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New MBP: Battery Life. Do I have a problem?

MontyC

MontyC

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
56
7
London Uk
I bought a 15" i7 MBP few days ago. After fully charging it, it ran out of juice after 2.5 hours. Normal use (I know 'normal' can mean anything but it was just Safari- no videos - and Mail). I followed Apple's instructions and calibrated it (yes, I waited 5 hours after it fully drained from a full charge).

With NO programs running (and dimmed to one up from dark screen), was showing 2:52 life. I took it back to Apple stors and they gave a new MBP... no argument. Can not complain about that.

Now, my new new MBP is doing better but I am not sure I am getting the battery life I should. Again, full charge, NOTHING running, dimmed to one up from black screen: 4:46. Start Safari and it is under 3 hours. This is after proper calibration.

I know 8-9 hours is more realistically 5-6 hours in real life but is what I am getting normal? I dropped by Apple store and I looked at an identical display machine... I pulled out the power connection for a few seconds and that unit showed over 8 hours of life... and it was running a few apps.

Do I have another defective battery? Or does my expectation need to be calibrated? I am still within the 14 days so I can return the MBP but I was interested in any thoughts or experiences out there.
 
Let it go trough couple cycles, it takes time for it to calibrate itself. Try it a week, if still the same problem, return it.

I had the same issues with my sis MacBook, first charges only lasted less than 5 hours but now she gets +6 hours easily.
 
It could be Spotlight indexing the drive. For the first few hours after you first switch on your Mac the hard disk and CPU can work surprisingly hard indexing all the files. And that really eats battery life.

You can tell if Spotlight is indexing by looking at the magnifying glass logo in the menu bar. If its centre is pulsing, Spotlight is busy eating your battery.

It could be another rogue process. If you open Activity Monitor you can see how much CPU your Mac is using. It should be something like 10% or less, with 90% idle. The Spotlight indexing process is called mdworker.

If Spotlight is indexing, there's not much you can do but wait it out. If you've got a lot of files I guess it could take 12 hours or something to finish.
 
First, time how long your battery lasts using a watch, and stop trusting the estimate at the top of your screen. It was never meant to be accurate, just representative of current power consumption.

Is this your first laptop? :confused:


If your battery only lasts 2-3 hours after a proper test, THEN complain.
 
No need to be confused

Abstract said:
First, time how long your battery lasts using a watch, and stop trusting the estimate at the top of your screen. It was never meant to be accurate, just representative of current power consumption.

Is this your first laptop? :confused:


If your battery only lasts 2-3 hours after a proper test, THEN complain.
Click to expand...

Thanks all for the replies. (the problem is not Spotlight indexing).

As I said in the posting, the first machine lasted 2.5 hours. Actual light use.

The second one is getting about 4 hours. Also actual use.

No, this is not my first laptop. The last one (MBP 2,4 GHz) had a better battery life.... the new model is supposed to have better battery life. Not what I am seeing, hence my concern.
 
I've had very good luck with my battery so this is not everywhere. I can get 6 hours easily and I keep the display pretty cranked up. In the last two days I've used it almost all day at coffee shops and at home (too lazy to plug in the power adapter) and I haven't had any problems. I think I could easily get 7 hours.

I think the culprit may be as others have suggested, apps using the 330M...

Good luck though. At least you know if it persists you can return it.
 
That graphics switching thing is beginning to be a pretty big problem.
That's another reason why i shouldn't get the 15". There's been quite a few times where the 4+ hours of internet use, 8+ hours of ebook use my 13" gives me has come in handy.
 
That graphics switching thing is beginning to be a pretty big problem.
That's another reason why i shouldn't get the 15". There's been quite a few times where the 4+ hours of internet use, 8+ hours of ebook use my 13" gives me has come in handy.
 
I too am not getting the battery life I was hoping I would with the 2010 Macbook Pro 15 inch (i7).

I'm simply hoping we get a software update to fix this graphics card switching "problem".

Edit:


breathesrain said:
Try this:
http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus/
And see what card is running with safari open. Snow Leopard seems to be making some strange choices for graphics switching.
Click to expand...

By the way. Excellent link. Thank you.
 
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