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Macbook Pro Battery Life

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whatlifeforme

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 10, 2011
48
0
I just purchased a Macbook Pro. When I first opened it, it already had a full charge so I waited to charge it after use, instead of doing the "first charge," procedure - essentially charging for an extended amount of time before using.

I hope this will not be an issue. It came loaded with stuff for school, so I suppose it was used already anyways (the box was not open). I am not sure how they do this with colleges...? They just have preloaded harddrives maybe?

I have used (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1490) to calibrate the battery.

What duration should I be seeing with battery time on the 15" macbook pro?
 
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whatlifeforme said:
I just purchased a Macbook Pro. When I first opened it, it already had a full charge so I waited to charge it after use, instead of doing the "first charge," procedure - essentially charging for an extended amount of time before using.

I hope this will not be an issue.
Click to expand...
It's fine. Your battery life from a charge is dependent on many factors. See the "BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE" section of the following link. You can also search this forum to check out some of the hundreds of threads that already exist on this topic. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 
Well, it is advertized for 7 hours, although you'll likely see slightly less (5.5-6 hours or so). You don't need to leave it plugged in for a long time the first time, it quits charging once it's full, so that doesn't really do anything anymore.
 
I have used the computer for less than 2 hours this morning, and the battery status is already at 64%.

-google chrome + wifi
-powerpoint for ~20 minutes.
 
whatlifeforme said:
I have used the computer for less than 2 hours this morning, and the battery status is already at 64%.

-google chrome + wifi
-powerpoint for ~20 minutes.
Click to expand...

What size of Macbook pro do you have? If it's anything above a 13", you'll need to install gfxcardstatus. Google chrome needlessly uses the high end graphic card in your computer. Without disabling this using gfxcardstatus, the battery of your mac could be greatly affected. Give it a try.
 
i have a 15" macbook pro. it doesn't seem to improve when not using google chrome.

i am really quite disappointed; I can literally sit and watch the percentage count drop by 1%, as it drops that rapidly.

i need to compare my old thinkpad for reference.
 
whatlifeforme said:
i have a 15" macbook pro. it doesn't seem to improve when not using google chrome.

i am really quite disappointed; I can literally sit and watch the percentage count drop by 1%, as it drops that rapidly.

i need to compare my old thinkpad for reference.
Click to expand...

did you listen to blondie and get gfxcardstatus
 
not yet, as a default macbook just purchased should have better performance than that.
 
whatlifeforme said:
not yet, as a default macbook just purchased should have better performance than that.
Click to expand...

Your using google chrome or flash based websites isn't helping it. Also, it might still be indexing if you have a brand new computer, this eats away CPU cycles and batteries.

You do know how Apple reaches those 7 hour figures, right?

-Wi-fi on
-bluetooth off
-1/3 brightness
-no time machine
-safari refreshing a page every 30 seconds, with no flash
- word document open
 
whatlifeforme said:
I have used the computer for less than 2 hours this morning, and the battery status is already at 64%.

-google chrome + wifi
-powerpoint for ~20 minutes.
Click to expand...

Powerpoint and chrome both use the discrete gpu. That will kill your battery life.
 
so what do you fellow college students do? use for 2-3 lectures then charge? i suppose you would have to carry a charge around with you then.
 
mine goes strong for 6 hours with gfxCardStatus keeping me on the integrated GPU...
 
whatlifeforme said:
so what do you fellow college students do? use for 2-3 lectures then charge? i suppose you would have to carry a charge around with you then.
Click to expand...

What I generally do is charge it whenever I find an outlet at school like after class, studying, or waiting. I don't like to charge it during a lecture because I can just put it away whenever I need to without having to wind up the cord.

However, I don't even need to carry around a charger. I'm there from 7-3 and I can get home and have a 40-50 percent charge left over. I just like to bring it anyways, it helps so I don't go through so many cycles.
 
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You say you have a default setup yet you are using Chrome. Using Chrome is not a default setup, plus it is a resource hog. Even when you're not using it, it can be pulling power. Took me about two days to figure that out so I uninstalled it. Loved Chrome on my PC but hate it on the Mac! My battery life almost double one I uninstalled that resource hog and disabled Bluetooth.
 
so what do you use? safari? i can't stand safari...

plus i don't think it has my favorite extension, anesidora
 
Chrome is an ok browser, but Ladytonya is right, it's not the best choice if you're running on battery. Might improve in the future, but right now Safari is probably the best browser optimized for battery performance on a Mac.
 
GuitarG20 said:
so what do you use? safari? i can't stand safari...

plus i don't think it has my favorite extension, anesidora
Click to expand...
I use safari, a browser's a browser. I don't use extensions or anything like that, I don't see a point to them. I use my browser, to browse the web, and that is it, nothing else.
 
whatlifeforme said:
so what do you fellow college students do? use for 2-3 lectures then charge? i suppose you would have to carry a charge around with you then.
Click to expand...

Mine lasts an entire day without needing to be charged. Leave the house at 9 and come back between 430 or 9, depending on whether I have a lab or not.

If you get the application to restrict the integrated GPU (HD3000) and don't watch much video/play many games, you should be able to get at least 7 hours easily.
 
shyam09 said:
did you listen to blondie and get gfxcardstatus
Click to expand...

I just downloaded this to try it out.

No matter how many times I switch to "Integrated Only", after a few minutes I go up and check the status and it's right back to "Discrete Only".

Not sure what's going on with it.

Edit: Or wait, do I want it on Discrete Only?
 
depends, do you wanna use the integrated card (battery life) or the dedicated (powerful)?

make sure you're running the latest version, and go into settings and make sure that it's set up correctly (make sure it's not set to pick based on being plugged in or not... unless that's how you want it to work.)
 
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