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attn: 13" MBP users - What kind of battery life are you getting?

I'm thinking about getting a 13" MBP and I'm wondering what kind of real world experiences people are getting with these laptops?

are you guys and gals getting anywhere close to the seven hours that Apple is advertising?
 
As far as I know I have never actually gotten a full 7 hours but I most like could if all I did was word processing or light internet browsing. Currently I would guess that from a full charge and running the battery down I get probably about 5 hours and that is mostly using internet (multiple tabs and video streaming) mostly and downloading some fairly small files such as music, apps etc.

I can definitely that so Far I am fairly pleased with my battery life and not having to go and find my charger every 2 hours or so.

Just has an idea of what I get my battery is currently bouncing around 5 hours left and is at 68%. This is just with this one window open and brightness a bit below 50%.

If you are looking to get the maximum 7 hours you will have to remember that it is UP TO 7 hours and will have to be very conservative with wha kind and how many processes that you run.
 
I get anywhere from 5-7 hours depending on the brightness and what I'm doing. I will say 7 hours is tough to achieve but it can be done if you lower your brightness and are word processing. Overall though, I say my average is 5.5-6 hours and that is pretty good considering I don't lower my screen brightness ever.
 
I leave the screen at full brightness and never turn off the hard drive. Browsing the net, using Microsoft Office, and listening to music I get about 4 to 4.5 hours on a fully charged battery. Battery performance on the MBP 13" is far better than any other laptop I've owned.
 
On my way back from Myrtle Beach to Quebec, I listen 2 episodes (40mins) of OTH (for the GF...), a 1h30 movie and about 5-6 episodes of The Office, then my battery died. All of this was at half-brightness, but the movie was at minimum.
 
Some of you guys who posted 5+ hours of battery life are not posting what type of work you are doing with the notebook.

I got just over 5 hours browsing the web that was flash intensive and video intensive. I also created a data DVD during this use. Screen was between 1/3 to 1/2.
 
7 hours: browsing the web on wifi, bluetooth off, 4 stripes brightness

(sometimes it indicates 8 but mostly 7)
 
5-6 hours, never using the illuminated keyboard, brightness is down, medium internet usage (watching some videos), word, and listening to itunes. Not all of that at the same time but over 5-6 hours i could accomplish all of that.

never experienced 7+ hours but i am sure if i did very little with my computer besides typing a word document with light internet usage for research i am sure i could squeeze out 7 hours!
 
I have a 09 15" MBP and ive never got 7 hours. Ive only had this computer a month and the battery life fluctuates. It did it since the first day. you cant go off the meter at the top of your screen which is really disappointing. On a full charge it normally SAYS 4-5 hours on mine, but the meter jumps around so inaccurately you cant even guess how much time you have left. I think its kinda ridiculous how mac bragged about their newfound notebook battery life in advertisement, when in reality they seem to be far from what we were promised, so far atleast.
 
I have a 09 15" MBP and ive never got 7 hours. Ive only had this computer a month and the battery life fluctuates. It did it since the first day. you cant go off the meter at the top of your screen which is really disappointing. On a full charge it normally SAYS 4-5 hours on mine, but the meter jumps around so inaccurately you cant even guess how much time you have left. I think its kinda ridiculous how mac bragged about their newfound notebook battery life in advertisement, when in reality they seem to be far from what we were promised, so far atleast.

If you think about it the meter on the mac is actually more accurate and useful than other laptops battery indicators since it judges the time off of what you are doing at the moment. Other indicators will give you a time but if you do something more intensive the battery will run out much quicker than it says.

This gives you a picture of how much longer the battery will last if you were to continue what you are doing which in my opinion is much more helpful than a number that could be off by a couple hours.
 
4 hours max

3 - 4 hours max depending on running tasks (actual, not as indicated on the meter)
Running CS4, Safari, FCE, etc.
Brightness medium
Airport off
Running the 9400M instead of the 9600M video card
Sometimes with a Maxtor USB HD attached
Bluetooth + wireless Mighty Mouse on

late '08 uMBP 15" on 10.5.7
 
Not a lot of cycles but I have gotten over 8 hours several times. Mostly surfing with Safari and a bit of word-processing. Nothing with intensive power requirements. Very good none the less. I wonder how it will do with Movies?

Update I continue to get 7 to 8 hours of actual use with the same workload as above. However I have noticed a new anomaly that I like. My previous Macbook Uni would lose battery life while in "Sleep" mode at the rate of 20 to 30 minutes per hour. My Macbook Pro is on it's third day of being in "Sleep" mode when not in use and still has 4:15 showing in Istat. I have probably used it "awake" about 1 hour each day. I continue to be very pleased.
 
Mid 2009 MBP 15inch consistently around 7 hours as suggested by apple...although not doing a lot of CPU or GPU intensive apps.
 
It seems like I only get 3 hours max with my Unibody 15" Macbook Pro (non-integrated battery).
 
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7 1/2 hours for me. 13" mbp 2.53 4 gigs ram.
 
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