The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Battery life on Macbook?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by crash013, Feb 1, 2008.

  1. crash013

    crash013 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    What is the battery life on the Macbook (2.2ghz one) like? I will be using it at school with wifi on and using word/powerpoint and surfing the web. How many hours can I expect?
     
  2. Arquis

    Arquis Kojima Worshiper

    Reputations:
    844
    Messages:
    1,688
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    From what I can tell, battery life on the Macbook line is all very similar. I'd say approx 4-4.5 hours with Word or PP open. I get about 4.5h on my MBP with WiFi, Fire Fox, and an IM client running.
     
  3. crash013

    crash013 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Thanks for your reply. Would the macbook have more or less battery life than the macbook pros? Maybe someone with the newer macbooks can chime in.
     
  4. Dustin_D

    Dustin_D Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    335
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I am guessing the MBP has lesser battery life because of the 8600 GT, but then makes up for the time lost with the LED screen :eek:

    They both get within 15 minutes of each other the same Battery Life.
     
  5. trueintentions

    trueintentions Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    516
    Messages:
    540
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I can get 6 hours on MB when it's on low brightness and only running Microsoft Word... :p
     
  6. xprohx

    xprohx Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    114
    Messages:
    666
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I have a 2.2 black macbook and can get about 4 hours average with medium to low brightness, wifi on and running word, powerpoint, firefox. I can see someone getting better times too.
     
  7. mc511

    mc511 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    27
    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yeah i have gotten around 4 hours i would say. Not a bad battery life at all. The MBP gets 4.5 hours with wifi turned on? Damn thats really good.
     
  8. Arquis

    Arquis Kojima Worshiper

    Reputations:
    844
    Messages:
    1,688
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Well I can get over 5 with WiFi, but that's on lowest brightness, no keyboard light, and muted volume. It also depends on whats being displayed on the browser. Pretty good considering I don't even think the 17 inch display is LED lit. I'm impressed with any Macbook battery overall. They're pretty good. And one of the main reasons they last so long is also because OS X is pretty efficient. Vista reduces my battery life by over an hour, lol. Score one for OS X? lol.
     
  9. AuroraS

    AuroraS Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    651
    Messages:
    3,497
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    ~5 hours with brightness low (3rd notch), wifi on, surfing the web
     
  10. Sam

    Sam Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    3,661
    Messages:
    9,249
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    I'd expect around 3-5 hours on acceptable settings with WiFi on, and more with WiFi off :).

    I'd say the MBP and MacBook are pretty close in battery life.