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12" vs 15" battery life

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betsbillabong

macrumors regular
Original poster
It sounds as if the 12" battery life is significantly better than the 15". Can anyone chime in with real world examples? I am leaning towards the 15" (and need to buy today!) but not if I couldn't run FCP/audio type applications for less than 2 hours. I would love to know from anyone and everyone:

(a) How much time do you get watching a DVD, ie can you finish a DVD?
(b) How much time do you get writing with networks turned off
(c) How much time do you get surfing the net with Airport
(d) How much time do you get doing processor-intensive stuff like running FCP, Logic, Max/MSP?

thx,
Betsey

PS If you read my buyer's remorse post: my 12" arrived and it was DOA! so i'm back to making a decision...
 
I got a DVD in, which was about...1 hr and 40 mins. with an hr + left on the battery. This was very close to the lowest brightness possible.
 
on my 17" ive watched Lord of the rings Return of the king, extended edition (the one with the film over 2 discs and an extra 1/2 hour of footage) on the train and had 30% left in the battery meter, then played quake 3 for about 20 mins aver airport with a friend (traveling with me) before it gave up and went to sleep on me.

cantr speak for the 12 or 15 tho sorry.
 
you need to remember that the battery life is prolonged by reducing the processor performance. if you are doing heavy stuff, then it's arguable which is more time-efficient: full processor doing the job faster but the battery lasting shorter or reduced processor doing the job slower but the battery lasting longer.

also, one of the biggest drains on the battery is the backlight, which eats more battery life for the 15" since the screen is bigger. if you can afford to turn off the screen while apps are churning away, then the battery life is prolonged.

i have an almost two years old 12" PB - rev. A. with airport on and screen turned down, i can surf the web and IM for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. brand new battery used to give me 4 1/2 hours or so.
 
betsbillabong said:
(a) How much time do you get watching a DVD, ie can you finish a DVD?
(b) How much time do you get writing with networks turned off
(c) How much time do you get surfing the net with Airport
(d) How much time do you get doing processor-intensive stuff like running FCP, Logic, Max/MSP?
Click to expand...

My 12-inch (1.33Ghz)
a: Yes I can easily finish most DVDs, think i'm getting about 3:00 with about 60-70 % brightness
b/c: never do much writing without network, but with network I easily push 4:00, so probably 4:30+ (with screen brigthness @ ~50% and cpu-speed reduced..)
d: Haven't done that much, but i played Dungeon Siege (3d RPG) for a little over 2 hours before I got a low-batt warning.. (I had forgot to plug the adapter in..)

btw, I always have on reduced cpu-speed when on battery power, for surfing and writing you won't notice the difference..
 
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