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    Best settings for maximum battery life?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by henros, Aug 21, 2009.

  1. henros

    henros Newbie

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    So I just picked up a new 13" MacBook Pro today and I was wondering what the best settings were for maximum battery life without turning the brightness down too low. This is my first mac so if you could sort of guide me through the process of changing the settings that would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks in advance. :)
     
    henros, Aug 21, 2009
    #1
  2. tallan

    tallan Notebook Deity

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    There's not much to do after going to System Preferences > Energy Saver > Battery and making sure that the box for Put Hard Disk to Sleep is checked as well as the one for Automatically Reduce Display Brightness. Then move the Computer and Sleep timers to the shortest values you can live with, turn your screen brightness down as much as you can stand and turn off your Bluetooth and/or Wifi if you don't need them. That just about does it; keep the keyboard backlight as dim as possible as well.
     
    tallan, Aug 22, 2009
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  3. snork

    snork Notebook Evangelist

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    Yep...new 13" MBP owner too here. I agree with Tallan, not much else to do. I generally turn the keyboard backlight off completely when on battery and turn the brightness down as much as tolerable. So far I've had no problems easily running 4-5 hrs and still have 30%+ battery life left :cool: I haven't even run into the need to have to plug in on the road yet which is excellent IMHO!
     
    snork, Aug 22, 2009
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  4. MKang25

    MKang25 NBR Prisoner

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    You can download coolbook and undervolt your processor and get better battery life.
     
    MKang25, Dec 26, 2009
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  5. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

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    brightness -> down

    bluetooth -> off.
     
    masterchef341, Dec 27, 2009
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  6. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    has anyone ever gotten coolbook to work? It acted like it worked for me, and reported back that it was always around 9º to 10º cooler... but it lied. All other temp checkers reported 9º to 10º hotter than coolbook, exactly the same as not running coolbook.... seemed like a scam to me.
     
    doh123, Dec 28, 2009
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  7. MKang25

    MKang25 NBR Prisoner

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    Yea coolbook works, the author released an update in november for the unibody family macbooks. I actually do notice a drop in temps and a increase in battery life.
     
    MKang25, Dec 28, 2009
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  8. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    I just downloaded and tried it again... its still reporting back the wrong temps, by 6 to 9 degrees... like its outright lying about it. I don't want to pay for it if the "free" parts don't even work right.
     
    doh123, Dec 28, 2009
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  9. MKang25

    MKang25 NBR Prisoner

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    The temps are off but the battery life seems to be better with the voltages on battery turned down.
     
    MKang25, Dec 29, 2009
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  10. Avor

    Avor Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sorry to hijack your thread, but I'm looking forward to buying a 13.3 MBP, and battery life is one of the crucial aspects for me. My current SZ offers me to shut off DVD-drive, Sound and LAN card while running in power saver mode, and that is able to increase battry life by a fair margin. I rarely use the DVD drive, especially on the go, so if it's switched off, it might add another 40mins - 1h of battery life. How does OSX handles those devices?
     
    Avor, Dec 29, 2009
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  11. MKang25

    MKang25 NBR Prisoner

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    you have the option to set the hard drive to sleep while not in use you can turn the wireless off yourself nothing you can do about teh disk drive although im not sure how much power that uses while not in use anyways. The the current 13.3 mbps get 7 hours of battery on half brightness, web browsing.
     
    MKang25, Dec 29, 2009
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  12. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

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    Real-world, closer to 5 hours.
     
    Khris, Dec 29, 2009
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  13. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    4 - 5.25 maximum for me it depends on what you do on the web ... and if you can stand your screen turned WAY down
     
    crazycanuk, Dec 29, 2009
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