late 2008 macbook pro 15 battery life

[tekksan]

i just ordered a late 2008 macbook pro 15 with the dual GPUs (9400m and 9600m GT) and I'm a little worried about the battery life.

-What can I expect if just doing normal every day stuff (web surfing mostly?)

-does watching a movie off of the hard disk use less battery than watching it off a DVD? Is there a big difference?

I'm not a big gamer but would like to have the horsepower to play a game should one come out that I want. I'm also not a big traveler so battery times are only of average importance.

Basically, I'm asking if I made a good purchase considering I have only average concerns for both battery and game performance. They had the new 7 hour battery 15" macbook pro for the same price but it doesn't have the dual GPUs.

Thanks.

 

[J the Ninja]

1. 4-5 hours on the 9400, ~3 hours on the 9600

2. Yes. It's not that big of a difference, but it is a difference. The HDD has to spin up from time to time whether you are using it to watch the DVD or not, but if you watch the movie off the HDD, the optical drive can stay asleep.

 

[harperjones99]

i just ordered a late 2008 macbook pro 15 with the dual GPUs (9400m and 9600m GT) and I'm a little worried about the battery life.

-What can I expect if just doing normal every day stuff (web surfing mostly?)

-does watching a movie off of the hard disk use less battery than watching it off a DVD? Is there a big difference?

I'm not a big gamer but would like to have the horsepower to play a game should one come out that I want. I'm also not a big traveler so battery times are only of average importance.

Basically, I'm asking if I made a good purchase considering I have only average concerns for both battery and game performance. They had the new 7 hour battery 15" macbook pro for the same price but it doesn't have the dual GPUs.

Thanks.

I have the newer 9400 only 15" at 2.53 and it is getting around 6 hours watching streaming movies sometimes, internet, normal stuff....nothing heavy. When I unplugged it with Firefox with 6 tabs one being a streamed movie on pause and MSN the battery read 7:45 and as soon as I hit play on the movie it dropped to 6:00. I haven't tried games so can't comment on the gpu issue. I figured I was buying the wrong brand if I wanted to play games esp games brand new or not yet out. About DVDs vs HDD I would guess the DVD would use much more power...but that is a guess not fact based on old machines I have had sucking battery fast watching a DVD.

 

[tekksan]

Are you guys talking about the late 2008 uMBP 2.53 or the newest one? From what I've read the late 2008 uMBP battery doesn't get that great of battery life.

 

[harperjones99]

Are you guys talking about the late 2008 uMBP 2.53 or the newest one? From what I've read the late 2008 uMBP battery doesn't get that great of battery life.

Mine is the new one. Sept 2009.

 

[darngooddesign]

I have the newer 9400 only 15" at 2.53 and it is getting around 6 hours watching streaming movies sometimes, internet, normal stuff....nothing heavy. When I unplugged it with Firefox with 6 tabs one being a streamed movie on pause and MSN the battery read 7:45 and as soon as I hit play on the movie it dropped to 6:00. I haven't tried games so can't comment on the gpu issue. I figured I was buying the wrong brand if I wanted to play games esp games brand new or not yet out. About DVDs vs HDD I would guess the DVD would use much more power...but that is a guess not fact based on old machines I have had sucking battery fast watching a DVD.

This is why I never set it to show remaining time. As soon as you increase/decrease the load that time changes. Best to just put it on % remaining.

Movies on the drive will use less power than a DVD.