15" MacBook Pro Battery Tests: "Eight, freakin, hours"

[MacRumors]

AnandTech takes a look at the new MacBook Pros released at WWDC last week and focuses on the new non-removable battery design. Apple first introduced the non-removable battery into the 17" Unibody MacBook Pro last fall with mixed reactions from the community. Apple's reasoning behind making the battery custom and non-removable has been the ability to incorporate a larger battery that will provide even longer battery life. They've also argued that most laptop owners do not carry spare batteries.

Anandtech does a good job exploring the technology behind the design:

Apple did some clever work on its own here. Standard lithium ion batteries are made up of cylindrical cells, similar to AA batteries. The problem with these batteries is that they waste a lot of space within a notebook (try cramming a lot of cylinders into a box, you end up with wasted space). This wasted space translates into larger batteries than are necessary, which makes for larger notebooks.

They found the 15" MacBook Pro got an additional 46% of battery capacity with no additional weight. Improvements were dramatic in their benchmark testing:




The new 15" MacBook Pro clocked in at over 8 hours in their light load benchmark. The findings did carry over proportionately in their more intensive tests compared to the older models. Andandtech concludes with a very positive impression of Apple's latest revision:

Ever since I first looked at the power consumption specs of Nehalem I thought it didn’t make any sense to buy a new, expensive notebook before Arrandale’s launch in Q4 2009/Q1 2010. While performance will definitely increase considerably with Arrandale, Apple just threw a huge wrench in my recommendation. The new MacBook Pro is near perfect today. If you need a new laptop now, thanks to its incredible battery life, I have no qualms recommending the new MBP.

Article Link: 15" MacBook Pro Battery Tests: "Eight, freakin, hours"

[dukebound85]

while users may not carry spare batteries, they do get them replaced

[iGary]

Originally Posted by dukebound85

while users may not carry spare batteries, they do get them replaced

The replacement service is the same price of a new battery today, IIRC.

[noodle654]

Wow...I just love how far we have come...seeing my 2.2GHz at the bottom makes me feel left out .

[Mr. B]

Originally Posted by dukebound85

while users may not carry spare batteries, they do get them replaced

these batteries need to be replaced much less than previous generations according to apple

And when you do need to I'm sure there will be plenty of easy to follow guides online.

[Bubba Satori]

Extremely impressive. Kudos Apple.

[Kilamite]

Originally Posted by dukebound85

while users may not carry spare batteries, they do get them replaced

The batteries will last 3-5 years before decay in charge. Within that time, you'd be looking to upgrade anyway. And for the casual user, 5 years was Apple's calculation.

[dukebound85]

Originally Posted by iGary

The replacement service is the same price of a new battery today, IIRC.

i didnt know that. in that case im all for this unremovable battery

Originally Posted by noodle654

Wow...I just love how far we have come...seeing my 2.2GHz at the bottom makes me feel left out .

lol me too by having a coreduo

[queshy]

When will we see a MBA with that long battery life? The AIr is already mostly all battery

[Carl Abudephane]

I don't know whether the excellent battery life has anything to do with this or not, but are all you 15" MacBook Pro users equally happy with a SATA connection speed of 1.5 Gbit?

ie: SATA I?
The 17" has SATA II - 3 Gbit.

Maybe the two things are connected, maybe not, but it's very worrying that this wonderful 'new' Apple is doing this, no?

[syklee26]

I never understood all the outrage against built-in battery. Do people live in amazon or something? just find a damn wall and plug it in!

If Apple's promise of 1000 charges before suffering a slow painful death is true, then find ways to plug it into the wall and you can use the laptop for over 5-6 years without any problem.

I myself would have loved to have a built in battery in my current unibody MBP but I missed it by that much.

[Jawsome]

Originally Posted by iGary

The replacement service is the same price of a new battery today, IIRC.

Maybe monetarily.

I think users like how simple it is to buy a new battery and pop it in themselves, as opposed to handing it over to a sales person for....and this is the other issue...does anyone know how long it takes to replace these? I had one rep tell me 'a few days' and another one at a different store say 'a few minutes'.

