[crazeinc]

I'm guessing there's more to the 10-hour battery life in the new 13" MBPro than just a better battery, but I was thinking if there was any chance they have the same form-factor, it would be awesome to increase the battery life in my 2009 13" MBPro. Anybody know if this is possible?

[imitchellg5]

I don't think the battery is changed at all. I'll get the technical manual to be sure, but I believe the increase is due to the efficiency of the processor and the GPU.

[crazeinc]

Thanks for checking. If the different graphics card bumped the battery life 3 hours, color me impressed.

[CharlesS]

The processor in the 13" model is the same Core 2 Duo as the old one (albeit with a slightly higher clock speed), so that can't be it unless the new integrated GPU is amazing (which it could be, I suppose).

edit: this was intended to be a response to imitchellg5.

[mduell]

The battery capacity changed, I'd be surprised if the dimensions didn't change.

[que_ball]

I'm really interested to hear some real world tests on this new battery.

My current 13" (2009) is pretty good but always seems to run out of juice on me a little too soon. I'm sure that 10 hours is pushing things on the specs but I haven't seen a laptop manufacturer yet who doesn't put out a very optimistic estimate on their battery life.

You would think that with a claim of 10 hours you will get at least 5 hours life under heavy use. Maybe 6-7 under what I would consider average use and you might hit 9 hours if you avoid web use on wifi and stick to light duty applications.

My guess:
5 hours - Stream HD video
6-7hours - Constant web browsing on Wi-Fi with multiple tabs open
9-10hours - No apps open except a single low CPU task like a text editor and 50% screen brightness and radios disabled.

[Simon]

The batteries aren't identical that's for sure.

previously: 58 Wh
now: 63.5 Wh

[imitchellg5]

Sorry about taking a long time to follow up. The batteries have different capacities, but the size is unchanged. Theoretically you could drop one in.

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by Simon 

The batteries aren't identical that's for sure.

previously: 58 Wh
now: 63.5 Wh

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

Sorry about taking a long time to follow up. The batteries have different capacities, but the size is unchanged. Theoretically you could drop one in.

You could, but seeing as the new one has a higher capacity, would you want to?

[SkaGoat]

Anyone have $1200 to waste trying it out?

[crazeinc]

Originally Posted by Koralatov 

You could, but seeing as the new one has a higher capacity, would you want to?

Longer battery life, that was the point of my question.

Apple should allow 2009 unibody owners to pay a bit extra to exchange their batteries for this new higher capacity. It looks like it's $130 to let apple replace your battery, i'd be willing to pay $200 to get this new one if i could squeeze a couple more hours of life out of this thing.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by SkaGoat 

Anyone have $1200 to waste trying it out?

Why would it cost $1,200?

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by crazeinc 

Longer battery life, that was the point of my question.

Apple should allow 2009 unibody owners to pay a bit extra to exchange their batteries for this new higher capacity. It looks like it's $130 to let apple replace your battery, i'd be willing to pay $200 to get this new one if i could squeeze a couple more hours of life out of this thing.

You can probably just buy the battery from Apple if you ask nicely.

[crazeinc]

I just got off the phone with Apple care and the tech claimed it was only the GPU that gave the 3-hour life bump and that I couldn't purchase one of the new batteries.

So, that went well.

[macaddict0001]

The battery is only ten percent larger anyway not 50% as the runtime suggests, so I would think any gains would be minimal.