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BurpetheadX · Jun 18, 2009, 10:41 PM

What am I to think? I have a brand new MacBook Pro 13" with the "seven hour battery" thats only getting three hours TOPS.

If it sits there and does nothing with the screen at half brightness i can hit 7 hours on the meter, but as soon as I pop open an e-mail and a webpage, the battery life estimate drops down 4 - 5 hours. Right now, it's reporting my battery is at 92%, and it says 2:09! TWO HOURS at 92%?

Is this 7-hour battery slogan a gimmick or do I have a lemon battery? It gets less battery life than my previous MacBook Black 2.2 Ghz.

Here is the coconut battery for the new 13" pro:

SierraDragon · Jun 19, 2009, 01:17 AM

Please, can't the hosts lose such ridiculous "poll" posts?

To the OP: has the box been back to Apple yet?

-Allen Wicks

BurpetheadX · Jun 19, 2009, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by SierraDragon

Please, can't the hosts lose such ridiculous "poll" posts?

To the OP: has the box been back to Apple yet?

-Allen Wicks

Chill out dude, the poll is for fun and could provide useful information about how many MacBooks are experiencing this issue.

Anyway, this topic is also being discussed at Apple - Support - Discussions - Macbook's 7 Hour Battery not working .... I will try calibration tonight.

besson3c · Jun 19, 2009, 02:45 PM

I'm sure that those 7 hour promises are spun in Apple's favor so that you can only get this if the machine is idling as you described. I see no logical way for an active computer to get anywhere near that based on how inefficient OS X itself is.

The more interesting test to me is whether/when these batteries start to lose charge capacity.

OreoCookie · Jun 19, 2009, 03:46 PM

Actually, the 15" model has been tested to top out at over 8 hours. However, you cannot transfer these results directly to the 13" model: the new battery has an approximately 30 % larger capacity than that of its immediate predecessor and I would expect that the battery life increases by pretty much the same amount. (The 15" model saw an increase of 46 %, much larger than that of the 13" ProBook.)

In AnandTech's test, the unibody MacBook (non-Pro) lasts 4.77 hours in their wireless browsing test. If you increase that by 30 % (which is the increase in battery capacity), you arrive at 6.2 hours. Not quite 7, but `pretty good.'

However, since they use a separate benchmark for web + flash (because flash eats cpu cycles for breakfast, please fix it Adobe!), the 15" ProBook lasts 6.5 hours as opposed to 8.1 (-20 %). 80 % of 6.2 hours is about 5.0 hours of battery life for the 13" ProBook in AnandTech's flash browsing test suite.

Similar arguments for their most cpu-intensive test suggest that the new 13" would last about 4 hours.

From your post, it seems that you haven't run down your ProBook to zero, but rather relied on OS X' estimate of remaining uptime. Just try it. If it doesn't last nearly as long as promised, reset the battery, fully charge it and then fully discharge it. If that hasn't worked, post again.

l008com · Jun 20, 2009, 03:46 AM

Originally Posted by BurpetheadX

...the poll is for fun and could provide useful information...

Thats pretty unlikely since all three choices are the same, no choice for 'my battery works as advertised'

Cold Warrior · Jun 20, 2009, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by l008com

Thats pretty unlikely since all three choices are the same, no choice for 'my battery works as advertised'

added

ghporter · Jun 20, 2009, 12:04 PM

Apple doesn't do a good job of explaining their battery test process on the new MBP page, but they imply that the wireless performance tests are separate from the regular battery run time tests-which makes tons of sense. If you turn off everything you're not using (WiFi, Bluetooth, any processes or widgets you're not actively using, etc.) you'll almost definitely get much longer run time.

I'd like to see PC Magazine do their "very thorough" run tests on the new Unibody line to see what they come up with. Anandtech is good, but PC Magazine actually comes out on top in the "independent testing" department.

msuper69 · Jun 23, 2009, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by BurpetheadX

Chill out dude, the poll is for fun and could provide useful information about how many MacBooks are experiencing this issue.

...

Well it is fun. A poll that hasn't received a single response in 5 days is funny.

SSharon · Jun 23, 2009, 11:16 PM

I just picked up a 13" MBP today so I will vote on my battery life once I have it for a few days and have some real world data. At the moment anything beats the battery life on my 5 year old ibook.

CreepDogg · Jun 24, 2009, 08:13 AM

I've had my 13" MBP for a couple days and have only had it on battery for 1-1/2 hours or so at a time. But the meter often tells me I have 7 hours+ left, so it looks to me like it's as advertised.

