2 month old MBP... battery condition is good?

[HBOC]

ok, my MBP battery life sucks!! i get about 3 hours, my battery settings are on better performance, bluetooth off, screen on 2nd from lowest, keyboard light is off, no sound, nothing else running..wifi is on.

I cannot get anymore life out of it. The "health" of the battery says "good". it is 2 months old (less than that, i got it on 10/23) It is the pre 10/14 book..
Rev C? it has 32 cycle counts. should i be concerned? i may just pop into apple and talk to them and see what they say.. i would think it would still be excellent. about 80% of the time it is plugged in to the wall. I did let the battery die all the way only once and then charged it. Does the battery have "memory burn in", like nmhi batteres?

i am about to drive from portland to laguna beach for christmas, and i know the battery won't last very long. My girlfriend might watch a movie or something. I have an inverter, but what amperage would i need... sorry for the Q's, just kinda dissappointed in batter life..thought i would get more out of it....

 

[rychencop]

why do you think 3 hours on battery is bad? you do need to follow the operating procedures on the apple site for best battery conditioning.

 

[The General]

settings are on better performance

Shouldn't it be on better battery life instead of better performance? Also, are you using the 9600GT or the 9400?

 

[c3m]

3 hours with higher performance setting and everything off except wifi is good and normal.

if you use better battery life setting then you'll get 4.5 - 5.5 hours depending how active you use your wifi.

 

[fjk]

3 hours with higher performance setting and everything off except wifi is good and normal.

if you use better battery life setting then you'll get 4.5 - 5.5 hours depending how active you use your wifi.

lies. you wont get 50-80% more battery life out of it just by switching to better battery life.

 

[fjk]

Shouldn't it be on better battery life instead of better performance? Also, are you using the 9600GT or the 9400?

he has the early 2008 mbp.

 

[MBrolling]

32 cycles after two months and you are worried? My Macbook Pro (2.5 early 2008) which I bought about a week a a few days ago, is at 23 cycles. And I wish I could get the 3 hours you are getting, if i have mine on better battery life with wifi OFF, I can maybe get like 2 hours and a little left over if i push till the end.

edit: Btw I also calibrated it after I got it.

 

[c3m]

lies. you wont get 50-80% more battery life out of it just by switching to better battery life.

why do i need to lie when i have the thing infront of me?
if yours doesn't give you that kind of battery life then you should let apple know about it.

PS: i'm talking about the standard late 08 2.4 mbp
here you go
attached screenprint

Better battary life setting


Better Performance

 

[fjk]

why do i need to lie when i have the thing infront of me?
if yours doesn't give you that kind of battery life then you should let apple know about it.

PS: i'm talking about the standard late 08 2.4 mbp
here you go
attached screenprint

Better battary life setting


Better Performance

i have the same model mbp as him and the difference between better battery life and better performance is 30 minutes in the estimation. 3:30 to 4:00. And the 4:00 estimate is fairly liberal at 50% brightness. I calibrated last week if anyone is wondering.

I believe you when you say you get a large difference. maybe it's just the later mbp's firmware, but I and others certainly dont get the claimed 4.5-5 hours of battery life with "wireless usage" apple claims, at least when it comes to the previous mbp.

 

[MBrolling]

why do i need to lie when i have the thing infront of me?
if yours doesn't give you that kind of battery life then you should let apple know about it.

PS: i'm talking about the standard late 08 2.4 mbp
here you go
attached screenprint

Better battary life setting


Better Performance

is it just me, or are those two settings at the same exact notches?

 

[The General]

is it just me, or are those two settings at the same exact notches?

They are. The part he changes was the top part. "Better battery life" (9400) or "Higher performance" (9600).

 

[fjk]

why do i need to lie when i have the thing infront of me?
if yours doesn't give you that kind of battery life then you should let apple know about it.

PS: i'm talking about the standard late 08 2.4 mbp
here you go
attached screenprint

Better battary life setting


Better Performance

I should get a new MBP.

 

[MBrolling]

They are. The part he changes was the top part. "Better battery life" (9400) or "Higher performance" (9600).

Oh ok, so if I have the early 2008 model, and change from better life to higher performance, it would not be the same as his? Because all mine does is move the notches for sleep and display dimmer, but does it actually do something with the processor or anything to really get better battery life?

 

[The General]

Oh ok, so if I have the early 2008 model, and change from better life to higher performance, it would not be the same as his? Because all mine does is move the notches for sleep and display dimmer, but does it actually do something with the processor or anything to really get better battery life?

Correct.

 

[daneoni]

FWIW I get on average 4hr10m-20m hrs on my batter. I even manage to get to just under 5hrs once (35 cycle & 100%)

Sound, Wi-Fi & KB Backlight on, BT off, screen at just over 50% (automated)

Mail, iTunes, Safari, Adium, Quicktime, MenuMeters, Main Menu & SMC are all running

Battery life goes down however when i start viewing HD videos...obviously but for general browsing...

 

[HBOC]

thanks for the help. I have heard that 3 hours isnt that great for battery life. I was thinking 5 hours would be great. Yeah when i messed with the settings, it only added like 20 minutes..

 

[MBrolling]

no one responded to my question, so I will ask again. I have had my macbook pro (2.5 early 2008) for a week and a half, and it is at 25 cycles, and gets 1-2 hours of use before it dies. Is the warranty period for batteries 14 days? Or how long do I have, because I am pretty sure I should be getting more life out of the battery, especially with wifi off and not many things running.

 

[fleshman03]

lies. you wont get 50-80% more battery life out of it just by switching to better battery life.

They are. The part he changes was the top part. "Better battery life" (9400) or "Higher performance" (9600).

I'm piggy backing here.

What's the difference between "better battery life" and "better performance?" CPU throttle? Wishful thinking? If someone turns off BT, IR, screen down and no keyboard backlit on both settings would there be a better battery life result if "better battery life" is the setting?

 

[MBrolling]

These are screen captures i just took. The first is right when I unplugged my magsafe at 100% charge, basically it drops to 99 or 98% and time usually starts by saying about 2:30. Then the next two captures show it at minute later for each. By the way, all that is running is adium and safari on this page, plus wifi on but thats it. Will apple cover this after 14 days? My 14 days is up monday, so I am going to try to take it in tomorrow if i can, but that battery time just seems way too low compared to what you guys are getting.

 

[annamac]

battery on 97%, but only 2:30h????

hi, i have a late 2008 macbook pro 2.53Ghz, and while the battery is shown as being good and charges up to 98%, the time I have is under 3 h...
how is that possible?

 

[Tex-Twil]

I have the late 08 MBP and I get around 3h battery, maybe a bit more ...

Btw, how do you create the "Custom" power setting ?