This macbook aluminum is refurbish from apple store online. It works perfectly but battery life is very short. I lower the screen brightness under 50 % and turn off bluetooth. When the battery is 100 percent full charge, the time says it will last two hours and half not even close to 3 hours or more. What do you think?
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.
My macbook aluminum battery does not last longer than expected.
- Thread starter mrgeek
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - Aluminum
13.3-inch 1280-by-800 pixel LED-backlit display
2GB memory
160GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight camera
Standard keyboard
I install coconut battery application It gave me details that this computer is four months old, and its refurbish but bought almost a month ago. Battery life important for class or other normal school activity.
Yes, I do watch videos like youtube or dvd movies but not most of the time. Majority of time is based on university projects using Microsoft office or just typing or reading.
As you may see from many threads about battery life, it comes down to what processes might use you CPU.
YouTube for example uses Flash to play their videos, which uses quite a lot of CPU power.
Office might use a lot of CPU power too, you should check Activity Monitor and select to Show All Processes and sort by CPU.
![3433908356_932c4b0e97.jpg]()
If your CPU usage is above 33% constantly, the battery life you get seems normal.
I currently write this post on an older white MacBook which has a battery with more capacity than the one used for the Unibody MacBook, and my CPU usage averages at about 15% with 10 Applications open and my battery indicator in the Menu Bar tells me I have 3h44m left.
If I go to YouTube and watch videos via Flash I get around 40% of CPU usage and I only have 2h52m left.
My display is almost at full brightness (2 bars left).
For watching YouTube videos without Flash you can download a Safari Add-On called ClickToFlash, which will disable Flash content (but which can be enabled via clicking on the Flash content) anywhere, and enable you to watch YouTube videos in QuickTime (in the browser window) as an .h264 encoded video which will use less CPU and therefore saving you some battery capacity.
YouTube for example uses Flash to play their videos, which uses quite a lot of CPU power.
Office might use a lot of CPU power too, you should check Activity Monitor and select to Show All Processes and sort by CPU.
If your CPU usage is above 33% constantly, the battery life you get seems normal.
I currently write this post on an older white MacBook which has a battery with more capacity than the one used for the Unibody MacBook, and my CPU usage averages at about 15% with 10 Applications open and my battery indicator in the Menu Bar tells me I have 3h44m left.
If I go to YouTube and watch videos via Flash I get around 40% of CPU usage and I only have 2h52m left.
My display is almost at full brightness (2 bars left).
For watching YouTube videos without Flash you can download a Safari Add-On called ClickToFlash, which will disable Flash content (but which can be enabled via clicking on the Flash content) anywhere, and enable you to watch YouTube videos in QuickTime (in the browser window) as an .h264 encoded video which will use less CPU and therefore saving you some battery capacity.
Upload the image (.jpg or .png) to an online image host like Flickr or maybe even your own webspace, copy the link from the image, it should look like this: h t t p : / / farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/637398794_89b2f0fc95_o.jpg (I have separated the http:// part only for show, so it won't convert to a link), then post a reply here or edit a post you already made, then click on the yellow image icon
![insertimage.gif]()
, insert the copied address and press okay.
EDIT:
It looks quite normal at the moment, but it may be, that at other times the CPU is used more than what is shown in that single moment you took a peek at it.
EDIT:
It looks quite normal at the moment, but it may be, that at other times the CPU is used more than what is shown in that single moment you took a peek at it.
Upload the image (.jpg or .png) to an online image host like Flickr or maybe even your own webspace, copy the link from the image, it should look like this: h t t p : / / farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/637398794_89b2f0fc95_o.jpg (I have separated the http:// part only for show, so it won't convert to a link), then post a reply here or edit a post you already made, then click on the yellow image icon, insert the copied address and press okay.![insertimage.gif]()
EDIT:
It looks quite normal at the moment, but it may be, that at other times the CPU is used more than what is shown in that single moment you took a peek at it.
I will just write down the coconut battery results.
Current battery charge: 3585 mAh
Maximum battery charge:4134 mAh
Current Battery capacity: 4134mAh
Original Battery capacity:4100 mAh
Battery-loadcycle: 83
Age of your mac: 4 months
Charge connect: YES
Battery is charging: YES
This laptop is one month old refurbish laptop, not four months.
i also have a unibody macbook and 2-3 hours of real usage (wifi, internet browsing, music playing) is about right
the quoted 5 hour figure is basically when you have low brightness and are doing nothing
if you do a search you will see quite a few posts complaining about the battery life of the unibody macbooks
the quoted 5 hour figure is basically when you have low brightness and are doing nothing
if you do a search you will see quite a few posts complaining about the battery life of the unibody macbooks
Current battery charge: 3585 mAh
Maximum battery charge:4021 mAh
Current Battery capacity: 4021mAh
Original Battery capacity:4005 mAh
Battery-loadcycle: 99
Age of your mac: 4 months
Charge connect: YES
Battery is charging: YES
Is this getting worse or normal?
