video. This usually gives me 6 hours. I don't think I ever get 7 hrs out of mine yet.

 

[chscag]

1 minute chscag

Must be those quick and nimble guitar playing fingers.

BTW, love your new Avatar.

Regards.

 

[manymanymacs]

To advance your battery's life, try these things:
Turn off AirPort. This uses maybe 20% of your power on wireless transmitting.
Use TextEdit instead of MS Word. It uses less CPU and power.
Dim the screen. As long as you can see it without hurting yourself, you're fine.
Remove any external HDs/CDDs/DVDDs. They all drain power from the main battery.
Customize your settings in the 'Energy Saver' Preferences.
Don't play 3D games or run intensive graphs, they require heavy work from the graphics card, which uses lots of power.
Check this forum less often .
Good luck.

 

[RustProofCorn]

i don't know what i am doing right but i timed my mbp at 8 hrs 24min without doing anything as far as power saving methods. i played apps and used the internet through wifi. it was the day after i got the computer so i didn't turn anything off. matter a fact i don't even know how to check what my screen brightness is. bt is on though cause i tried to pair my iphone to it but that didn't work but the bt symbol is always up on the right top of my screen. when i unplug the power supply it always says over 7 hours and kinda goes up and down but always about 7 hours.

 

[alexsd123]

i don't know what i am doing right but i timed my mbp at 8 hrs 24min without doing anything as far as power saving methods. i played apps and used the internet through wifi. it was the day after i got the computer so i didn't turn anything off. matter a fact i don't even know how to check what my screen brightness is. bt is on though cause i tried to pair my iphone to it but that didn't work but the bt symbol is always up on the right top of my screen. when i unplug the power supply it always says over 7 hours and kinda goes up and down but always about 7 hours.

That's because your MBP is supposed to get 8 hours of battery life. =)