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New Macbook Question About Battery Life

C

CasiLindberg

macrumors member
Original poster
May 20, 2008
38
0
Apple Site says that the battery lasts 5 hours. My battery lasts around 3-3h30. This is when the brightness and volume is at 50 % and I am just watching a film or surfing the web.

What about the rest of you, Alu Macbook owners, what kinda of battery life do you have..

P.S. I have calibrated the battery and I use it correctly. Also I have checked and my battery is not faulty.
 
well if youre watching video, then thats why youre getting 3.5 hours...that makes sense...

you will only get ~5 hours if youre just surfing the web, and/or word processing...

i get about 5.5 hours on average, with brightness at half, wifi on, couple tabs in safari, and adium running
 
DeusInvictus7 said:
well if youre watching video, then thats why youre getting 3.5 hours...that makes sense...

you will only get ~5 hours if youre just surfing the web, and/or word processing...

i get about 5.5 hours on average, with brightness at half, wifi on, couple tabs in safari, and adium running
Click to expand...

Strange, I seem to be getting around 3-4 hours doing just about the same stuff as you. Maybe I am missing something or my battery is not as good as I had expected it to be.
 
Used it at uni properly for the first time today. With 80% charge remaining, 55% brightness, wi-fi off and two Word docs open I was rated at 4.5hrs left
... switching on wi-fi and running FF3 as well because I got bored :D, battery life estimation was cut by 30-40min
 
Twilight Elk said:
Strange, I seem to be getting around 3-4 hours doing just about the same stuff as you. Maybe I am missing something or my battery is not as good as I had expected it to be.
Click to expand...

hmm...thats interesting...do you have anything running that can possibly eat up processor usage? like most flash sites, or a video playing or something?
 
Those who listed 5.5 hours at 50% brightness with wifi, is that 5.5 hours expected or actually clocked? Like did u run it for 5.5 hours until it shut down or did it say 5.5 hours remaining while using?

Theres a big difference between them.
 
Davidkoh said:
Those who listed 5.5 hours at 50% brightness with wifi, is that 5.5 hours expected or actually clocked? Like did u run it for 5.5 hours until it shut down or did it say 5.5 hours remaining while using?

Theres a big difference between them.
Click to expand...

yeah, i ran it down...started running on battery at about 8 PM, went to my cousins room with my laptop and used it in there with adium running talking to friends...and went back to my room at about 1:30 AM and still had i think 7 percent left...so i did get that much battery life
 
well those 5.5 hours make sense to me. I have never gone all the way to the end simply because mine won't die. If I study an entire day in the library, with me closing it once in a while at the end of the day it still has an hour left. I used it for at least 5 hours though.

To cut a long story short, mine works just fine.
 
For the people getting 5.5 hours, what are they doing?

-What screen brightness do you have?
-Are you using any audio?
-How many/which programs are you using?

-The backlit keyboard doesnt make much a difference does it? cause it is only 2 LEDs

Im sure this will help many macbook users
 
CasiLindberg said:
For the people getting 5.5 hours, what are they doing?

-What screen brightness do you have?
-Are you using any audio?
-How many/which programs are you using?

-The backlit keyboard doesnt make much a difference does it? cause it is only 2 LEDs

Im sure this will help many macbook users
Click to expand...

well for me, i have gotten 5.5 with brightness at halfway, firefox or safari open with most of the time two tabs(no flash sites, just forums, and occasionally checking myspace/facebook) , no music or audio (when i have itunes playing, i get about 5 hours) and light chatting with adium...

so basically nothing that can possible eat the processor more than 10 percent
 
Twilight Elk said:
Strange, I seem to be getting around 3-4 hours doing just about the same stuff as you. Maybe I am missing something or my battery is not as good as I had expected it to be.
Click to expand...

Maybe I have had Bluetooth on for no reason? I turned it off, not knowing it was being activated. How much battery does it waste?
 
anish3232 said:
I am lucky to get 4 Hours with WiFi on, Bluetooth off, Screen 25%, and only web surfing. I think something might be wrong with my battery.
Click to expand...

well, you do have to keep in mind what and where you are surfing, i mean, if the site you go to has lots of pictures/gif images, then it will take more battery...on the other hand, if the site you are going to is only text(like most forums for the most part), you will get a longer life out of the battery...
 
Ok guys I have my battery at 100% now

-brightness down at 25%
-no audio
-only got safari open with 2 tabs
-bluetooth off
-wifi off

and I am getting 5 hours 33 minutes of battery life

hope this helps
 
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