2011 15" MBP Battery Life

[JayDH]

What kind of battery life are you getting?

With some light web-browsing, Word and Twitter, mine is estimating around 5.5 hours. Is this low? Where's the 7 hours or the 9 hours that Anand got in his review for light word processing?

 

[daneoni]

Are you using the Intel or AMD chip. Also Flash drains the battery massively.

 

[JayDH]

I am using the automatic graphics switching, which should be using the Intel chip. Is there way to check which is being used?

 

[mrwonkers]

I am using the automatic graphics switching, which should be using the Intel chip. Is there way to check which is being used?

try this :

http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus

I am using gfxCardStatus set to integrated graphics when running off of battery am easily getting 8 hours+ as Anand stated in his in depth review of the 2011 MacBook Pro line.

 

[JTToft]

I am using the automatic graphics switching, which should be using the Intel chip. Is there way to check which is being used?

- To just check which chip is active, go to the Apple menu (top left), press "About this Mac", press "More information" and choose "Graphics/Screens" on the left.

Note: I am not sure of the english names of the menus and so on, since I am using another language in OS X.

 

[Blu101]

There are other factors that affect battery life, like screen brightness level, keyboard backlighting brightness level and bluetooth turned on or off.

I don't think MS Word is a light word processor either. May not consume cpu like running flash or anything, but may consume more than a light word processor in general.

 

[rareflares]

try this :

http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus

I am using gfxCardStatus set to integrated graphics when running off of battery am easily getting 8 hours+ as Anand stated in his in depth review of the 2011 MacBook Pro line.

If you use FireFox or Chrome, you're probably destroying the battery life unless you use this tool to actively select the integrated graphics chip.

 

[timotheezz]

try this :

http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus

I am using gfxCardStatus set to integrated graphics when running off of battery am easily getting 8 hours+ as Anand stated in his in depth review of the 2011 MacBook Pro line.

Did exactly this last night, and I've been noticing improved battery life. Why does Chrome trigger the discrete GPU anyway?

 

[amoergosum]

How long does your battery last when you play a .mkv movie file in a loop with the VLC Media Player (full screen, brightest setting, speakers turned off) ?

 

[dusk007]

Did exactly this last night, and I've been noticing improved battery life. Why does Chrome trigger the discrete GPU anyway?

Because Apple's automatic switching implementation is complete ********. Seriously you can hardly implement it in any more retarded way than the way its done by Apple.

 

[JayDH]

I think that my problem was the Twitter app!

With the following apps open, I was given as estimate of 8:49 of battery life with a full charge: Safari, iTunes (playing), Adium, Mail, Outlook, Word.

I added Twitter to the list and my estimated battery life dropped to 5:30.

For each of these estimates, I waited a minute or so to let things settle down.

Is it possible that the Twitter app is that much of a drain on the battery?

 

[xxjudgmentxx]

Because Apple's automatic switching implementation is complete ********. Seriously you can hardly implement it in any more retarded way than the way its done by Apple.

+1 for Apple's implementation being hilariously terrible. Oh well, gfxCardStatus it is.