My wife just got a new 15" as well (lucky us!), and I will say the battery meter on my 13" tends to fluctuate a bit more than on her 15", but I haven't seen any issues that would make me think battery life would be markedly shorter.

BurpetheadX · Jun 24, 2009, 01:43 PM

I can confirm that my battery appears to be working properly after a day-long calibration process.

Before, the estimated time was all over the place from 2 hours to 5 hours. Now it is stable and I seem to be getting at least 4 hours with normal use. Idle, the estimated time says 8 hours.

No user should have to calibrate their battery out of the box, and many people don't know about the technique. So I wonder how many normal users out there are getting poor battery life and just don't know any better?

SierraDragon · Jun 24, 2009, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by BurpetheadX

No user should have to calibrate their battery out of the box, and many people don't know about the technique.

Agreed. It would seem that calibration should be done by a robot prepurchase as a QA/QC issue if nothing else. Maybe Apple thinks the time involved is cost-prohibitive, but IMO the negative PR must be worse than the calibration cost.

-Allen Wicks

SSharon · Jun 24, 2009, 07:51 PM

I am 5.25 hours in with wifi on(BT off) and what I would consider light web and word processing usage. The backlit keyboard has also been on and off in that time.
The battery reads 20% charge remaining so I am impressed.

The computer itself is scary fast compared to my ibook. 4gb of ram and a 500gb HD are nice upgrades as well.

l008com · Jun 24, 2009, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by ssharon

the computer itself is scary fast compared to my ibook.

duh!

DCJ001 · Jun 24, 2009, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by SSharon

The computer itself is scary fast compared to my ibook.

My car is scary fast compared to my mailbox.

davidflas · Jun 24, 2009, 10:10 PM

Here's a quick question, the new batteries don't seem to be more than 10% higher in capacity than the one in my late 2007 2.2Ghz Macbook. Are the new ones that much more power efficient? Here's a shot of my battery for reference.

SSharon · Jun 24, 2009, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by DCJ001

My car is scary fast compared to my mailbox.

lol. Not that the ibook was blazing fast when I bought it new, but it was a very capable machine (it got 6 hours battery life as well when it was new). I doubt your mailbox was ever as capable as your car, but then again you might have a nice mailbox and a junky car.

Simon · Jun 25, 2009, 03:31 AM

All this reasoning about battery life based on what the indicator says is nonsense. The indicator is a diagnostic for your battery calibration, not your battery's performance.

The only way to really test battery performance is to run a full battery all the way down. Clock that while idle and you will measure roughly what Apple says. Reduce that by ~50% if you're producing load. Even less under heavy load.

If you suspect you have a bad battery, check the Sys Profiler > Hardware > Power for remaining full charge capacity. Then ask here. But drawing conclusions about battery performance based on the battery indicator number is baloney.

DCJ001 · Jun 26, 2009, 01:22 AM

AppleInsider | Mossberg: New MacBook Pro has best battery life "ever tested"

SSharon · Jun 26, 2009, 10:43 AM

After running my battery completely down until the MBP saved state and the screen went black I now notice my max charge has increased since my earlier test.

gatesbuster · Jul 12, 2009, 11:06 AM

I agree with some other posts; I don't know if it's an issue or the way it is but battery life is not as advertised. I did recalibrate twice the battery and I do not get more than 3 hours and 40 minutes before it dyed. I bought this laptop to get the all day battery work ?? I'll bring it at the store to figure out if it's an issue. Disapointing; traveling quite a bit I will keep doing it with my old macbook pro with a spare battery. This new 13" gets the same battery as my old macbook 13 black. It also overheats.

ghporter · Jul 12, 2009, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by gatesbuster

I agree with some other posts; I don't know if it's an issue or the way it is but battery life is not as advertised. I did recalibrate twice the battery and I do not get more than 3 hours and 40 minutes before it dyed. I bought this laptop to get the all day battery work ?? I'll bring it at the store to figure out if it's an issue. Disapointing; traveling quite a bit I will keep doing it with my old macbook pro with a spare battery. This new 13" gets the same battery as my old macbook 13 black. It also overheats.

Are you taking steps to maximize battery life, like turning off WiFi and Bluetooth, reducing screen brightness, and such? Over 3 and a half hours is not shabby for any laptop running with everything turned on.

ApertureValue · Jul 12, 2009, 01:16 PM

Anecdotally, all I can say is that on my brand new 15" MBP (with non-removable battery - i.e., the "7 hour" battery), no matter whether I use the 9400M or the 9600M GT, I won't get anywhere near 7 hours while doing much of anything. If my MBP is asleep with the lid closed, then ok...I'll get 7 hours.

Battery life is always overinflated by every company.

