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I just bought macbook pro,but my battery life is only 5 hours why?
- Thread starter shitoyama
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Maybe because you have things like bluetooth on, brightness all the way up, etc. You are not being specific at all.
Or you're running ChronoSync / Mozy - you know, the sort of thing that thrashes away in the background all the time
Use Activity Monitor to see if your Mac is up to anything when it should be idle.
Then use Coconut Battery to see if your battery is still holding close to intended charge (after 2 years, mine's on about 89% of design capacity)
Also - Which Pro did you get?
Use Activity Monitor to see if your Mac is up to anything when it should be idle.
Then use Coconut Battery to see if your battery is still holding close to intended charge (after 2 years, mine's on about 89% of design capacity)
Also - Which Pro did you get?
Yes, you should. Once a month I do it.
Here's a good link:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/9875442/
As far as I know the only thing it will do is to give an accurate report of your battery condition. Also the battery of the new models do not need calibration.
No you don't. All your battery questions should all be answered here at this very useful link:
Apple Notebook Battery FAQ
Edit:
Watching movies would definitely suck up some juice. What are your settings under normal conditions (eg. display & backlit keyboard brightness? blutooth on? Is your MBP using discrete or integrated graphics? etc.)
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Display is maxl,backlit keyboard brightness I never adjust it since I just bought it,how to know it is using discrete or integrated graphics
Display is maxl,backlit keyboard brightness I never adjust it since I just bought it,how to know it is using discrete or integrated graphics
Possible reasons:
1. Finder could be performing an initial index of your hard drive. This will, temporarily, increase CPU activity, thus decreasing battery life for the time being.
2. It could be because of Lion. I noticed 2-3 hr drop in battery life after I upgraded from SL to Lion. Under SL I was easily getting 7.5 hrs on basic use (brightness at 30%, keyboard backlight at minimum brightness, bluetooth off, wifi on, basic [flash-less] browsing and basic productivity); sitting on idle, the MBP was getting 10:15 on a full charge. Now, I'm barely getting 6 hrs under basic use, and 6.5 on idle. I have a 2011 core i5 model BTW.
3. As people already mentioned, things like bluetooth, keyboard backlight, display backlight intensity, and flash browsing will decrease battery life.
Also, battery calibration is only needed when you suspect your battery capacity readings to be off. If your battery capacity is currently in mid to upper 90% I wouldn't bother calibrating it.
1. Finder could be performing an initial index of your hard drive. This will, temporarily, increase CPU activity, thus decreasing battery life for the time being.
2. It could be because of Lion. I noticed 2-3 hr drop in battery life after I upgraded from SL to Lion. Under SL I was easily getting 7.5 hrs on basic use (brightness at 30%, keyboard backlight at minimum brightness, bluetooth off, wifi on, basic [flash-less] browsing and basic productivity); sitting on idle, the MBP was getting 10:15 on a full charge. Now, I'm barely getting 6 hrs under basic use, and 6.5 on idle. I have a 2011 core i5 model BTW.
3. As people already mentioned, things like bluetooth, keyboard backlight, display backlight intensity, and flash browsing will decrease battery life.
Also, battery calibration is only needed when you suspect your battery capacity readings to be off. If your battery capacity is currently in mid to upper 90% I wouldn't bother calibrating it.
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I am still using snow leopard,I wanted to ask that is it always use the battery to 20 percent or below then charge it to 100 percent again for usage?
I am still using snow leopard,I wanted to ask that is it always use the battery to 20 percent or below then charge it to 100 percent again for usage?
you can use gfxCardStatus for that. You can manually change to integrated graphics when you feel you don't really need to use 'discrete'. For instance, if an app automatically kicks in the discrete graphics (eg. Chrome). This will save you quite a bit on the battery life.
I, personally, try to do that every time, at least when possible (i.e. wait until I get "you are now running on reserve power" message, then recharge). Some people feel it isn't necessary for newer MBP models, and perhaps they're right. However, using this strategy I am still at 98% capacity with 153 battery cycles.
