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2010 MBP 13" Battery

O

olnyguy447

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 8, 2010
15
0
I have never owned a Mac so I'm not sure if these are regular battery results. After owning my MBP for about 3 weeks, the Coconut battery is down to 96%. I understand that's normal because it just fluctuates.

But the battery performance is no where near what is advertised. I usually don't get over 5 house (advertised 10). And yes, I brown half brightness, and no mostly no flash ( i can't help ignoring flash ad's sometimes). I calibrated the battery twice... and right after calibration I took it off the charger and the time is shows is 4 hours left... this cannot be right.

Do you guys think I should talk to Apple about this or will it eventually pan out that the 10 hour advertised battery life is actually more like 5 at most.

Thanks in advance.
 
About Apple Notebook batteries
Calibrating is done to keep your battery status reporting as accurate as possible, and should be done the first week you get your Mac or a new battery. If you run on battery frequently, calibrate every 60 days or so. If you run plugged in most of the time or if you infrequently use your notebook, calibrate every 30 days or so.
If you interrupt the calibration process or feel that you didn't do it properly, it's fine to start over and re-calibrate. You won't hurt anything.
Calibrating a portable computer battery


To check battery status, use iStat Pro or coconutBattery or
 > About This Mac > More Info... > Hardware > Power > Charge Information:

Be aware that battery readings are not 100% accurate, so if your brand new battery health is somewhat less than 100% or if it fluctuates up and down over time (100%, 96%, 99%, etc.), don't worry. This is completely normal. It's also normal for it to stop charging when you reach 97% or 98%, etc.

You don't have to worry about anything unless your battery health drops to under 80% with fewer than 300 cycles. In this case, assuming your battery is properly calibrated (so the readings are as accurate as possible), you may have a defective battery. If so, contact AppleCare to see if they will replace it.

Determining Battery Cycle Count
A charge cycle means using all of the battery’s power, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a single charge. For instance, you could use your notebook for an hour or more one day, using half its power, and then recharge it fully. If you did the same thing the next day, it would count as one charge cycle, not two, so you may take several days to complete a cycle.
Click to expand...

Apple does not recommend leaving your portable plugged in all the time.
Click to expand...
AppleCare support recommends that if you leave your Mac plugged in most of the time, unplug it every 2 or 3 days and run on battery down to somewhere around 50%, then plug it back in. That keeps the electrons moving.

Also, it is not recommended to run your Mac on the A/C adaptor with the battery out.

As long as you're running it on battery at least every few days and calibrate every month or two, you'll be fine. As for how much battery life you'll get, it greatly depends on the load you're putting on your system. Flash will draw more than sites without flash. Your battery life may improve with some time.

Relax and just enjoy using your Mac!
 
I've read all of that. I posted this to get a more personal opinion from MBP users.
 
olnyguy447 said:
I've read all of that. I posted this to get a more personal opinion from MBP users.
Click to expand...

These threads are unbelievable... if you are actually getting 5 hours battery life and your circumstances are similar to Apples advertised method used to get 10 hours then you should take back your battery to get checked out.

If on the other hand you are not using your computer in such a way that is not what apple advertised then what do you expect?

i have achieved over 11 hours of light web browsing, few youtube videos and 2+ hours of itunes music + word processing and iphoto use during that time.

i do not expect if i was doing intense tasks that the battery will last anywhere close to ten hours and it is NOT advertised as doing such.
 
I've had a similar issue with my MBpro 13" for the first 2 weeks.
I calibrated the battery the first day i got it, then 2 weeks laster.

To me, it seems like the battery is now getting better.
I run it on battery only, i only plug it in when it gets low to like 20 - 30 minutes left on the charge. I leave it plugged in for an extra 2 hours after its fully charged. i now get about 9 hours surfing the web, youtube, emails, itunes. Brightness half way up, bluetooth off, keypad lights off.
 
jbachandouris said:
So...for those who had last year's version: are you finding the new battery to me 'much' better or about the same?
Click to expand...

I get a little less than 4 hours bat life on my 15" 2.66 C2D and was getting around 7-8 hours with a stock 2.4GHz 2010 C2D.

Since changing the 2010 MBP HD to an crucial m225 SSD the Apple bat calculator indicates 10+ hours when I don't have my Verizon USB modem installed and just doing light WiFi web surfing. I haven't tested how long this config actually lasts (in the real world) but I'd be surprised if it didn't go ~9 hours. The SSD helps a lot.

cheers
JohnG
 
johnnymg said:
I get a little less than 4 hours bat life on my 15" 2.66 C2D and was getting around 7-8 hours with a stock 2.4GHz 2010 C2D.

Since changing the 2010 MBP HD to an crucial m225 SSD the Apple bat calculator indicates 10+ hours when I don't have my Verizon USB modem installed and just doing light WiFi web surfing. I haven't tested how long this config actually lasts (in the real world) but I'd be surprised if it didn't go ~9 hours. The SSD helps a lot.

cheers
JohnG
Click to expand...

Actually considering the 13" MBP. Thanks anyway.
 
Tried doing a search to check out Apple's specs in regards to how they got their battery life numbers.
Anyone have a link?
Thanks
 
Bocaj said:
Tried doing a search to check out Apple's specs in regards to how they got their battery life numbers.
Anyone have a link?
Thanks
Click to expand...
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/features.html

Footnote 1. at the bottom of the page:

13-inch MacBook Pro testing conducted by Apple in March 2010 using preproduction 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pro units. 15-inch MacBook Pro testing conducted by Apple in March 2010 using preproduction 2.66GHz Intel Core i7-based MacBook Pro units. 17-inch MacBook Pro testing conducted by Apple in March 2010 using preproduction 2.53GHz Intel Core i5-based MacBook Pro units. Battery life depends on configuration and use. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%.
Click to expand...
 
jbachandouris said:
Actually considering the 13" MBP. Thanks anyway.
Click to expand...

I have to say this 13" MBP is really outstanding. Plenty fast, cool running, quiet, very reasonably priced (by Apple standards), super portable, etc.

If you do go this route I'd HIGHLY recommend a SSD with auto garbage collection like the crucial m225.

cheers
JohnG
 
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