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mbp as in flight entertainment

M

Muscle

macrumors regular
Original poster
Searched the forums / mroogle and couldn't find a definitive answer

Was wondering how many hours of dvd will I be able to watch (<50% brightness, no apps running, headphones, etc) on a fully charged 15" i7 2.66ghz before the battery goes dead? Was hoping it will last me the entire flight duration of 6 hours (JFK to LAX).

[edit] on a side note: does apple ever upgrade the battery for exisiting / previous gen laptops?
 
Muscle said:
ouch, if I were to rip the dvds onto my HDD would that improve battery life?
Click to expand...
Probably, as you wouldn't have to power the optical drive. I still wouldn't expect 6 hours, since you'd be playing movies, which would put more load on the HDD, CPU and GPU.
 
I thought the i7 was supposed to have a 9 hour rated battery? I know it won't play at that rating but my point being my 2007 MB that only had a 5 hour rated battery would play at least one movie (usually a movie and a half and I didn't play short movies) during the flight before the battery crapped out (5 hour flight from Seattle to Atlanta). I don't know if it would still do that (i tend to take advantage of in flight satellite that some airlines offer) as it's old now but the battery has only degraded some.

You gotta also remember that you won't be having that laptop on the full 6 hours (take off and landing they won't let you) and I was very conservative and it was plugged in at the airport while I waited to let me board.
 
tigress666 said:
I thought the i7 was supposed to have a 9 hour rated battery?
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That's under very rigid conditions, as Apple states:
The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processor document with display brightness set to the middle setting.
Click to expand...
That's not playing a movie, using the optical drive, etc.
 
GGJstudios said:
Probably, as you wouldn't have to power the optical drive. I still wouldn't expect 6 hours, since you'd be playing movies, which would put more load on the HDD, CPU and GPU.
Click to expand...

thanks, at least there is still some improvement.

tigress666 said:
I thought the i7 was supposed to have a 9 hour rated battery? I know it won't play at that rating but my point being my 2007 MB that only had a 5 hour rated battery would play at least one movie (usually a movie and a half and I didn't play short movies) during the flight before the battery crapped out (5 hour flight from Seattle to Atlanta). I don't know if it would still do that (i tend to take advantage of in flight satellite that some airlines offer) as it's old now but the battery has only degraded some.

You gotta also remember that you won't be having that laptop on the full 6 hours (take off and landing they won't let you) and I was very conservative and it was plugged in at the airport while I waited to let me board.
Click to expand...

Its advertised at 9 hrs but I've never actually had the battery indicator read more than 7 hours. From normal usage, web browsing, email, some MS office work, adium, and skype running, bluetooth off, 50% screen brightness and no keyboard backlight, I get about 4 to 5 hours of juice...which really isn't that bad.

I'm wondering if we will have the option of changing our batter, when it needs replacement, to an even more powerful one, 2 to 3 years down the road. Does apple upgrade their batteries? Are there other suppliers who do?

TIA
 
Yeah, I agree, highly doubtful about getting 6hr battery time viewing just DVDs.

In flight power, is what you'll need. Check out SeatGuru for in flight power info on your flight. One other thing, there's a little note to look out for about your seat and type of ticket you have: "On some aircraft, the power ports are nonfunctional in economy, so bring an extra battery just in case."

This saturday I have a flight from SFO to HKG that's 14:50 hrs and my economy seat has a power port, but I hope it's functional. Return flight from Bangkok to SFO 16:50 hrs and with power port, crossing my fingers that one works too.

Anyhow, good luck rationing your battery power for 6hrs.

Mel
 
Muscle said:
I'm wondering if we will have the option of changing our batter, when it needs replacement, to an even more powerful one, 2 to 3 years down the road. Does apple upgrade their batteries? Are there other suppliers who do?
Click to expand...
Apple recently upgraded MBPs with longer-lasting batteries, but the new built-in batteries can't be installed in the earlier models. It's unlikely that Apple will offer a battery upgrade without buying a newer model MBP.
 
It may be possible. Last week I accidentally left the charger off my laptop when playing TF2 while my laptop was in clamshell using an external display and it lasted almost 4 hours. I was shocked when Wndows popped up a message and said I had 10% left.
 
GGJstudios said:
That's under very rigid conditions, as Apple states:
Click to expand...

I realize that... I htink you miss my point (as I put in the disclaimer right after I realize that that's under "ideal" circumstances. I really didn't have that long of a post it was hard to read the rest of it besides that sentence).

My point was that my 2007 MB with only a 5 hour rated battery lasted enough time to play a long movie plus half another movie on its battery. I brought up the ratings to compare that a much lesser rated battery still at least did a movie and a half. And I put in a disclaimer cause I knew if I didn't some one would go, "That's just under ideal circumstances" so they wouldn't miss my point. Apparently it still was missed.

