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Aluminum MAcbook Battery SUCKS!!!!
- Thread starter Garemz
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I get around 4 hours +... again, depending on what features im using i.e. bluetooth and wireless (eat up a lot of battery).
Mines is all good.
Mines is all good.
The display is not exactly accurate. I get a 5 hour reading on my Macbook Pro as well but it only last around 3 hours when I actually let the battery run down. I suggest you try to run your battery down and time it.
to all mac gurus out there,
i had been using macbook aluminum 2.4 for about 2 weeks now...i havent quite really time the battery life at first but recently i realize that my battery is giving me less n less time... right after fully charged, unplug the power cable, n it says 2:23 hrs time left...just running 1 x safari, 1 x firefox, YM n msn...and that's it...battery defect??
i had been using macbook aluminum 2.4 for about 2 weeks now...i havent quite really time the battery life at first but recently i realize that my battery is giving me less n less time... right after fully charged, unplug the power cable, n it says 2:23 hrs time left...just running 1 x safari, 1 x firefox, YM n msn...and that's it...battery defect??
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OP stands for Original Poster. Shorthand for referring to the first post.
Anyhow your battery seems kinda low. I get a reading of about 5 hours, sometimes as high as 6.5 hours on a full charge from the battery meter. Whether that's accurate or not is up for debate but that's what OSX says.
Go to your apple menu, select About This Mac / More Info / Power. Copy and paste your battery info like me here and I'll see if there's anything abnormal. Don't paste your serial number of the battery, just paste the same info like from my battery here:
Code:
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4124
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4146
Health Information:
Cycle count: 49
Condition: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12521
Your battery looks normal and healthy from those numbers. That means your low battery life is just due to programs running that are sucking out approximately 2.6 times more power than compared with my Macbook, according to my rough calculations.
The amperage number is the important number for you. With Safari and System Profiler running on this web page my amperage is at about -650 mA which OSX reports correctly as 6.2 hours of battery life.
Yours would be around -1690 mA to give only 2.4 hours. Load up Activity Monitor, look for programs that have a CPU usage number above zero, and start shutting those down. As you shut things down your amperage would start getting closer to -650 mA. The closer you get to that number the closer you'll get to 6 hours of battery life like my machine.
It'll involve a bit of work on your end but you'll end up with much better battery life as a result. As you shut stuff down you need to go through the whole About This Mac / More Info / Power thing to get an updated amperage number. You can't just leave the window open as it doesn't update itself.
The reason your amperage number is positive in your screenshot is because it's plugged in and charging. Make sure to pull out the plug when you try this and the numbers will go negative.
This is the same type of stuff the Apple genius is going to do when you bring in your machine in the back of the store. Do it yourself and you could save yourself a trip.
If your battery meter is still saying about 2.5 hours on a full charge, your amperage will be about -1700 mA. I'm guessing Firefox somehow got messed up on your system and is sucking the battery life. Try shutting Firefox down for a while and see if your amperage gets closer to -650 mA and if your battery life reading goes up.
Thanks all for the info...as of today my mac is running without a battery & awaiting replacement by monday or tuesday...
FYI, at the mac service centre, my battery shows 2.30 hrs @ 97% of charge right after startup...nothing was yet opened that time....
I'll let u know the performance of this new battery soon...cheers...
FYI, at the mac service centre, my battery shows 2.30 hrs @ 97% of charge right after startup...nothing was yet opened that time....
I'll let u know the performance of this new battery soon...cheers...
Yeah 2.3 hours at a full charge with nothing running is a different matter. Something is definitely messed up in that case. Hope everything goes well when you get the new battery. It should last twice as long.
No problem, looks like your machine is perfect now. -860mA is exactly what'd I'd expect to see with safari and firefox running at the same time. 7 hours is also the same time I get when my machine first starts up from a full charge as well since the power draw is extremely low at that point. Glad everything worked out for you!
I get about 5.5 hours with the keyboard backlight off and the screen at 50%, running Safari, wifi, iChat, and mail. This is after calibrating...at first, I got only about 3.5 hours.
If I add iTunes and/or Firefox into the mix, I get about 4 hours.
If I add iTunes and/or Firefox into the mix, I get about 4 hours.
Did you jsut bring it to the apple store? Did they give you any hassle?
Mine has gotten worse and worse and I"m wondering if I should bring it back or not
