...when Windows laptops get such horrible battery life? Does Apple have the sole rights to some new battery technique? It seems odd that the equivalent PC laptop would get less than two hours of battery, when these can pull three or four.
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How can these laptops get such good battery life...
- Thread starter TatsuTerror
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better power management software probably?
i usually get 3-4 hours on my macbook. 2 hours if i'm doing a lot.
i usually get 3-4 hours on my macbook. 2 hours if i'm doing a lot.
Do Windows machines really get that bad battery life? They use the same battery technology. I sometimes see Windows machines advertised with 7 or 9 hours of battery life, no Apple machine can match that.
My MBP gets about 2.5 hours, but the battery health is pretty bad.
My MBP gets about 2.5 hours, but the battery health is pretty bad.
To be honest, I got much better life on my Gateways than I do on OS X. My 15" could scale past 7 hours if you dimmed everything and throttled back. My 17" was good for around 4.5-5 hours, according to its estimates. If and when I go back to Windows, it'll be because I know I can get solid battery life if I look for it.
I guess you have to look pretty hard...I'm on the hp equivalent of a weak MBP right now (1.6ghz 17 incher), and I got less than two hours when I first bought it. Now, with horrible battery health, I'm getting 50 minutes.
yes but you should check how many cells the battery has and it SIZE
they only have more juice cauz they're bigger!
It depends on the Windows laptop - quite a few have actually used CPUs intended for desktop use (more so in the past than now, it has to be said) - hence the power drain is considerable. However, if you compare like with like, there shouldn't be much difference.
I have a 17" HP and a 17" MacBook Pro - I get around 3.5 - 4.5 hours out of either of them dependent on setting and software being used.
I have a 17" HP and a 17" MacBook Pro - I get around 3.5 - 4.5 hours out of either of them dependent on setting and software being used.
My Thinkpad X60 laptop has awesome battery life. It's also well-built, great keyboard, light and small, with a dock that contains the optical drive and additional connectors (God knows why they didn't create an elegant "only apple can do" dock for the MBA). Not a patch design wise on an MB, MBP, or - drool - MBA, but running XP it's a really nice machine.
Vanilla
Vanilla
I think a lot of it has to do with the processors. Apple probably goes for battery life over "JUST $499!!!!!" Better battery life costs money. Not having to use extra processing power on crap like Anti-Virus and Firewall probably doesn't hurt. Think about it as gas mileage on a mid-size car driving 55 mph vs. a large SUV going 55 mph. They're both going the same speed, but there's more weight in the SUV.
I had an HP craptop a few years ago that got down to 90 minutes...after I sent it to them for warranty repair on a power issue. WHat response did I get after I called back? "Run the battery optimizer." Doing that 1500 times did zip. Long live the Apple!
No, they don't - it's just senseless Windows bashing. Yes, loads of cheap laptops will have poor battery life - but spend anything LIKE as much as you would on an Apple machine and you'll get good battery life. I got the same battery life on a 17" Dell Inspiron as I do on this Macbook. A friend has a 12" Panasonic machine with a bettery battery life than my MB. I'm also fairly sure that OSX doesn't use the full abilities of the Core2Duo chips to throttle their speed depending on cpu utilization. (from a few hundred Mhz, up to full speed)
Doug
It isn't Windows bashing...heck, I've been on Windows machines my whole life. I'm on a 1400 laptop, and I got less than two hours when I bought it. It's a slower computer than the Macbooks and the MBP's, strange that it would get such inferior battery life. I posted the thread wondering if Apple has some patented strategy or something.
^
You've already been provided multiple examples to the contrary. Although you might have had bad experiences with Windows laptops vis-a-vis battery life, lots of other folks have had good or *better* experiences with Windows laptops compared to Apple laptops. It's pretty much agreed you're not going to get more than 3.5-4 hours on the MB or MBP. On the other hand, you can run the gamut from <2 to >7 hours on Windows laptops, depending on which ones you get. When it comes to battery life, to be honest, I'd much rather choose a Windows laptop than an Apple one these days.
