LED screen & Battery

[clarkee]

As i am not new to mac's, i feel slightly stupid asking this - but i will any way!

Having just purchased a 17" 2.6ghz macbook pro with hi def (1920 x 1200) screen, am i right in thinking that this screen is an LED screen?

Is it only the hi def screen that is LED on the 17" MBP? Where will it me on the mac? (its not in the system profiler - i dont think)

Also, it seems that if i leave the MPB for a while and let the screen saver do its business with out the screen turning itself off, that battery drains really quickly - like less than 40 minutes quickly!!!

But the use when using the web and other light use seems to last 3+ hours.

Does this sound right?

Any help appreciated, or light abuse welcome!!!

thanks

clarkee

 

[alphaod]

As i am not new to mac's, i feel slightly stupid asking this - but i will any way!

Having just purchased a 17" 2.6ghz macbook pro with hi def (1920 x 1200) screen, am i right in thinking that this screen is an LED screen?

Is it only the hi def screen that is LED on the 17" MBP? Where will it me on the mac? (its not in the system profiler - i dont think)

Also, it seems that if i leave the MPB for a while and let the screen saver do its business with out the screen turning itself off, that battery drains really quickly - like less than 40 minutes quickly!!!

But the use when using the web and other light use seems to last 3+ hours.

Does this sound right?

Any help appreciated, or light abuse welcome!!!

thanks

clarkee

Yes it's a LED screen--it won't show up on System Profiler...; no idea, what's up with your screen saver; I can run my computer for 4 hours either way

 

[Marc4]

Also, it seems that if i leave the MPB for a while and let the screen saver do its business with out the screen turning itself off, that battery drains really quickly - like less than 40 minutes quickly!!!

Could be the type of screen saver you're using - is it CPU-intensive, such as rendering complex graphics at frequent intervals?

 

[clarkee]

The screen saver that im using is the arabesque one that comes on the mac. its the screen saver that i use on my macbook too, ive never noticed it draining the battery like this though!!

Bizarre!!

 

[flyinmac]

So, if you are running on battery power, why don't you have the screen set to power down after so many minutes to conserve battery life.

I have our iBook set to run in energy conserving mode if on battery power and full throttle (if you can call it that) when plugged in.

When on battery, if I stop typing for about 30 seconds, the screen dims slightly. If I don't do anything for about 2 minutes, it shuts the screen off.

That really would seem to make more sense if you are trying to save the battery.

I can get about 4 hours of constant typing in a word processor with the machine running on battery like that (with our iBook).

 

[clarkee]

I understand what you are saying about the power saving, the only reason that im asking is because i thought the battery life should be better than my macbook.

Ive read several reviews and postings on the web about poor battery problems with MPB's, so i was just really wanting some opinions before i spent too much time looking in to it.

ive set it now for the screen to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity, with out the screen saver coming on when its running on battery.

when its fully charged, ill run it off the battery and see how long it lasts.

Thanks for your postings.

 

[flyinmac]

I understand what you are saying about the power saving, the only reason that im asking is because i thought the battery life should be better than my macbook.

Ive read several reviews and postings on the web about poor battery problems with MPB's, so i was just really wanting some opinions before i spent too much time looking in to it.

ive set it now for the screen to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity, with out the screen saver coming on when its running on battery.

when its fully charged, ill run it off the battery and see how long it lasts.

Thanks for your postings.

Hope it makes a difference for you.

With ours, it works pretty good having the screen dim slightly when I pause. That way, for short pauses, I can ponder my next words while looking at what I've typed (but the screen still saves a bit of power).

Then, for longer pauses (like when I'm really stumped), the screen can sleep for a bit while I strain my brain looking for the right word.

So, I have it sleep the screen after 2 minutes. If I haven't typed in 2 minutes, I'm putting some thought into it. So, it will be a few minutes and should save some power.

 

[jayhawk11]

I understand what you are saying about the power saving, the only reason that im asking is because i thought the battery life should be better than my macbook.

Ive read several reviews and postings on the web about poor battery problems with MPB's, so i was just really wanting some opinions before i spent too much time looking in to it.

ive set it now for the screen to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity, with out the screen saver coming on when its running on battery.

when its fully charged, ill run it off the battery and see how long it lasts.

Thanks for your postings.

Just for fun, calibrate your battery. Your laptop and battery might not be getting along

Seriously though, if the battery keeps acting weird, take it in. I can get 4+ hours on my Santa Rosa MBP while using wireless internet and playing music. So...yeah.

 

[e12a]

that abresque screen saver is pretty intensive I think..i know if I leave my computer on overnight with the screen saver the fans speed up occasionally as if its working hard even though I'm doing nothing (actually trying to sleep). That screen saver's got some issues.

 

[jackiecanev2]

I understand what you are saying about the power saving, the only reason that im asking is because i thought the battery life should be better than my macbook.

Actually, I get better battery life (5 hours: lowest backlight, wifi on, bluetooth off) out of my 2.2 SR macbook than I do out of my 2.5 MBP with the same settings, which only gets a little over 4 hours.

 

[clarkee]

So today i charged the MBP up fully then ran it off just the battery.
It was mainly for using the internet over the airport, nothing to heavy.
By the time i went home, after a good 4 hours use it was still showing 1:30 hours left.
So the problem seems to be completely down to using the screen saver while on battery.
So ill keep it set to sleep the display before the screen saver kicks in when on the battery.
Thanks for all your advice peeps!!

 

[flyinmac]

Glad to hear that it made a difference for you. Sometimes it's the simple things

 

[Marc4]

The screen saver that im using is the arabesque one that comes on the mac. its the screen saver that i use on my macbook too, ive never noticed it draining the battery like this though!!

Bizarre!!

Slight different in resolution though:

MacBook = 1280 x 800
Your 17" MBP = 1920 x 1200

So the CPU/GPU should probably have to work a lot harder to make the graphics smooth.

And as e12a said, "that abresque screen saver is pretty intensive I think..i know if I leave my computer on overnight with the screen saver the fans speed up occasionally as if its working hard even though I'm doing nothing (actually trying to sleep). That screen saver's got some issues."