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Which Apple laptop gets the longest battery life?
- Thread starter princealfie
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Current? Not sure.
Previous? Probably the G3 Pismo with two batteries installed.
The 14" iBook G4 had the longest battery life of the last PowerPC laptops.
my parents have a 1.83GHz 15.4" MBP, 1.25GB RAM, 7200 RPM 100GB HDD. I have a 1.83GHz CoreDuo MacBook, 1.5GB RAM, 5400 RPM 60GB HDD. My one lasts a LOT longer off the charger than the MBP 
Well that is going to really depend on what type of harddrive is in the macbook/macbook pro.
7200 rpm drives run faster than the standard laptops that are in the macbook and macbook pros. the higher the rpm the faster the drive the more power it consumes. now with all that being said. the macbook i think gives the better battery life. the power consumption on that laptop is 60 to 65W compared to the macbook pros 80W.
7200 rpm drives run faster than the standard laptops that are in the macbook and macbook pros. the higher the rpm the faster the drive the more power it consumes. now with all that being said. the macbook i think gives the better battery life. the power consumption on that laptop is 60 to 65W compared to the macbook pros 80W.
HDD speed is one of the least pressing issues on battery life. The big killers are the LCD, using the optical drive, wireless devices and the kind of processor activity.
A faster HDD spins for less time thus negating any perceived power advantage a slower drive would have.
I'd either guess the MacBook (smaller screen = less battery drain) or 17" MacBook Pro (biggest battery).
Of course, that's not really helpful, since I just named 2/3rds of Apple's laptop lineup
from my experience, with a CoreDuo Macbook, 17" Powerbook, and 15" MBP:
Macbook can get up to 4 to 4.5 hours with select usage (dim all the way down, not running a DVD or doing anything terribly CPU draining)
17" PB would get about 3.5 to 4 hours easily
15" MBP can get at least 3 hours easily.
So short story, Macbook would get longest battery life. It also has the smallest screen and is slower, too. You'd probably not notice much of a difference between that and a 17" MBP.
The best ones were by far the 12" G3s (Prismo, ibook). My clamshell can still do over 2 hours (6 years later). The only thing is trying to find cheap functional batteries for them now. But any thing with a 12" screen should be your best bet. It seems the low end G3 dual usbs are getting really cheap and you can find batteries pretty easy for them still.
All the posted numbers look right on except if I'm a good boy and shut BT off and just surf I can get 5:15 - 5:30 out of the GF's 12" PB, 5:00 easy out of my 12" iBook. Needless to say they are the surfing whores.
friend bought his MBP three weeks ago and is not happy with it. he wants to sell it and get a black MB instead as he can not return it anymore. but he did complain about batt life a lot. but he does a lot with garageband on the road so maybe that is why.
as he can not return it anymore. but he did complain about batt life a lot. but he does a lot with garageband on the road so maybe that is why.