If you have to give up your computer for a few days to replace a battery that in the past has been a 2 minute ordeal on your desk, that isn't the same price, and it's ridiculous. However if it is true that they can be replaced in a matter of minutes at the store it seems reasonable, especially since they need to be replaced MUCH less often.

[dukebound85]

Originally Posted by Carl Abudephane

I don't know whether the excellent battery life has anything to do with this or not, but are all you 15" MacBook Pro users equally happy with a SATA connection speed of 1.5 Gbit?

ie: SATA I?
The 17" has SATA II - 3 Gbit.

Maybe the two things are connected, maybe not, but it's very worrying that this wonderful new Apple is doing this, no?

Christ, this is only a factor if you use a ssd.....which most people do not. If you want to complain about that issue, theres a 20 page thread already on it

[Michael.Dribins]

I have the late 2008 2.8 MacBook Pro , can you change the battery in it for the new one?

[slicecom]

I for one, am a huge fan of the built in battery. Kudos Apple! Very impressive numbers.

[iMacmatician]

Wow. Amazing.

I wish I had the new MacBook Pro (I have the previous generation). But I'm still happy with my MBP.

[Jacksteruk309]

Originally Posted by Carl Abudephane

I don't know whether the excellent battery life has anything to do with this or not, but are all you 15" MacBook Pro users equally happy with a SATA connection speed of 1.5 Gbit?

ie: SATA I?
The 17" has SATA II - 3 Gbit.

Maybe the two things are connected, maybe not, but it's very worrying that this wonderful new Apple is doing this, no?

Are you sure the new MBPs are SATA and not SATA 2?

I don't see why they would go back a generation.

[Paix247]

Mine was delivered this morning and I've been surfing for HOURS! Way to go Apple!!!

Edit; Didn't realize the SATA speed until now... my Early 2008 MBP was the same, so no loss. Plus this one scored more than 400 above my previous 2.4GHz on geekbench.

[gmcalpin]

Originally Posted by Michael.Dribins

I have the late 2008 2.8 MacBook Pro , can you change the battery in it for the new one?

No.

[acearchie]

Hmm Don't see my powerbook g4 with 9 minutes battery life on that list!

There is no point buying a new battery for me as a new one is half the value of the machine!

[J the Ninja]

Originally Posted by Jawsome

Maybe monetarily.

I think users like how simple it is to buy a new battery and pop it in themselves, as opposed to handing it over to a sales person for....and this is the other issue...does anyone know how long it takes to replace these? I had one rep tell me 'a few days' and another one at a different store say 'a few minutes'.

If you have to give up your computer for a few days to replace a battery that in the past has been a 2 minute ordeal on your desk, that isn't the same price, and it's ridiculous. However if it is true that they can be replaced in a matter of minutes at the store it seems reasonable, especially since they need to be replaced MUCH less often.

I can't imagine it taking more than 10 minutes for someone with a lot of a practice doing it. "A few days" would only be if the tech/Genius couldn't get to it right away, ie they had a que of machines to be worked on.

[slowpoke]

I'm happy with my '07 2.4's battery - mainly because when it goes into standby I know it's time to hit the hay for the evening...

[Bye Bye Baby]

Originally Posted by dukebound85

while users may not carry spare batteries, they do get them replaced

I must confess that I have a Powerbook from 2003 and it does need a new battery, I am also in the market for a new laptop.

I don't think that the battery is an issue for me.

I am however, just expressing my own user needs.

[eastercat]

Lucky for me the 15" doesn't have a matte option. Otherwise, I'd be lusting after this computer.

[shakenmartini]

Originally Posted by iGary

The replacement service is the same price of a new battery today, IIRC.

This is true. For both PC and Mac, new batteries usually run $80-250 depending on many factors.

$130 for a new battery installed is very reasonable and a nice compromise. I'll take 8h of battery life and only have to take the computer in for a new battery once every 3-5 years.

In fact, I buy a new laptop every 2 years or less, so lately I have barely broken the battery in before replacing the machine and selling the old.