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.

    MacBook Battery Life

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Eliwood, Jan 11, 2006.

  1. Eliwood

    Eliwood Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    161
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Reports of somebody who "snuck up" on a demo model, showed the battery indicator and unhooked the laptop to confirm came up with a preliminary figure of 4 hours.

    This is NOT necessarily the final battery life, and I imagine that Apple is holding this number back because they want to improve it for production, and not merely just to hide it.
     
    Eliwood, Jan 11, 2006
    #1
  2. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    947
    Messages:
    8,970
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    4 hours sounds pretty aggressive, but there are so many variables, it's hard to know the real number until you play with it a bit.
     
    Brian, Jan 11, 2006
    #2
  3. Eliwood

    Eliwood Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    161
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    4 hours would be great, but this is Apple we're talking about, and Apple has always been astounding in battery life. Their's Powerbooks (both 15 and 17 inch models) delivered 5.5 hours of battery life and the 12" model delivered 5. So to have it drop down to 4 is low by Apple standards. :)
     
    Eliwood, Jan 11, 2006
    #3
  4. xAMDvsIntelx

    xAMDvsIntelx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    464
    Messages:
    3,221
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Not really - my friend's 12" PB only gets 3.5 hours of battery life after a week of use.
     
    xAMDvsIntelx, Jan 11, 2006
    #4
  5. RadcomTxx

    RadcomTxx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    101
    Messages:
    873
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    sorry, my friends 12 powerbook still gets over 4 hours after a year, but it is starting to decrease b/c of his heavy use of it.

    Plus my 12 ibook gets over 6 with airport off, and screen low.
     
    RadcomTxx, Jan 11, 2006
    #5
  6. xAMDvsIntelx

    xAMDvsIntelx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    464
    Messages:
    3,221
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Hmm....

    That's odd. My friend's a big Mac fan, but he was dissapointed about the battery life on his new PB. Maybe the battery is faulty?
     
    xAMDvsIntelx, Jan 12, 2006
    #6
  7. Eliwood

    Eliwood Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    161
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Probably. My friend had a 12" powerbook, and it got well over 4 hours on average.
     
    Eliwood, Jan 13, 2006
    #7
  8. xAMDvsIntelx

    xAMDvsIntelx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    464
    Messages:
    3,221
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Yep - it was a faulty battery. He had it replaced and now he's getting about 4.5-5.5 hours.
     
    xAMDvsIntelx, Jan 13, 2006
    #8
  9. RadcomTxx

    RadcomTxx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    101
    Messages:
    873
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    that sounds right now. Glad he got it fixed.
     
    RadcomTxx, Jan 14, 2006
    #9
  10. xAMDvsIntelx

    xAMDvsIntelx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    464
    Messages:
    3,221
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Now I'm really jelous! His notebook gets great battery life, while mine, being from '01 gets about an hour of batter life :mad: I'm planning to update sometime later this year, however.
     
    xAMDvsIntelx, Jan 14, 2006
    #10
  11. Antonio72

    Antonio72 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    The folks at www.batterygeek.net have just introduced several brand new external power solutions for all the new MacBook 13 inch and MacBook Pro laptops.

    In order for thier laptop battery solution to work however you must request from them the custom MacBook connector cable and tip at the time of your order.

    I bought thier new highest capacity 140Wh Portable Power Station model which is compatible with my MacBook and powers it for over 6 hours.

    Here are a couple of product reviews on the new BatteryGeek Portable Power Stations:

    Providing my Sony UX-180p over 20 hours of battery life!
    -by David Ciccone from Mobility Today
    http://mobilitytoday.com/articles/portable_power_station.html

    Get powered up on the go with the Portable Power Station
    -by Matthew Miller from ZDNet’s The Mobile Gadgeteer
    http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=30
     
    Antonio72, Sep 24, 2006
    #11
  12. cycloneguy2618

    cycloneguy2618 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    197
    Messages:
    820
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30

    Thats pretty cool. Let us know how it works out for you!
     
    cycloneguy2618, Sep 24, 2006
    #12