Oh, and I'll add that on the 5 hour flights I've been on, I didn't have time to watch more than two movies.
 
This might be to simple but why don't you test it yourself.

Play movies on it until it shuts off.

You don't have to sit there and watch them but just let it run and time them so when one finishes you put the other one in. That will give you the time that you can expect.

Each battery is different so i'm not sure if you will be able to go off of other peoples figures besides just using them as a ball park figures.

****I'm going to watch an eps of top gear which is 1 hour long that is ripped on to my hard drive. My battery currently is at 96% I will report back in an hour with my battery. Hopefully this will help.*****

Starting at 96% and turning the brightness down to notch #5 after a 1 hour video stored on my SSD my battery is at 78%.

Currently stating that i have 4:49 left.

That means with 100% battery if 1 hour video takes 18% of your battery you could watch 5.55 hours of video. Not to bad
 
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how was the video encoded?

format (x264, mkv, or divx) and resolution of the video ex. 480p, 720p, or 1080p.

which video player did you use?
 
Planes should have working power plugs. I mean, cmon', the rural trains in my area even have power plugs 😀
 
mrsir2009 said:
Planes should have working power plugs. I mean, cmon', the rural trains in my area even have power plugs 😀
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[edit] Anyone use external batteries for the mbp? Found this

honestly never noticed where the power plugs are but judging by the old aircrafts that most airlines are still using..I am a bit doubtful.

I will conduct the aforementioned test running the dvds from 100% to depletion and see how it goes.

Really hope that the battery will be upgradable in the future. I want my mbp to last at least 4 years.
 
Last edited:
Muscle said:
Searched the forums / mroogle and couldn't find a definitive answer

Was wondering how many hours of dvd will I be able to watch (<50% brightness, no apps running, headphones, etc) on a fully charged 15" i7 2.66ghz before the battery goes dead? Was hoping it will last me the entire flight duration of 6 hours (JFK to LAX).
Click to expand...

I just got back from Cali (LAX), flying out of Dulles (D.C.) - no problems and still had over 20% battery left, though I didn't use my MBP every single minute of air time either (I'd say I used it 80-90% of the time). I got tired mid-flight and took a 20min snooze, but I watched a full length movie, listened to music and went online (my flight had internet service available for a few bucks).

Tips:

Before you leave for airport - fully charge your MBP and turn it off (not sleep). Turn it back on once up in the air - avoid using it in the airport while you wait to board, to maximize your battery once flying.
You don't need 50% screen brightness in an airplane - go lower (get a window seat if you can so you can shut the window during daytime flights).
Turn wireless off.
Turn keyboard backlighting off (if you're not typing).
Quit any programs you're not using and single task instead of multitasking.


You might be able to squeeze in 2 movies, depending on the length of the movies, condition/life of your battery and screen/keyboard brightness settings.

Of course, my flight also had power outlets...the girl next to us simply plugged her 17" MBP in the whole flight lol
 
Its a shame you can't replace the batteries anymore, so you can't take an extra 🙁 Unless... You were confident with opening computers and carried on your toolkit 😀

...But they probably wouldn't get you take screwdrivers and the like into the cabin. You could stab people with them 😛
 
mrsir2009 said:
Its a shame you can't replace the batteries anymore, so you can't take an extra 🙁 Unless... You were confident with opening computers and carried on your toolkit 😀

...But they probably wouldn't get you take screwdrivers and the like into the cabin. You could stab people with them 😛
Click to expand...

It does stink in some aspects that you can't switch the batteries out on the fly but at the same time they last a whole lot longer then the old ones.

I remember when i used to fly with my 17" 1.5 G4 I used to carry 3 batteries with me. It was great i could just keep on going but the weight of them along with a 17" laptop was way to much.

Now i have a 15" and get the same battery time out of 1 battery and its so much quicker.
 
GGJstudios said:
Yeah, then you'd really be screwed! 😀
Click to expand...

I can imagine it at the airport terminal...:

"Sir, what are these sharp screwdrivers for?"

"Oh, um, they are for changing my laptop battery in-flight"

"Why do you need a screwdriver to replace a laptop battery?"

"Well, umm, you see... My laptop battery is internal..."

"Right....."
 
mrsir2009 said:
Its a shame you can't replace the batteries anymore, so you can't take an extra 🙁 Unless... You were confident with opening computers and carried on your toolkit 😀

...But they probably wouldn't get you take screwdrivers and the like into the cabin. You could stab people with them 😛
Click to expand...

Adam of Mythbusters fame snuck a 12" razor blade past the TSA...
 
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