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Zaurus · Aug 13, 2007, 02:12 PM

i bought my MBP for only few weeks
can't believe my battery will only give me maximum of 4hrs
( i have everything set to minimal power usage + i only have 1 charged cycle on my battery)

it said 6hrs on Apple's web site

anyone has this problem?
thanks

Cold Warrior · Aug 13, 2007, 02:27 PM

What kinds of stuff are you doing with it during those 4 hours?

Zaurus · Aug 13, 2007, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

What kinds of stuff are you doing with it during those 4 hours?

reading pdf (using lowest brightness, backlight keyboard off, turn off airport , everything is at minimal)

i used the same setting as my previous Powerbook, and it gives me 5 hrs (same as Apple's web site)

mfbernstein · Aug 13, 2007, 05:50 PM

The Intel-based portables do use more power than their PPC counterparts, that's a fact. I doubt you'll get much more than 4-hours on a charge (my MBP is lucky to get 3 hours with normal usage, 6 hours is, IMO, a marketing gimmick on Apple's part).

Still, you might want to check if there are any background processes preventing the disk from spinning down. Also, use a program like CoreDuoTemp to check whether the processor speed is being dropped to the minimum when you're not on AC power.

ibook_steve · Aug 13, 2007, 05:57 PM

The numbers that are given for battery life are always taken when the machine is running in a non-real world situation. You will never get 6 hours if you use the computer even remotely close to normal. You should be *really* happy to get 4 hours. This is the way it's been in the industry for years.

Steve

Waragainstsleep · Aug 13, 2007, 06:05 PM

Battery life is not often close to the quoted specs.
I'm amazed you Americans don't have hundreds of class actions running over quoted battery life specs.

I probably shouldn't put ideas in your heads......

bballe336 · Aug 13, 2007, 07:53 PM

4 hours is great. I get 3 hours if I'm lucky.

ibook_steve · Aug 13, 2007, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

Battery life is not often close to the quoted specs.
I'm amazed you Americans don't have hundreds of class actions running over quoted battery life specs.

I probably shouldn't put ideas in your heads......

Nobody would ever win such a suit. Like I said, it *is* theoretically possible to get to these battery specs. However, the machine is not in a usable state.

Steve

mduell · Aug 13, 2007, 08:49 PM

Four hours is fantastic for a MBP.

Zaurus · Aug 13, 2007, 11:03 PM

well...

no wonder my friend is saying how great is his Dell ultraportable which uses Intel's ULV processor

it can have like 7 hrs of battery usage

offtopic: why doesn't Apple release a subnotebook uses Intel's ULV processor?

JustinHorne · Aug 14, 2007, 02:05 AM

Probably because the r&D costs for such a machine (and the fact that it's Apple) would overpower the small market share it would likely have. 13" is actually considered rather portable, and I can't see Apple ever doing under a 12 inch (full size keyboard size)

Simon · Aug 14, 2007, 05:39 AM

As others have pointed out the 6h figure is nothing you'd get in a real world test. I get ~3h on my MBP with medium to light use. At 100% load that becomes significantly less. If I turn off AP/BT and lower the brightness like you did I can also reach 4h, but only under medium to light use.

Unfortunately that's the price you pay for having a fast CPU and a comparably power-hungry mobile GPU. A sub-notebook with integrated graphics, an ULV C2D and possibly a SSD would be an alternative, but performance would be significantly reduced for obvious reasons. There have been a lot of threads discussing the reasons for Apple not to do such a MB lite. And there are quite a few people that believe Apple will in fact eventually introduce such a Mac.

Zaurus · Aug 14, 2007, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

As others have pointed out the 6h figure is nothing you'd get in a real world test. I get ~3h on my MBP with medium to light use. At 100% load that becomes significantly less. If I turn off AP/BT and lower the brightness like you did I can also reach 4h, but only under medium to light use.

Unfortunately that's the price you pay for having a fast CPU and a comparably power-hungry mobile GPU. A sub-notebook with integrated graphics, an ULV C2D and possibly a SSD would be an alternative, but performance would be significantly reduced for obvious reasons. There have been a lot of threads discussing the reasons for Apple not to do such a MB lite. And there are quite a few people that believe Apple will in fact eventually introduce such a Mac.

hope they did
then i can switch immediately

ghporter · Aug 14, 2007, 12:14 PM

I get around 2 1/2 hours without doing anything to reduce power usage with my MBP, and a bit over 3 if I turn off my AirPort card. Real world usage includes actually running programs that do something. Manufacturers' battery run times are almost always "ultra best case with a little divine intervention" quotes.

In an issue from last November, PC Magazine reviewed the 15" MBP Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz version, and they got 2hr 45min on their "MobileMark 2005" test suite. That's really a respectable run time for a machine as capable as the MBP.

Zaurus · Aug 16, 2007, 01:14 PM

so i guess every MBP owners here have the same issue?

ghporter · Aug 17, 2007, 04:42 PM

I wouldn't call it an "issue." I'd call it "advertising the best possible numbers." Real life is never "best possible," now is it? But getting four hours on one charge is really spectacular.

richwig83 · Aug 17, 2007, 05:00 PM

I don't even get 4 hrs on my macbook!!!

nJm · Aug 17, 2007, 08:03 PM

I don't think I'd get any more than 4 hours out of mine either. Then again I never turn off airport so have never really tried to squeeze every last drop out of it.

But I don't mind, it still has great battery life for a laptop of its performance. I think of it like advertised car fuel economy. Apparently my VW should get around 8L/100km but I tend to average 9.5L/100km. For my day to day driving it would be impossible to get it much lower than I do... but I know they would have got their figure in a special controlled environment.

JoshuaZ · Aug 17, 2007, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Four hours is fantastic for a MBP.

I feel the same way. I was the "4 hours" and was all "Damn, I wish my 12 powerbook had ever gotten 4 hours." Then I looked at my new Macbook Pro and hugged it.

jonswan · Aug 20, 2007, 08:46 PM

I love Apple but I don't know how they dare say that MBPs can get 6 hrs - that is simply not possible unless you switched everything off and blackened the screen and then perhaps you'd get 5. My 2.33 gets over 3 hours with careful management. If only they could be more honest, seeing as they are trustworthy in most things.

Chazzer3 · Aug 21, 2007, 07:36 AM

There are some extended batteries available from NuPower I think. Which apparantly give significant gains, but I'm not sure.

Charlie -

Chazzer3 · Aug 21, 2007, 07:39 AM

Here: Battery, Rechargeable: MacBook Pro 15, TruePower - FastMac