How Apple Determines Battery Life
I went through this as well...back and forth with Apple regarding my brand new MBP. I ended up *very* annoyed (they had me send in my computer, but didn't end up doing anything to it!) because this is how they determine battery life (which is, of course, completely unrealistic...no one uses their computer this way!):
1. Fully charge the computer.
2. Set the display brightness to 50%.
3. Turn on AirPort.
4. Turn off Bluetooth.
5. Remove any external devices.
6. Disable sleep and screen saver.
7. Disable any background processes such as Time Machine backup or third-party background applications, file sharing, internet sharing, and so on.
8. When you've completed these steps, remove AC power, start a timer, and let the computer sit with no applications open. Be sure to let the computer run until it forces itself to sleep without any interruptions.
9. Once it is asleep stop the timer and write down the hour and minutes the computer stayed on before going to sleep.
I went through this as well...back and forth with Apple regarding my brand new MBP. I ended up *very* annoyed (they had me send in my computer, but didn't end up doing anything to it!) because this is how they determine battery life (which is, of course, completely unrealistic...no one uses their computer this way!):
1. Fully charge the computer.
2. Set the display brightness to 50%.
3. Turn on AirPort.
4. Turn off Bluetooth.
5. Remove any external devices.
6. Disable sleep and screen saver.
7. Disable any background processes such as Time Machine backup or third-party background applications, file sharing, internet sharing, and so on.
8. When you've completed these steps, remove AC power, start a timer, and let the computer sit with no applications open. Be sure to let the computer run until it forces itself to sleep without any interruptions.
9. Once it is asleep stop the timer and write down the hour and minutes the computer stayed on before going to sleep.
I went through this as well...back and forth with Apple regarding my brand new MBP. I ended up *very* annoyed (they had me send in my computer, but didn't end up doing anything to it!) because this is how they determine battery life (which is, of course, completely unrealistic...no one uses their computer this way!):
1. Fully charge the computer.
2. Set the display brightness to 50%.
3. Turn on AirPort.
4. Turn off Bluetooth.
5. Remove any external devices.
6. Disable sleep and screen saver.
7. Disable any background processes such as Time Machine backup or third-party background applications, file sharing, internet sharing, and so on.
8. When you've completed these steps, remove AC power, start a timer, and let the computer sit with no applications open. Be sure to let the computer run until it forces itself to sleep without any interruptions.
9. Once it is asleep stop the timer and write down the hour and minutes the computer stayed on before going to sleep.
Ok here the update for my battery lifespan since this computer is month old.
Current battery charge: 3923 mAh
Maximum battery charge:3923 mAh
Current Battery capacity: 3923mAh
Original Battery capacity:3923 mAh
Battery-loadcycle: 110
Age of your mac: 4 months
Charge connect: YES
Battery is charging: YES
My battery charges up to 97% as fully charge, do you think that's normal?
I can't get 100% charge , and applecare is saying that is normal. I am pissed it is 97% not 100%. Does your battery charge fully at 97%?
Yes, that is normal. If you plug in the computer after it is above 95% charged then it will not charge anymore. This is to prevent overcharging the battery.
this has been a worry of mine also so im wondering if someone could tell me ifthese are average?
withnothing running and 50% brightness my batt life says 5:42 remaining
according to coconut battery:
Current battery charge: 3780 mAh
Maximum battery charge:4103 mAh
(91%)
Current Battery capacity: 4103 mAh
Original Battery capacity: 4100 mAh
100%
Battery-loadcycle: 91
Age of your mac: 12 months
Charge connect: no
Battery is charging: no
im guessing this is about normal when i run a dvd it gvie me about 3 hours or jsut under of run time (according to the battery icon)
so is my battery in good health?
withnothing running and 50% brightness my batt life says 5:42 remaining
according to coconut battery:
Current battery charge: 3780 mAh
Maximum battery charge:4103 mAh
(91%)
Current Battery capacity: 4103 mAh
Original Battery capacity: 4100 mAh
100%
Battery-loadcycle: 91
Age of your mac: 12 months
Charge connect: no
Battery is charging: no
im guessing this is about normal when i run a dvd it gvie me about 3 hours or jsut under of run time (according to the battery icon)
so is my battery in good health?