Testing my computer's speed and battery life

[bollweevil]

Hello All,

I am a silly person. I want to test my computer's processor speed and battery life in a controlled way, and I am looking for input or suggestions.

First of all, how should I test processor speed?

Second, to test battery life in a controlled way that replicates normal web surfing, I will write a Python program. This program would load a new webpage via WiFi every thirty seconds, and every minute it would write a text file saying the current time and how many minutes have elapsed since I started the program. At some point the battery will die. I will then plug in the computer, restart it, and see what the last written file says.

My questions:

1. Is this awful for the computer? Will I somehow break the computer by running it until it crashes from lack of battery? I know that this cannot physically harm the computer, I am afraid it could corrupt the hard disc or mangle the operating system or something.

2. This isn't necessarily a good test, because the computer is simply downloading the HTML source and then deleting it, the computer is not doing all the work of parsing it and displaying it. Should I try to find a way to mimic web browsing more closely? How could I do that in Python?

Thank you. I am especially interested to see how people address question 1.

 

[Ampidire]

Actually running your laptop until it sleeps itself from lack of battery is part of the battery calibration process.

You should do it just about every 6 months or so to keep your battery in tip top shape.

1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your MacBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.

2. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.

3. Disconnect the power adapter with the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.

4. Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.

5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.

6. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

As far as the processor test, I'd just run an Xbench and submit/compare your scores to other notebooks/computers

 

[rychencop]

per apple you need to calibrate your battery once a month. not every 6.

 

[Ampidire]

I said 6 months because once a month is ridiculous, that's a whole day of computing on a computer that you're meant to kill and leave dead for hours.

So umm, what if I don't have all my work ready to go when it kicks the bucket? Well I'm screwed until I wait it out or I mess up the process.

 

[bollweevil]

Wow. I have learned two things:

1. Apple wants me to calibrate my battery? What else do they want me to do? I honestly had no idea that these routine maintenance suggestions were out there. What else have I been neglecting?

2. The indicator light on the magsafe cord changes color? Being colorblind, I had never noticed this.

 

[rtpub]

Wow. I have learned two things:

1. Apple wants me to calibrate my battery? What else do they want me to do? I honestly had no idea that these routine maintenance suggestions were out there. What else have I been neglecting?

2. The indicator light on the magsafe cord changes color? Being colorblind, I had never noticed this.

1. Well, IMHO, every electronic devices that run on batteries could make use of the same practice to calibrate the batteries

2. Yes, mine will go from amber to green And if you have Uni macbook (pro) there's another battery indicator on the side!!

 

[rychencop]

I said 6 months because once a month is ridiculous, that's a whole day of computing on a computer that you're meant to kill and leave dead for hours.

So umm, what if I don't have all my work ready to go when it kicks the bucket? Well I'm screwed until I wait it out or I mess up the process.

i'm just stating what apple recommends.