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safariblock on new macbook unibody

R

redcrow240

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 12, 2008
58
1
hey guys,

ive been experimenting with different ways I could extend the battery life of my new macbook. With the backlight at less than half and the keyboard lit two clicks, I can get close to 4 hours which is more than enough for my needs. I only have safari running, and sometimes aol instant messenger. I turn the automatic light sensor to off cause i think it raises my backlight when it shouldnt, and just having it on might take a bit more juice. Thoughts on that?

I have a timecapsule though, so that drains my battery a bit since it does a few backups while im using the macbook around the house. I notice this because the time remaining drops alot while its running. I know its not a scientific measurement, but it goes from 3 hours remaining to something like an hour and change lol. It recovers again once it turns off, but who knows how much more battery life I couldve gotten without those scheduled backups. Im not gonna tinker with that anytime soon though.

BUT ANYWAYS, the real reason I started this thread was to ask about flash animations and whether or not they drain battery life? Does a plug in like SafariBlock help in extending battery life since it eliminates those pesky and maybe battery draining flash web advertisements? I just found out about this safariBlock today so please dont hate me If I sound too "newbie" :)

I noticed that during certain web advertisements (the ones that move like commercials), the hardrive turns on or something (since i hear a click underneath the right hand side of my keyboard). I thought that maybe it was the graphics card turning on or something to deal with it. Any Thoughts on that?

So i downloaded safariblock and my web browsing experience has so far been very good. Everything seems cleaner and my battery life appears to have been extended. Right now as I type this it says I have 4:27 remaining and ive been using the comp for an hour and 23 minutes.

Does anybody else use this safariblock in this forum? does it extend battery life, or am I going crazy? lol Also, an explanation about the clicking sound would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch guys!! :)
 
i have not calibrated my battery. why, am I getting bad battery life compared to the average? I havent kept up with battery life averages since its not a priority for me, but I figured Id find out my limitations now while the battery is new. Looking back I think it shouldve been higher on my checklist. My particular order was: construction (slanted keys, scratches, dead pixels etc), screen quality (flashlights, clouding, panel model, color profile to match panel),speakers,drive,battery,touchpad, camera.

I had read somewhere that a battery calibration was recommended for macbook pros but not necessary for regular macbooks? Is that wrong? I have the 2.4 aluminum if that helps. Im new to the mac world so I dont know how to do much (like calibrating a battery). But im slowly learning thanks you guys :) I added a color profile two nights ago lol. Now I added this SafariBlock plug in. Who knows what ill learn tomorrow lol. Its exciting.

I'll post later today what my final battery tally for the charge was. For this experiment I'm changing it up and reducing my normal settings. I am on two clicks backlight, no keyboard light and only safari open. I started at 1:05pm, its 3:14 and it says i have 57% remaining (or 3:35 minutes left). I have safariBlock on, and time capsule does a back up roughtly every hour.
 
Calibrating the battery is for any notebook, not just the MacBook Pro. It gives a better indication of how much juice is left in the battery, and out of the box, the batteries aren't calibrated.

To calibrate your battery - charge it up to 100%, then use it until it hits 0% (basically when you keep using it until it goes to sleep). Then leave it like that for about 4 hours. Then charge it up to 100% again.

You're best doing this at night time.
 
I was at full charge , but a 99%. I calibrated the battery and it's fine now. It's recommended you calibrate the battery as soon as you get it. Brand new also. A week old.

A simple search on Google, or even Apple support shows you how to calibrate the battery.
 
thanks for the quick reply guys. Well ive used this comp on battery life probrably around 4 times (ive had it since christmas). For all these times ive put it back to charge once that 5% warning pops up. So what i'll do is post how long my battery lasted today all the way to 0% then leave it like that for 4 hours and charge it again like Kilamite said. Then i'll do this whole experiment tomorrow and see if there are any drastic differences. I know its not gonna be an exact comparison (since I cant go to the exact websites at the exact same time for the same length), but at least I wont have that doubt in my head about battery calibration :)
 
well my battery lasted from 1:05pm till 5:55pm....so 4 hours and 50 minutes (before calibration). I'll be charging it back up around 10:30pm.
 
hmmm maybe I should push it back to 11:30 to be completely sure. It'll give me time to finally open and try this fallout 3 for ps3 game. It looks promising :)
 
oh wow thanks for that tip! :) I did not know that. I turned that check thing off (so it only backs up when plugged in) and it says i have 6:31 remaining. I know that it cant possibly last that long though lol.

Brightness is at 5 clicks from total darkness and no keyboard light (its bright inside my house right now).
 
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