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2010 Macbook Pro Battery Life???

O

owlbabu

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 2, 2010
37
0
Hi guys,

I just got my 2.53 ghz core i5 MBP today. As soon as I turned it on it said the battery life was only 4.5 hours. I'm kind of worried because Apple advertises 8-9 hours. Bluetooth is off, wifi is on, brightness is up about 3/4 of total.

What is going on???

What were your battery lives like when you first got your i5 or i7?
 
owlbabu said:
Hi guys,

I just got my 2.53 ghz core i5 MBP today. As soon as I turned it on it said the battery life was only 4.5 hours. I'm kind of worried because Apple advertises 8-9 hours. Bluetooth is off, wifi is on, brightness is up about 3/4 of total.

What is going on???

What were your battery lives like when you first got your i5 or i7?
Click to expand...

so charge it all the way. traditionally devices aren't mean to be fully charged upon opening the box. you're fretting over nothing imo.
 
Okay, sorry I didn't clarify. I charged it up, and used it again. I charged it up again and used it once again. I was afraid the battery was mis-calibrated so I tried to calibrate, same thing happened. Only 4.5 hours total life.
 
owlbabu said:
Okay, sorry I didn't clarify. I charged it up, and used it again. I charged it up again and used it once again. I was afraid the battery was mis-calibrated so I tried to calibrate, same thing happened. Only 4.5 hours total life.
Click to expand...

4-5 hours is a problem. especially if you did a full recharge. if you're doing media-heavy tasks continuously, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

You're not gaming the whole time right? just checkin :p

i'd take it to apple store to have them figure it out.
 
owlbabu said:
Okay, sorry I didn't clarify. I charged it up, and used it again. I charged it up again and used it once again. I was afraid the battery was mis-calibrated so I tried to calibrate, same thing happened. Only 4.5 hours total life.
Click to expand...

So what apps are you running and what is your screen brightness set at? I can lower my brightness and get an extra hour or more out of my battery. Also verify which graphics card is in use.
 
This is a serious problem. I'm running at 3/4 brightness. The only app running is Firefox. Maybe Microsoft Word. This seems like a serious problem.
 
owlbabu said:
This is a serious problem. I'm running at 3/4 brightness. The only app running is Firefox. Maybe Microsoft Word. This seems like a serious problem.
Click to expand...
Not a serious problem. The 9-10 hour battery life is something Apple came up with at "optimum" conditions. If you put the screen to it's lowest brightness setting (not off), and shut down Firefox, you'll see the battery life jump back up after a minute.
Using my computer the way I like it (keboard backlit, screen brightness at 60% and a few apps open - web surfing) I get 4.5-5.5 hours. This is real world testing, not some lab, dontcha know.
 
Real world testing would yield something like 6-7 hours...I'm pretty sure this is a problem, it's half of what Apple guarantees.
 
owlbabu said:
Real world testing would yield something like 6-7 hours...I'm pretty sure this is a problem, it's half of what Apple guarantees.
Click to expand...
Uh Apple doesn't guarantee 10 hour battery life. They claim "up to" 10 hour battery life on the 13" MBP.
I have one and yes, I can get nearly 10 hours, IF I set the brightness all the way to low AND do very little web surfing and nothing more.

15" MBP won't get the same amount of life as the 13", by the way.

P.S. I've done real world testing, and I can tell you for certain, that using the MBP as the majority of average consumers would, you'll get between 4 and 6 hours of quality use before a dead battery.
 
owlbabu said:
Real world testing would yield something like 6-7 hours...I'm pretty sure this is a problem, it's half of what Apple guarantees.
Click to expand...
Apple doesn't guarantee anything about how much life you'll get on a charge. In fact, they clearly state that it depends on your operating environment.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ
 
4.5 hrs is definitely a problem.

When I had 2010 mbp 17 inch model for about 4 days..(I ended up returning cuz it was a little big for my taste), i could constantly get 7-8hrs off it.
 
Check activity monitor to verify you do not have any processes that are dragging it down. Sort by CPU% to see if anything else is consuming cycles. Also set the power indication in the menu to time and then turn the screen down around 3 notches at a time to see how much that changes the remaining time. It should take several seconds to recalculate.

My battery time is about 4 - 5 hours but that is with VMware/XP running, 7200rpm drive, quite a few apps and IM's open and running, and the screen set just about half. If I shut down VMware it adds a hour or more easily.
 
owlbabu said:
Hi guys,

I just got my 2.53 ghz core i5 MBP today. As soon as I turned it on it said the battery life was only 4.5 hours. I'm kind of worried because Apple advertises 8-9 hours. Bluetooth is off, wifi is on, brightness is up about 3/4 of total.

What is going on???

What were your battery lives like when you first got your i5 or i7?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I'm having the same sort of issue. I got my i7 MBP about a month ago and I'm not getting anywhere near the 8-9hrs. I'm going to wait until class starts, where I'll actually have to use Word/web browser all day. If I don't get the 8-9 hrs (or at least 6), I'm bringing it to the Apple store.

TZRaceR6 said:
Not a serious problem. The 9-10 hour battery life is something Apple came up with at "optimum" conditions. If you put the screen to it's lowest brightness setting (not off), and shut down Firefox, you'll see the battery life jump back up after a minute.
Click to expand...