Simon · Jul 12, 2009, 02:51 PM

If you get only 7h in sleep you bought a lemon and should have it fixed/replaced.

Also, it's not just Apple claiming 7h battery life. Independent testing by Anandtech showed 8:13.

gatesbuster · Jul 18, 2009, 06:42 PM

yes everything is off except wifi as basically tested during some web browsing or using word. The battery is very disappointing; it's the same as the old black macbook which had a great battery life. They should have sticked with the replaceableone. My only alterrnative now is to purchase the hyperMac battery for cross atlantic flights

OreoCookie · Jul 18, 2009, 06:44 PM

My office mate got a 13" ProBook and after working on it for 5 hours, it still had about 20 % juice left -- even though it wasn't fully charged! Very impressive.

tripletaker · Jul 22, 2009, 04:00 PM

13" MBP:

I'm getting about 5 and a half hours with my computer if constantly used. But most of the times when I'm using it, I'm not constantly on and I usually turn the display off so it often goes a lot longer than 5 and a half hours.

Rumor · Jul 22, 2009, 09:07 PM

I rarely go five or more hours in one sitting, so I am not sure what the overall time would be. However, I haven't had any problems with battery life while I am using it. I got down to 20% the other day and had about two hours left on the counter. This is browsing the web, email, Adium, and Colloquy running.

arthurleejoice · Feb 2, 2010, 07:17 AM

I'm happy to discover a forum where people share my opinion! I thought I was the only one on earth to have this problem! When i bought my MBP 13 5 months ago I was very happy with it. As an ex-PC user, I was impressed to see during our vacation to see that everybody on PC was running their computer plugged, whereas the only Macbook was running hours on battery.

I am using mine mainly plugged and always with wireless on. As a new Mac user, it is true that during the first weeks I didn't know I had to calibrate the battery, and it seems that after 5 months i have lost 10% of its capacity. Bummer! Lately I've tried to calibrate it again, but I've lost even more capacity!

Stupidly, I've bought mine in another country and for replacing it I'm stuck! Any idea how I should proceed to calibrate the battery properly? Should I NOT use it while it's charging from scratch?

ghporter · Feb 2, 2010, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by arthurleejoice

Should I NOT use it while it's charging from scratch?

Welcome to our forums!

Yes, you should not use the computer while it's "charging from scratch." Let it charge while off (it will complete charging much quicker that way), and then use it. Overnight charging is a good strategy.

Simon · Feb 2, 2010, 08:36 AM

Calibrate it according to Apple's instructions.

If indeed your battery fails to meet Apple's specs they will replace it under warranty no matter where you are. Give them a call. Be prepared to have stuff like serial no., battery parameters, etc. at hand.

Mustakin ahnad · Jul 17, 2012, 06:29 AM

I have a Macbook from early 2008, and right now it has 1GB of RAM (512 MB per bus). I was planning to switch from 1GB to 4GB, but I've heard that increasing the RAM significantly shortens the battery life.

To what extent is this true? My battery is already pretty old, and doesn't last for more than 2.5 hours or so. Will switching to 4GB mean buying a new battery?

http://www.techyv.com/questions/what-battery-life-new-macbook-pro-13

msuper69 · Jul 17, 2012, 06:34 AM

A four year old battery might very well need to be replaced.

Jul 17, 2012, 06:56 AM

Greetings. I am unable to delete my posts, and apparently you moderators are on some kind of a strike.

Therefore, I have removed the content of the original post by hand.

I am asking for this post to be deleted, since I don't seem to have the option to do that myself.

msuper69 · Jul 17, 2012, 07:01 AM

Because I failed to notice that it was so old.
Sorry about that.

Salty · Jul 26, 2012, 07:34 PM

On my 16 month old 13 inch, 2.7Ghz i7 after 2 hours working on my book at a restaurant I like to write at I generally have around 70% of my battery left. When I'm home I always have it on the charger to prevent wasting charge cycles. I've also got an SSD and a 1TB HDD inside.

Also people who use the battery estimate as a rest are like people who use YouTube as a speed test for the internet.

SierraDragon · Jul 27, 2012, 09:12 AM

Last time I checked (info available from Apple online) Apple's recommendation was to use the battery like a commuter might, not leave it on the charger full time. Although they rate charge cycles, I do believe that leaving it full time on the charger is not ideal.

-Allen

Jul 28, 2012, 07:37 AM

Greetings. I am unable to delete my posts, and apparently you moderators are on some kind of a strike.

Therefore, I have removed the content of the original post by hand.

I am asking for this post to be deleted, since I don't seem to have the option to do that myself.