2008 macbook battery life question lol

[kofman13]

Hey all, I was a mac user since the age of 6 and through college, but for my audio production work i switched to windows to get pure dollar to power value and i am really happy with that move overall.

I still use apple for all my mobile devices though as nobody imo does it better (iphone/watch/ipad). But i recently have been looking into getting light, portable small laptop for general everyday use ( word processing, watching movies, email, web, spreadsheets) and seeing as I haven't used Mac OS since 10.6 snow leopard, i decided to dust off my trusty late 2008 Unibody aluminum core 2 duo macbook.

I did a clean install of El Capitan ( the newest OS that this macbook is compatible) and have been using it for the past week and I just love Mac OS again for everyday general usage tasks, and the wonderful iphone integration that the newer OS has. And actually aside from some hiccups, my 2008 macbook isnt that slow just for simple tasks. The only problem is the battery.

Currently on full charge, just keeping the screen on or doing random stuff i get about 1 to 1.5 hours. Watching youtube or heavy web browsing, maybe only 45-55 minutes on full charge. Below are the battery stats in System profiler:

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 2649

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 3190

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 899

Condition: Normal

I am looking into getting a third party replacement battery but basically my question is...... Is this abyssmal battery life the fault of the macbook itself and the components or the battery just being too old? I know newer macbooks have huge batteries and the components inside are ridiculously energy efficient so battery life is great.

I don't want to buy a new battery and then get almost the same or only tiny bit better battery life. Because I could use that $30-50 towards a newer macbook. Anyone here had this same A127 Macbook model 5,1? How was the battery life at its best point?

 

[macgeek18]

I used to have one. Got about 3 and a half hours out of it with about 80% life left. I would get a new battery. It will keep going for a few more years. I've been spoiled by iPad battery life so the most I expect out of a laptop is 4 hours these days.

 

[DeltaMac]

Your battery is at about 70% of the original capacity.

It had an original design life of 500 charge cycles.
You show that it has about 900 charge cycles, so 80% beyond what Apple would call exhausted.

Apple specs show that you can expect "up to 5 hours" in normal use - brightness not all the way to max, typical browsing, or using other standard apps, you should expect something within that range, at least with a battery that is within original 500 charge cycles, and showing more than 85% original capacity.
If you need portability, you need to replace the battery.
I don't have suggestions about where to find a decent replacement, but a good place to start might be here.

You can also search for 661-4817 (that's Apple's part number for the original battery in your 2008 aluminum MacBook.)

 

[kofman13]

I used to have one. Got about 3 and a half hours out of it with about 80% life left. I would get a new battery. It will keep going for a few more years. I've been spoiled by iPad battery life so the most I expect out of a laptop is 4 hours these days.

I know right? xD my ipad air 2 lasts me more than a day on charge im spoiled af. and thats with heavy use