15" Macbook Pro 2008 Unibody Battery Problems...

I had received my refurbished MBP last monday, and have been using it frequently since then. It takes on average 4-5 hours to charge it fully, which is ridiculous in my opinion. And the most I can get it to last is around 2:40 with lowest brightness, microsoft office 2008 open, bluetooth off and wifi on. Shouldn't I be getting more battery time?

 

I would load iStat Pro. It is a free widget. It will tell you alot of things including the temps inside your computer and hard drive space but also have a section on battery. Telling your battery Health, the number or cycles it has been through, and your current charge. The battery on your Pro might of have been heavily used and reaching the end of it's life. I hear batteries are good for about 300 cycles...

Edite: Just read your post about getting an Apple Referb and not see that you stated that, Apple should of checked your battery, if you find the battery has alot of cycles on it or poor health, let Apple know. Also another thought just came to me, you might need to calibrate your battery. I don't know the specific procedure for your model but it is basically completely draining the battery and recharging it. Check Apple's website for specific instructions on that.

 

I have iStat nano, and it says there has been 6 battery cycles and 100% health. isn't a battery when the laptop fully discharges and turns off by itself?

 

A new refurb uMBP purchased from Apple should have shipped with a new battery .

Running it with the dedicated 9600 gpu turned on, instead of the integrated 9400M will chew through your battery as well, resulting in battery life ~3 hours depending on what you have running in the background besides just Office.

As for the charging time you're seeing, Apple sets them to quick charge up to 80% and then trickle charge the remaining percentage. From a full discharge, around 4 hours until the Magsafe light turns green is completely expected.

See here for details on what consitutes a battery cycle on Apple notebooks as well as battery charge times.

 

call apple and ask for replacement!

 

The battery appears to be new but with power saving settings on the most I can get is ~2:40, which I find hard to believe. My old Toshiba m200 would get around 3 hours, and that was an old battery too.

 

Calibrating the battery may help significantly. Fully charge; unplug and use until it automajically goes to sleep. Do NOT plug back in until sleep light stops pulsing and goes out completely & for good... usually 5 hours or so more. Now plug the laptop back in and let charge until full.

 

I already called Apple to complain and I'm returning it sans the restocking fee, and purchasing one from the US refurb. store as I can save over $200 even after conversion from USD to CAD which is amazing since I'm short on money.

I really loved my mac, but i'll be reunited with a new one soon

 

yeah there is (was) definitely something wrong. my battery, currently at 93 cycles gets at least 4 hours on light usage.

 

WOW and you have a higher TDP processor than me... what settings are you using canadiandude?

 

If i set the brightness to the lowest setting I can surf the net for almost 5hrs on my Late 08' 2.53Ghz Unibody, are you sure your not using the 9600M GPU?

 

I'm using the better battery life settings.

 

I actually have the same issue as ronnieb. My brightness is on level 1 (i.e. 1 above turning the screen off), the keyboard backlight is switched off, and am running on the 9400m (i.e. as ronnieb but it, I have the better battery life settings). Initially I was getting close to 4.5 hrs, but now, 42 cycles in, I barely get 2 hrs with just wifi and powerpoint/office and light web surfing.

 

I'm returning it. As much as I love the Mac status and iChat, I need the battery life. Hopping onto the lenovo train. All aboard!

 

same here...my battery lasts longer than my dell vostro 1700.

 

With that low cycle count on the battery (even if it's a first-gen AluMBP), you should call Apple to discuss a replacement. Batteries can go bad early, and that's what warranty coverage is for .

So first you return your initial new unit over the battery life issue (which is a rare problem at best on the MBP) when simply a new battery probably would likely have solved your problem, and a week later you're jumping to Lenovo (which are also good systems)??? Enjoy your Thinkpad .

 

In order to order from Apple again, I'd have to wait till they receive the laptop in their warehouse, then I have to wait 2-3 weeks till I receive my money back since I payed with wire transfer. I asked if they could simply ship out a new one, but no. I'd have to repurchase it and wait for shipping