Integrated graphics is the graphics chip that is on the same die (integrated into the main processor) with the Intel core i7 processor (e.g. Intel HD 3000 graphics). Discrete graphics processor, is on a separate chip and offers much more power (e.g. AMD Radeon HD 6490 or 6750). The 15" and 17" 2011 models come with both, integrated and discrete GPUs (graphics processors) while the 13" 2011 models only come with integrated GPU (that is on the same chip as the main processor.) Discrete GPUs are much more powerful than integrated GPUs, but also require more power, thus sucking up more battery. They also produce more heat. This is why the 15" and 17" models have 2 fans (one for the Intel CPU and one for the discrete AMD GPU) whereas the 13" models only have 1.
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I usally get 5 hours. Cause you figure using the internet, streaming videos, downloading all drains the battery faster. During the day, turn down the backlighting on the keyboard, or lower the brightness at night on your screen. Do adjustments to make your battery last longer. I usually can push 6 hours if Im just typing a paper and listening to music (from iTunes and with headphones on, using the speakers drains the battery faster). When you're just listening to music, put on a playlist and let the screen turn off, you can push a lot more juice out of it that way, just use iOS approved headphones for volume and music playback controls
The display at max brightness will give your battery a hit, and also, depending on the programs you're using, it's likely you're using the discrete GPU... chrome, skype, etc. turn it on. you can use gfxCardStatus to keep it on the integrated if you want. However, if you're always running on the discrete GPU, 5 hours is amazing. and 5 hours is pretty good most of the time, so yeah.
At lower brightness with only word open(in a school environment), I get get up to 9-10 hours on a full charge. With firefox open, that number drops to 6-7 hours. Doing nothing with the brightness low, I image I could extent it to over 10 hours.
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Okay thanks alot i will change the settings,i want to ask that do I always need to use the battery to below 20percent then charge it back to 100percent?
Okay thanks alot i will change the settings,i want to ask that do I always need to use the battery to below 20percent then charge it back to 100percent?
No you don't, just use the computer normally and you'll be fine.
Seriously, I'd just like to say that people here on MR are way to freaked out about their batteries. Panic attacks when the health is only 96% or when the battery lasts 6 hours instead of the advertised 7. Unless you are having serious problem as in 1 hour battery life with nothing running, just use your Mac and enjoy it; don't get too worried about the battery and other stuff. I know you want to make sure everything is fine; and in 99% of cases it is. Apple has thought of these things. The truth is batteries will slowly lose their capacity and that's just batteries in our day an age. Your notebook has a warranty, if you feel like the battery isn't being reasonable then take it in. 5-6 hours is reasonable even though they say 7. 1-3 hours is reasonable if your doing major intensive stuff like games. Heck, last gen MBP's stated 10 hours! But that was a much less "stringent" test from Apple. At least they are trying to be more "real-world", but when has a battery life claim ever been totally accurate? It's always under prime conditions that the 7 hours is achieved.
TL: DR
Use your Mac and enjoy it and don't worry so much =)
Seriously, I'd just like to say that people here on MR are way to freaked out about their batteries. Panic attacks when the health is only 96% or when the battery lasts 6 hours instead of the advertised 7. Unless you are having serious problem as in 1 hour battery life with nothing running, just use your Mac and enjoy it; don't get too worried about the battery and other stuff. I know you want to make sure everything is fine; and in 99% of cases it is. Apple has thought of these things. The truth is batteries will slowly lose their capacity and that's just batteries in our day an age. Your notebook has a warranty, if you feel like the battery isn't being reasonable then take it in. 5-6 hours is reasonable even though they say 7. 1-3 hours is reasonable if your doing major intensive stuff like games. Heck, last gen MBP's stated 10 hours! But that was a much less "stringent" test from Apple. At least they are trying to be more "real-world", but when has a battery life claim ever been totally accurate? It's always under prime conditions that the 7 hours is achieved.
TL: DR
Use your Mac and enjoy it and don't worry so much =)
Just use the laptop and adjust the brightness and power settings as needed. The batteries are completely capable of 7+ hours I have gotten those claims many times. Make sure the Discrete GPU is off and get Gfxcardstatus to force enable the Intel 3000 HD.
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I usually get 3-4 hours with flash browsing etc. maybe if I had the brightness down and the only thing I'm running is TextEdit I'll get maybe 6 hours or something 