I have a new 2.4 ghz macbook. I got 5 hours out of my first run and then I calibrated it and now I am not even getting 3 hours? Is there something wrong or is this normal?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Barely 2 1/2 hours battery life for new macbook?
- Thread starter gadgetgirl85
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You'd have to state the settings you used, esp the brightness, but I surmise that with a 40 Wh battery only, and taxing the system, scenarios exist that would only enable 2.5 hours of battery life.
I have my brightness around 55% and I've been using it for 3 hours now, still 42% left. It depends on what you are doing, I notice any transferring of files wirelessly drains battery significantly, Wi-Fi will also decrease battery life but to me is essential to have on at all times.
State your current settings and we may be able to give you some suggestions.
State your current settings and we may be able to give you some suggestions.
I'm getting about 4.5 hours with brightness at full, bluetooth off, wifi on, surfing with Safari with Mail open in the background.
Down to about 3.5 when I have Word and Excel open as well.
Down to about 3.5 when I have Word and Excel open as well.
Anyone who suggests having a static application like Word and Excel open would some how magically decrease battery life will get a werid look from me.
I asked my coworker about his new one this morning and he said he gets 4 to 5 hours as well.
Calibrate the battery if it hasn't been done already, and check to see if bluetooth is on. Bluetooth used to drain my MBP pretty badly.
Calibrate the battery if it hasn't been done already, and check to see if bluetooth is on. Bluetooth used to drain my MBP pretty badly.
When you said calibrate the battery, does that mean let the battery go to 0% by it's self and the MacBook will shutdown by it's self?
Same thing applies to the iPhone 3G?
Not sure bout the 3g, basically charge it completely and leave it charging for another 2 hrs after it's full. Then use it until it sleeps, let it sleep for around 4 or 5 hours, then charge again.
I think you're supposed to do it every couple of months or so. Source : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
I think you're supposed to do it every couple of months or so. Source : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
So I don't have to make sure if the battery is gone completely and it won't harm the battery in anyway, correct?
You need to wear it down until it falls asleep, then leave it for at least 5 hours.
It doesn't cause any harm to your battery, it just helps give more accurate readings.
It doesn't cause any harm to your battery, it just helps give more accurate readings.
That's exactly what I did and then I started getting 2 1/2 hours. I didn't change any settings at all from when I was getting 5 to now 2 1/2
Office 2008 apps use quite a bit of memory, and very much do reduce battery life. You must have never used a computer before.
In fairness, your first comment made it sound like merely having them open in the background produced a significant drop in battery life - which does sound strange (and I don't believe you either if that's what you meant). If you have then open and are using them frequently, then yeah, a drop would probably be evident.
That doesn't sound right at all.
Do you have wifi/bluetooth on? What programs are you running? What brightness do you have it set at?
Also, is this your first Mac?
well, his signature says that he has an imac.
the difference may have been a shock
but about the problem, i dont think that you needed to calibrate the battery already. all of these factors do play in to battery life (bluetooth,wifi, memory hogs) but i suggest just turning off what you dont need. if your not constantly using bluetooth, just be practical with your battery life. but if you find it to be a faulty battery, get it replaced ASAP.
Ah ok, my bad. I just had a thought that maybe he wasn't used to OS X and the programs he thought were "closed" were actually still running in the dock.
I don't know how others are using their machines. I got my 2.0, calibrated the battery the first day I got it and then ran it off on on battery power to see how long it would last.
Wifi on, bluetooth off, brightness set to 50%, chatting on Adium, iTunes open and listening to music on external speakers, browsing on Firefox, Mail app up, and watching some youtube videos here and there.
My results? Close to 5.5 hours. Not even kidding.
Wifi on, bluetooth off, brightness set to 50%, chatting on Adium, iTunes open and listening to music on external speakers, browsing on Firefox, Mail app up, and watching some youtube videos here and there.
My results? Close to 5.5 hours. Not even kidding.
Did you get a different battery than the rest of us? I don't understand how that is possible with wifi on and the brightness set that high.
I don't know, but probably not. All I know is I came home and disconnected the Macbook from the power supply at 7:20 PM and I went about using it for the entire night (didn't leave my sight for more than 5 minutes) and I constantly checked the battery with iStat. It didn't lose power until 12:40 AM. It was mainly a battery check for me, that's why I noted down the times. I didn't watch youtube videos heavily or anything, just a few. But I was chatting and surfing and listening to music throughout the night. Exactly 50% brightness. I didn't do anything CPU-intensive, so that might have been it. No extracting, processing, or compressing anything.
and also, I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I turned off the ambient light sensor too. I know I got better battery results with my iPod touch after I turned it off. It's probably the same for the Macbooks. A lot of people move their laptops around and the changing light makes it dim and get brighter constantly, so that may be another reason.