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15" MacBook Pro Battery Tests: "Eight, freakin, hours"
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Put a matte screen on the Unibody and I would just about be sold. Some serious saving for 8GB RAM and the 256 GB SSD would be me sorted for a good while I would think. 
Well from the article, the battery is 30% larger in capacity than the original UMB. Seeing as Anand said for the 15" (46% larger capacity) he expected it to be at least 46% more battery life, which was proven true. So I would expect the 13" to at least have 30% more life, which puts it up to 6.5 hours.
Wow...I just love how far we have come...seeing my 2.2GHz at the bottom makes me feel left out
Yeah really!
However the future looks bright with even more improvements.
I have one of the newer Unibody MBP's and there is no way I get 5+ hours with my battery. Maybe 3 hours at best... so does 8 hours REALLY mean 4.25 hours?
it all depends on the work load too. Keep in mind all the factors that can change that.... most people don't use their computers for "light" workloads... i would still expect an average of 6-7 hours on it... which kicks other computers butts that are still stuck at the 2-3 hour range.
They have to to this every 3-5 years, ie, probably never more than once during their ownership of the computer. Once, at most. I'll upgrade my internal harddrive more often than buying a new battery.
While the SATA I / SATA II issue may very well have something to do with the new battery life stats, please check it out here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/718516/ to read (or post) more about it.
Well on the wireless test, it lasted about 60% more and on the flash it lasted almost 100% longer for a 46% increase. This makes me think the 13" MBP will be about 40% better for 30% more battery life under a light load, so 7 hours should be spot on.
This new battery tech is a great leap forward though. Hopefully as CPUs and GPUs get more efficient and SSDs and OLEDs go mainstream, we'll start hitting 10 hours no problem.
kappaknight said:
Did you calibrate the battery? Have you got a 7200rpm Hard Drive, using screen at high brightness, lots of peripherals attached etc...
If you read the linked article, it will be obvious that the 8 hours (or 5 hours for your model) are for a low-consumption usage scenario. The author also has done different scenarios which naturally come up with shorter durations.
Yes, I'm sure. I took my 13" back today and whilst there, checked them. The 15" are 1.5 Gbit.
Yet the white MacBook and the Mini are both SATA II. But hey Dukebound, you're never gonna put an SSD in there, so no problem yeah? Thumbs up for Apple then
hey im not defending apple for this as its a bad move
im just saying that this issue is hardly relevant for the majority of users
maybe if ssds were mainstream today its be a bigger sticking point but they are not and by the time they are, people will be looking to upgrade
even if they dont upgrade, you will still see a benefit of using a ssd with a 1.5
MacBook or MacBook Pro..?
Also, depends what you are doing - if you start surfing YouTube, Flash content impacts the battery quite badly, as does doing other things. So light web surfing is what it is measured from I think.
maybe if ssds were mainstream today its be a bigger sticking point but they are not
They are heading that way though - year or two they'll really come down in price. Future proofing - I know it's hard in technology to do that, but simple things like SATA (among the FireWire chip they use) should be the best available..
Already posted here
AnandTech is testing the new MacBook Pro extensively to see how it compares to other generation MacBook Pro's with regards to battery life.
Needless to say, he walks away impressed with the newest iteration of the MacBook Pro.
Check it out for yourself: Apple's 2009 MacBook Pro: Battery Life to Die For.
He is getting over 8 hours on a light web surfing / music benchmark. Very impressive stuff
Discuss...
You do realize that SATA laptop drives are themselves slower than a 1.5Gbit SATA bus, right? By quite a wide margin. I'd say 1.5Gbit/sec is about twice as fast as the laptop drive can read/write.
Oh Duke, always the expert on the subject. You're right, Apple really should have stayed with the old design. That way that 5% that would rather replace their own battery than have Apple do it at the same price wouldn't be left out. Now we're all stuck with batteries that last 7 hours!
Also: I picked up one of the new Macbook Pros and I have yet to see it suggest I will have anywhere near eight hours of battery. I have the display down to half brightness and I'm only using Safari and the most it has ever said I'll get is 3.5 hours.
Oh Duke, always the expert on the subject. You're right, Apple really should have stayed with the old design. That way that 5% that would rather replace their own battery than have Apple do it at the same price wouldn't be left out. Now we're all stuck with batteries that last 7 hours!
i didnt know apple replaced them at the same price as what it costs to get a new batt today
why you have to be a rude in your response about it is beyond me
i just stated the fact that people do replace batteries over the years. sue me