You've already been provided multiple examples to the contrary. Although you might have had bad experiences with Windows laptops vis-a-vis battery life, lots of other folks have had good or *better* experiences with Windows laptops compared to Apple laptops. It's pretty much agreed you're not going to get more than 3.5-4 hours on the MB or MBP. On the other hand, you can run the gamut from <2 to >7 hours on Windows laptops, depending on which ones you get. When it comes to battery life, to be honest, I'd much rather choose a Windows laptop than an Apple one these days.
How much was your PC laptop.
Now how much is an MBP.
There's (part of) your answer.
The simple fact is that there are windows laptops available with equal or better battery life to any mac laptop. There's nothing remarkable about the battert life of mac laptop.s
Doug
My Dell laptop gets at most two and half hours. My MacBook gets OVER five hours.
I think overall it's the resources running on Windows vs. Mac OS. Windows has dozens of programs running nonstop while I don't - or don't feel - that Mac does that. The OS seems very slimmed down which probably helps the battery life.
I think overall it's the resources running on Windows vs. Mac OS. Windows has dozens of programs running nonstop while I don't - or don't feel - that Mac does that. The OS seems very slimmed down which probably helps the battery life.
I disagree. I've been using PCs since the early 90s and owned OVER 10 laptops. None of them had a battery life of over three hours. My current Dell laptop cost $1600 and my MacBook cost $1200.
The Dell take 2 minutes to start up fully and over 2 minutes to shut down. The battery life is under two hours.
The MacBook takes 15 seconds to start up fully and less than 6 seconds to shut down. The battery life is over five hours.
I only have one Mac laptop to compare to, but I've had over ten PC laptops to compare and I can tell you, in my experience, there is a HUGE difference.
All the Dell laptops I've had have had better battery life than my MBP. Maybe you just had a bad experience with yours? It also depends on what kind of battery you get with your laptop, 6 or 9 cell. My MBP doesn't last very long at all, probably the worst battery life of any laptop I've owned. But, that's to be expected when Apple goes for looks over function. Just part of their MO. My MBP battery is near full health and I'd be lucky to get 2.5 hours out of the battery. Where as my Dell laptop gets 4.5 - 5 hours. That's one of the things I dislike about MBP's . . . the other being a behind the curve video card.
Between your MB and the 10 PC laptops you've owned.
There is not difference in the technology used. There ARE PC laptops with battery life equal to or in excess of your MB. Fact.
Doug
Part of what makes this argument so silly is that Macbook (Pros) are nothing more than PC laptops that run OS X. As such, any battery differences will really come down to the batteries themselves, and the operating system. FWIW, everything I've seen (and used) suggests Windows manages battery life equal to or better than OS X (due to its greater versatility in throttling down power consumption). Besides that, there are also a wider variety of batteries available for Windows PCs, from a wide variety of manufacturers.
I bought a BlackBook last week and left it running iTunes over AirTunes the other night; lasted about 9 hours with the display off... it was still going when I woke up.
Power management + hardware configuration matters. My older PC notebooks (centrino based, not extremely high speced) had a battery life of 5+ hours w/ wifi on + 3/8 Brightness and in use. Right now, my macbook gets 6-7 hours w/ min brightness + wifi + headphones and in use. I'm not saying PCs get horrible battery life, its the same, especially on how you use/configure the system.
My laptop with MBP specs would cost the same.
I guess a lot of PC Laptops are getting better mileage now because the battery just out of the computer. That's what I call function over form...I wish mine was like that.
I was referring to the standard 6 cell battery. Also, I have a MB. Not a MBP. The MBP takes up more battery power. But, like I said...from my experience my MacBook's battery lasts over four hours. So, there's my argument
At least four hours and that's without shutting down the bluetooth, airport, etc.I have had my blackbook since august and I get 5-6 hours depending on usage. But I do things like se the screen to turn off when unused and I keep brightness at minimum necessity. I use it at school and every night I get home with it at about 12% battery left and it says 24 minutes remaining. It charges every night. My mom's dell got barely and hour of battery usage when it was brand new and it is still about the same. I don't really know whats up, but whatever apples does seems to be working.