Is this normal battery usage?

[jonny5009]

I have a new UMBP 2.93Ghz, 320 GB 7200RPM HDD that seems to be using a lot of power in sleep mode. I close all apps before I go to work in the morning and unplug the power, close the lid. 8 hrs later I come back and it goes from 100% to 80%, I did have a black macbook that would go to 93% when I came home. I'm just wondering if it is because this is a more powerful mac and therefore uses more power? Or if my battery is a piece? I just calibrated it yesterday and now I'm showing 11 cycles and 98% battery health and it was 100% health yesterday. Also it's on the energy saving settings. Thanks for the help.

 

[creator2456]

I have a new UMBP 2.93Ghz, 320 GB 7200RPM HDD that seems to be using a lot of power in sleep mode. I close all apps before I go to work in the morning and unplug the power, close the lid. 8 hrs later I come back and it goes from 100% to 80%, I did have a black macbook that would go to 93% when I came home. I'm just wondering if it is because this is a more powerful mac and therefore uses more power? Or if my battery is a piece? I just calibrated it yesterday and now I'm showing 11 cycles and 98% battery health and it was 100% health yesterday. Also it's on the energy saving settings. Thanks for the help.

Health can jump around a few %, so I wouldn't be worried about that. Do you unplug it due to fear of fire from the adapter or just to unplug it? By using your numbers, you are adding a full cycle every week just by going to work and not using the thing. I would just leave it plugged in or turned off for that amount of time.

 

[jonny5009]

I unplug it because I feel like I read somewhere that it's not good to leave it plugged in all the time. My wife was a constant plugger with hers and now the battery lasts like 20 mins, no fire fears just overcharging fears I guess.

 

[AppleNewton]

the new batteries seem to be alot more resistant to excess discharge/charging and smart in handling all of it.

I've had a 15" uMBP for about 2.5-3months now with 3 cycles 100% health etc etc its plugged ina ll the time. and battery life is what its advertised at 4-5hours for 9400 settings, and 4-4.5 with 9600 settings.

i did 2 complete cycles and the 3rd cycle was from unplugging it and then replugging it back in and then unplugging it.
if its at ~100% and you leave it unplugged and it goes down to 90~92% charge it up and it goes down to 83~88% (these are jsut rough numbers and figuratives) it keeps a tally of those charge/discharges and once it equals a full cycle it tends to add that to the batteries lifecycle as well.

My 17" uMBP is always plugged in had for roughly a month and only put one complete cycle on it and its @ 100%


so for me i usually keep them plugged in if i dont need to be mobile.
the percentage indicator will flux around abit but unless its drastic i wouldnt worry about it too much.

 

[iMacmatician]

I unplug it because I feel like I read somewhere that it's not good to leave it plugged in all the time. My wife was a constant plugger with hers and now the battery lasts like 20 mins, no fire fears just overcharging fears I guess.

That's what I was told when I got my iBook, but the recent notebooks (early 2008 and later) don't have this problem anymore (it runs straight from the mains when the battery is charged).

I still plug and unplug on my uMBP even when I'm next to a power socket (I should stop that now), so I have 100+ cycles after 2 months. I have gotten and I still get ~4 hours with the 9400M under multitasking among non-CPU intensive apps.

 

[jonny5009]

Thanks everybody I was starting to get freaky. Now only if the screen flicker would go away....