I just picked up my 13" MBP today, and when I first turned it on, it had around 86% battery left and lasted for about 2:30 hours. I then used the battery down to about 18% and then fully charged it, left the adapter in for 2 hours and when i unplugged it, it estimates I have 2:40 hours left on my battery. Did i get a faulty battery?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
13" MBP - Questionable Battery Life
- Thread starter hanurk
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yes, try calibrating the battery.
Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
Most batteries don't have a full charge right out of the gate. Completely drain your battery a few times. Battery life should significantly increase.
I just read the review that Apple is advertising on their home page. It says that it got 4 hrs. and 44 min. on their battery test. Not quite the 7 that I was expecting...
I am expecting mine to come on the 18th, and it is my first notebook, so I need to ask a dumb question.. How do you calibrate the battery?
Also, what is the best way to improve the life of the battery..i.e. leave it plugged in most of the time, or only to charge, shut down each night, etc.
Thanks!
I am expecting mine to come on the 18th, and it is my first notebook, so I need to ask a dumb question.. How do you calibrate the battery?
Also, what is the best way to improve the life of the battery..i.e. leave it plugged in most of the time, or only to charge, shut down each night, etc.
Thanks!
I just read the review that Apple is advertising on their home page. It says that it got 4 hrs. and 44 min. on their battery test. Not quite the 7 that I was expecting...
I am expecting mine to come on the 18th, and it is my first notebook, so I need to ask a dumb question.. How do you calibrate the battery?
Also, what is the best way to improve the life of the battery..i.e. leave it plugged in most of the time, or only to charge, shut down each night, etc.
Thanks!
Just read the post above you. It's literally just draining your battery until it dies or is dying. It might take more than 1 or 2 times to get the max effect though.
So, how often after those first few times should you let the battery drain like that?
...interesting to see the long term life of the new batteries... how are your brightness settings, etc?...
i got mine on tuesday and out the box i charged it to 100%,then i unplugged and used as normal using the battery. then when it got to like 11% i plugged the charger. i think the first charge lasted about a little more than 5 hours really didnt count. now im trying to run this charge until really low and doing the calibrating thing. hopefully this will help.
When you put more stress on your computer, say like watching videos and things like that, the time will significantly go down.
Say like 100% battery while watching youtube videos, it might say like 3 hours. But, if your at 100% and your only word processing, or have it idle, it may go up to 5-7 hours. So it always fluctuates.
It constantly adjusts to what you are doing and how much load is on the CPU.
Think of it like a GPS that is telling you how far you are from your destination. It tracks the average speeds and calculates it upon that. If your going fast, the time to get there will be soon. But if your going slow, it may calculate a longer time.
Say like 100% battery while watching youtube videos, it might say like 3 hours. But, if your at 100% and your only word processing, or have it idle, it may go up to 5-7 hours. So it always fluctuates.
It constantly adjusts to what you are doing and how much load is on the CPU.
Think of it like a GPS that is telling you how far you are from your destination. It tracks the average speeds and calculates it upon that. If your going fast, the time to get there will be soon. But if your going slow, it may calculate a longer time.
This calibrating seems like a bit of a myth. Yes it is good to calibrate for long term battery health. I have never seen it improve my battery life though compared to what i have got on a first run down test. I was getting great battery life from the go.
You need to do things like turn of bluetooth the backlight keyboard and run it in the better battery life setting. Mind you i'm basing that on a 2007 MB, may be now Apple might have changed the last setting.
If your doing all the above and still getting that kind of battery life it is very disappointing.
You need to do things like turn of bluetooth the backlight keyboard and run it in the better battery life setting. Mind you i'm basing that on a 2007 MB, may be now Apple might have changed the last setting.
If your doing all the above and still getting that kind of battery life it is very disappointing.
I just read the review that Apple is advertising on their home page. It says that it got 4 hrs. and 44 min. on their battery test. Not quite the 7 that I was expecting...
I am expecting mine to come on the 18th, and it is my first notebook, so I need to ask a dumb question.. How do you calibrate the battery?
Also, what is the best way to improve the life of the battery..i.e. leave it plugged in most of the time, or only to charge, shut down each night, etc.
Thanks!
when you read the review, that battery life was in vista! try in osx and i think it might be a little better. i get about 4 hours in osx on my CE macbook but only about 2.5 hours in windows xp.
A couple of things to note :
1: Apple's advertised battery life is the maximum they recorded under lab test conditions which they will have configured just right so the computer isn't really working and the battery is not working so much.
2: New batteries will have been charged to some degree in the factory but they will obviously deplete in the time they take to get to you so you should always charge them.
3: Calibrating the battery only improved the battery life by a few amps but always helps the battery in the long term.
4: It's best to use the battery as much as you can to keep it "exercising" however, there will be a point down the road where it will degrade rapidly like any battery.
5: That ampage or battery life is no better than my 13" uni macbook.
P.S. - Screen brightness is one of the biggest battery drainers.
1: Apple's advertised battery life is the maximum they recorded under lab test conditions which they will have configured just right so the computer isn't really working and the battery is not working so much.
2: New batteries will have been charged to some degree in the factory but they will obviously deplete in the time they take to get to you so you should always charge them.
3: Calibrating the battery only improved the battery life by a few amps but always helps the battery in the long term.
4: It's best to use the battery as much as you can to keep it "exercising" however, there will be a point down the road where it will degrade rapidly like any battery.
5: That ampage or battery life is no better than my 13" uni macbook.
P.S. - Screen brightness is one of the biggest battery drainers.
Ok people really seem to misunderstand what calibrating the battery means.
This is how it works, in a nutshell. The time listed in the menu bar is an estimate of how much time you have left if you keep using your computer at its current load. If you start doing some CPU intensive tasks, it will go down a lot, and when you stop, it will go back up.
Calibrating is how you accurately tell the battery how much total capacity it actually has. You do this by charging to full and then draining to *completely* empty, to when even the sleep light turns off. It then keeps track of how much power it *actually* used to go from full to empty, and then can make more accurate estimates.
This is how it works, in a nutshell. The time listed in the menu bar is an estimate of how much time you have left if you keep using your computer at its current load. If you start doing some CPU intensive tasks, it will go down a lot, and when you stop, it will go back up.
Calibrating is how you accurately tell the battery how much total capacity it actually has. You do this by charging to full and then draining to *completely* empty, to when even the sleep light turns off. It then keeps track of how much power it *actually* used to go from full to empty, and then can make more accurate estimates.
You should only do this every month - two months, btw. It doesn't improve the health of the battery (just normal light discharges down to around 50% does that).
I have the uMB and I can tell you that five hours is simply hype. A genius told me to expect not much more than 2:30 and the best I've ever done is 3:30, after repairing permissions, and cranking brightness all the way down and with BT and WiFi off.
I wouldn't expect anyone to ever approach 7 hours and I'm not surprised that typical use will mean a little over four hours.