WRONG. Apple quotes 8-9hrs. At the bottom of the apple.com/macbookpro page, they tell you how they ran the test:
  • 2010, 15" i7 MacBook Pro
  • Brightness at halfway
  • Keyboard backlight off
  • Wifi ON, bluetooth OFF
  • Either a web browser or a text editor running

THIS is the condition for 8-9 hours. I am shocked barely anybody knows this. It's clear as day on the website. I even called Apple tech support, and the guy thought that it was 8-9 hours with the lid closed and the computer sleeping! I had to point this little snippet out to him. Yikes!
 
guitargoddsjm said:
WRONG. Apple quotes 8-9hrs. At the bottom of the apple.com/macbookpro page, they tell you how they ran the test:
  • 2010, 15" i7 MacBook Pro
  • Brightness at halfway
  • Keyboard backlight off
  • Wifi ON, bluetooth OFF
  • Either a web browser or a text editor running

THIS is the condition for 8-9 hours. I am shocked barely anybody knows this. It's clear as day on the website. I even called Apple tech support, and the guy thought that it was 8-9 hours with the lid closed and the computer sleeping! I had to point this little snippet out to him. Yikes!
Click to expand...

Yes, that is most likely for Safari without any Flash - if you are just browsing and hitting sites with much flash content, it will drop the battery life faster.
 
Well, it never shows up as more than 4.5 hours even with nothing running. Usually, I expect it to start at a high number when I turn it on at about 8 hours and then decrease when I open up applications. But it starts at like 4 hours 30 minutes.

Problem.
 
owlbabu said:
Well, it never shows up as more than 4.5 hours even with nothing running. Usually, I expect it to start at a high number when I turn it on at about 8 hours and then decrease when I open up applications. But it starts at like 4 hours 30 minutes.

Problem.
Click to expand...

Did you even read the link I posted? It's best to simply change your battery indicator on the Menu Bar to Show > Percentage, rather than Time, since it's only an estimate anyway. It's not that accurate, and changes from moment to moment. You'll drive yourself nuts obsessing about what the indicator shows. Just use your Mac.
 
owlbabu said:
Well, it never shows up as more than 4.5 hours even with nothing running. Usually, I expect it to start at a high number when I turn it on at about 8 hours and then decrease when I open up applications. But it starts at like 4 hours 30 minutes.

Problem.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've tried similar things. I restarted my computer, quit out of every application, waited a few minutes, and then looked at the number. I think at THAT point it hit about 6 hours. I was trying to best someone I know who just got a Thinkpad that was showing 8.5hrs of remaining life. I was disappointed to say the least!


GGJstudios said:
Did you even read the link I posted? It's best to simply change your battery indicator on the Menu Bar to Show > Percentage, rather than Time, since it's only an estimate anyway. It's not that accurate, and changes from moment to moment. You'll drive yourself nuts obsessing about what the indicator shows. Just use your Mac.
Click to expand...

I agree that the time indicator isn't the best way to measure battery life, but if in practice it doesn't last anywhere near 8-9hrs during light usage, there's a problem. I'm sure there are a lot of people who get these because the battery life is supposed to be so good, especially students who are in class and around campus all day.
 
owlbabu said:
Okay, sorry I didn't clarify. I charged it up, and used it again. I charged it up again and used it once again. I was afraid the battery was mis-calibrated so I tried to calibrate, same thing happened. Only 4.5 hours total life.
Click to expand...

How'd you calibrate? In other words, describe what you did to calibrate. Also, this is new, not refurb, correct?
 
Brand new, yes. I calibrated it following Apple's guidelines. I think I'm going to the Apple store.
 
guitargoddsjm said:
Unfortunately, I'm having the same sort of issue. I got my i7 MBP about a month ago and I'm not getting anywhere near the 8-9hrs. I'm going to wait until class starts, where I'll actually have to use Word/web browser all day. If I don't get the 8-9 hrs (or at least 6), I'm bringing it to the Apple store.



WRONG. Apple quotes 8-9hrs. At the bottom of the apple.com/macbookpro page, they tell you how they ran the test:
  • 2010, 15" i7 MacBook Pro
  • Brightness at halfway
  • Keyboard backlight off
  • Wifi ON, bluetooth OFF
  • Either a web browser or a text editor running

THIS is the condition for 8-9 hours. I am shocked barely anybody knows this. It's clear as day on the website. I even called Apple tech support, and the guy thought that it was 8-9 hours with the lid closed and the computer sleeping! I had to point this little snippet out to him. Yikes!
Click to expand...

They say when browsing various website, yet if you go the own website of Apple, your battery life will plummit to 6 hours.

8-9 hours you get in idle. If you're only doing browsing, no chance in hell you'll get 8+ hours, unless you only visit specific sites that gives you 8+ hours. And websites like www.apple.com and www.google.com won't give you 8+ hours of battery btw.

This is with the core i5 2.4 ghz model.
 
Have you actually kept using it until it died?

I use my laptop in class, I usually have Safari, Word, Calendar, Bluetooth off, Wifi on, Keyboard light off, screen at 1/3 and I can squeeze 7.5 hours easy. That's from mostly web surfing and occasionally taking notes. :D Also, if you adjust the screen brightness or turn on the keyboard lighting, it doesn't recalculate the remaining battery use time right away... it'll calculate changes as you keep using it.
 
Blah. Currently using my MBP.

Bluetooth off, Wifi off. Screen down to 2 bars. Internet browsing (some flash videos, but not a ton), with a little bit of Xcode (very very basic, I'm trying to pick up Obj C).

I've been unplugged for 1hr, 32min. My battery is down to 53%. That doesn't really seem right...
 
Sounds like you may not have calibrated it correctly...

Even so, 3/4 brightness will never get you 8 hours. I keep mine on one notch whenever I can (and its usually fine) and never go more than half. You just don't really ever need to and it kills battery.

Also, dont forget to turn off your keyboard lights and turn off the auto screen brightness.

Get a flash blocker add on for your browser.

Dont use any other apps other than a broswer and maybe itunes.

Now you will get more than 5 hours. Pretty much the only way.
 
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