Does anyone else get 8-9 hours?

[TSE]

This is talking about the 2011 Quad-Core MacBook Pros.

Several reviews (Engadget, Anandtech, Laptopmag, etc.) have stated that they have gotten anywhere from 7.5 to 9 hours of battery life with Wifi on, screen brightness at 50%, backlight keyboard off, bluetooth off, etc. doing non-flash web browsing.

Has anyone else gotten this kind of battery life consistently and if I purchase one of these can I consistently count on it getting this kind of battery life in Microsoft Word + non-flash web browsing?

 

[JTToft]

Yes, you can. 7 hours as a minimum, and 8 hours shouldn't be a problem if you stay away from Flash and don't use the keyboard's backlight.

 

[Kleptomaniac]

I would say over the last week of having my new MBP the minimum I got out of it was about 5 hours and the most being 9. Generally if I'm trying to squeeze out a few extra hours of battery life I will put my display on 50%, turn off the keyboard backlight, run fans on low, avoid flash, run GFXcardstatus set to integrated only. Apple's system for their graphics switching is awful and will only cost you battery life when you simply want to check twitter. So I like to control that myself.

 

[awer25]

Definitely avoid Flash to save battery life. I get the same 6-8 hours when I'm running conservatively, but when I'm watching Flash vids, it goes down to <2hrs.

 

[sonisoe]

just bought a macbook pro 13" a couple of days ago, and am disappointed so far. am getting only a couple of hours, i dont know, maybe because its new so the battery isnt fully juiced up yet needing a couple of more charges...

but then again, despite that, early performance should show some kind of indication that it is a longer-lasting battery... if turning off keyboard light, bluetooh, 50% screen-brightness (which is too dark for me), no-flash browsing (how can you since more sites are on flash), i havent even you-tubed yet - would get you 7 hrs, well then its crap...

so there you go....

 

[DustinT]

Yup, thats entirely reasonable. If you really want to stretch your battery you might want to find something a little less heavyweight than Microsoft Word.

 

[superericla]

I tend to get around 7+ hours with a few web pages open. I've gotten 10 hours once or twice but don't expect that regularly.

 

[TSE]

Yup, thats entirely reasonable. If you really want to stretch your battery you might want to find something a little less heavyweight than Microsoft Word.

Is Microsoft Word really that "heavyweight"? Should I just use Textedit to take notes then?

 

[100Teraflops]

Is Microsoft Word really that "heavyweight"? Should I just use Textedit to take notes then?

I do not think so. I use both Word and Pages (not at the same time) and my battery life is slightly affected. I use Word for two hours or so with safari open and consume 20% of my battery. I consistently get 7 hours of use from the battery and I keep the keyboard backlight on. However, obviously results vary from user to user and machine to machine.

Another note: iTunes consumes a lot of battery juice or so I think. When I am using iTunes with another app, my battery is drained significantly faster.

 

[Mak47]

I seem to be averaging 8-9 on my 2011 13". I've been running it tonight since 6:30 (it's now 11:40), so over 5 hours--2 of which were running a Keynote connected to an HDTV via HDMI as a secondary monitor, using Keynote remote through WiFi as a controller.

It was pretty funny, we set up the Display in a place where there was only access to one power outlet--for the TV. Everybody though for sure my computer would die mid-presentation. I've gotten pretty confident in the battery, it's very impressive.

 

[dagamer34]

You really need to kill Flash with something like ClickToFlash to get that rated battery life.

 

[karohan]

I have a 2010 Macbook Pro, and I usually get 5 hours. How are you guys getting so much battery time? I usually have 5-10 tabs in Safari open, in addition to Mail, iCal, and Adium open. I have ClickToFlash, so I don't have any Flash running. I don't even sniff 7 hours. I am also solely running of the Intel via gfxCardStatus.

 

[Nielsenius]

I have a 2010 Macbook Pro, and I usually get 5 hours. How are you guys getting so much battery time? I usually have 5-10 tabs in Safari open, in addition to Mail, iCal, and Adium open. I have ClickToFlash, so I don't have any Flash running. I don't even sniff 7 hours. I am also solely running of the Intel via gfxCardStatus.

I also have a 2010 MBP and would agree with your 5 hours average battery life. Running very conservatively I can get around 7-8 hours. But yes, while working on a number of tasks in various applications I get around 5 hours.

 

[karohan]

I also have a 2010 MBP and would agree with your 5 hours average battery life. Running very conservatively I can get around 7-8 hours. But yes, while working on a number of tasks in various applications I get around 5 hours.

Can you describe what running "conservatively" is for you? I just want to see if I get comparable battery life.

 

[Smoothness]

I have a 2010 Macbook Pro, and I usually get 5 hours. How are you guys getting so much battery time? I usually have 5-10 tabs in Safari open, in addition to Mail, iCal, and Adium open. I have ClickToFlash, so I don't have any Flash running. I don't even sniff 7 hours. I am also solely running of the Intel via gfxCardStatus.

Same here. 5 hours max.