2010 MPB Battery Life Increase?

[spydertennis]

I got my i5 15 incher when they came out and like many people was disappointed by the battery life. It was decent though and I said hey, 6 hours is great! Recently though I've been getting 3 and my usage hasn't changed at all. I mostly use my computer for chrome (rarely flash), mail, and itunes.

I called Apple and the guy I spoke with wasn't the most knowledgeable person but he suggested that I reset the System Management Controller. I did that and now it looks like I'm getting 5-6 hours again! Hooray lol.

Anyway I had to register and tell you guys. I hope this helps people out.

 

[cloroxbleach4]

I'll have to give that a try.

What is the difference between resetting the SMC and PRAM?

 

[mansanas]

how do u reset the smc ?

i tried to recreate apple's perfect conditions to get the advertised 8-9 hours of battery life, but i can never reach 8 or even 7 hours.
the most i can get is probably 5-6 hours. i already calibrated and all that. is this normal??

 

[dusk007]

I also don't understand how in some test they got 11 something hours on idle.
The best it ever showed me was something around 9+ hours wenn everything is off. It is arround 4-5 h with higher brightness and 5-7 with low brightness when doing nothing aside from a little typing and browsing non Flash websites. Intel only mode off course.
Anandtech got significantly better results.
Today it was exceptionally bad but than I found that although I quite chrome the divx web player plug in process of Chrome was still running and constanly using about 2-3 % of CPU Power, enough to prevent deeper sleep states.
The whole estimate is odd. I am at 60% now and it says 4:30h with about 50% brightness.

 

[GGJstudios]

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
Mac OS X: What's stored in PRAM
Apple Notebook Battery FAQ