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2 hour battery life on my two week old 13" MBP?

S

slyk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 14, 2010
26
9
I got a "new" refurbished 13" MBP two weeks ago. From the start I was questioning the battery life as I was getting 4-5 hours on a full charge doing simple tasks like web browsing with wifi, etc.

The last two charges I have gotten exactly 2 hours per charge. One charge was watching a movie (which I barely made it through on the battery) and the other was on Adium/web browsing.

The time remaining is always accurate -- once I unplug it will show 2:04 or so remaining. I calibrated the battery when I first got the machine. I now have exactly 9 cycles on the battery.

When the computer is asleep it will lose about 10% charge per day -- the longest it has been asleep was 2.5 days and it was at 74% when I opened it up again.

When I charge the battery fully it shows 100% charged...no issues there. In the system profiler it shows as the full mAh capacity/charged.

Any ideas on what's going on? Taking it to an Apple store is not really an option for me for the next few months as I'm in Afghanistan and don't go on leave until late January.

Thanks for the help...
 
slyk said:
I got a "new" refurbished 13" MBP two weeks ago. From the start I was questioning the battery life as I was getting 4-5 hours on a full charge doing simple tasks like web browsing with wifi, etc.

The last two charges I have gotten exactly 2 hours per charge. One charge was watching a movie (which I barely made it through on the battery) and the other was on Adium/web browsing.

The time remaining is always accurate -- once I unplug it will show 2:04 or so remaining. I calibrated the battery when I first got the machine. I now have exactly 9 cycles on the battery.

When the computer is asleep it will lose about 10% charge per day -- the longest it has been asleep was 2.5 days and it was at 74% when I opened it up again.

When I charge the battery fully it shows 100% charged...no issues there. In the system profiler it shows as the full mAh capacity/charged.

Any ideas on what's going on? Taking it to an Apple store is not really an option for me for the next few months as I'm in Afghanistan and don't go on leave until late January.

Thanks for the help...
Click to expand...

check what model MBP it is
 
From my order acknowledgment: Part Number: FC374LL/A

Forgot to add -- the 2 hours is iwth screen brightness a couple chiclets from full bright but if I change it to half brightness the indicated time left only increases by 10-15 minutes.

I'm on OS 10.6.3 I think -- unable to update over here so it's whatever it shipped with.
 
slyk said:
From my order acknowledgment: Part Number: FC374LL/A

Forgot to add -- the 2 hours is iwth screen brightness a couple chiclets from full bright but if I change it to half brightness the indicated time left only increases by 10-15 minutes.

I'm on OS 10.6.3 I think -- unable to update over here so it's whatever it shipped with.
Click to expand...

click apple in upper left corner->"About This Mac"->"More Info..."
what's the "Model Identifier:"?
 
I will have to check and get back on that one as I don't have the laptop with me -- for some reason 7,1 rings a bell but that may not be the number/designator you are asking about, and even if that is it I may be incorrect on what the number is.
 
Is this the screenshot you were asking about? This is with about 25% screen brightness...

Also, I have confirmed that it is MacBook Pro 7,1
 

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slyk said:
The last two charges I have gotten exactly 2 hours per charge. One charge was watching a movie (which I barely made it through on the battery) and the other was on Adium/web browsing.
Click to expand...
How are you determining that? By time until shutdown, or by time indicated?
slyk said:
The time remaining is always accurate -- once I unplug it will show 2:04 or so remaining.
Click to expand...
Again, how do you determine it's accurate? Does it show 2 hours and then you continue to run it until it shuts down 2 hours later?
slyk said:
I calibrated the battery when I first got the machine.
Click to expand...
How exactly did you calibrate it? What steps did you follow?
 
GGJstudios said:
How are you determining that? By time until shutdown, or by time indicated?
Click to expand...

Either one -- the countdown is accurate plus or minus a couple of minutes. Last night the counter showed 2:08 and the computer went to sleep 2 hours and 10 minutes later. Three minutes after that it shut off completely.
GGJstudios said:
Again, how do you determine it's accurate? Does it show 2 hours and then you continue to run it until it shuts down 2 hours later?
Click to expand...

Yes, it proved to be accurate.

GGJstudios said:
How exactly did you calibrate it? What steps did you follow?
Click to expand...

I followed the steps here, after looking at the MR Apple Notebook Battery FAQ posted here.
 
I'd take it to Apple. It sounds like you've done everything right. Let them check it out.
 
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