Macbook Pro 17 windows (vista/7) battery life

I was just wondering what the battery life of the new(er) unibody macbook pro 17 was like under windows. I read a review somewhere that says the new macbook pro (the one with advertised 8hours battery life) managed about 1 1/2 hours in windows, is this true?

the only reason I'm looking at the 17inch pro is because I program a lot in Windows and Linux, and 17inchs would be fantastic to display more code, but I still need good battery life. portability is no issue, as I'm a big guy and I carry 2 computers with me right now anyway.

any other cons to installing windows on this beast?

 

Mine gives me a tad over 2 if im acutally using it for more than internet work
it would be better if Apple would let windows use the 9400m switchable

 

only 2? ouch so the review wasn't far off. oh, well I guess I'll wait untill apple improves the drivers etc.

I need about 5hours before I'd pay 2500$ on a computer.

 

What are you going to be running, lots of 5 hour machines? .. just they are 14 and 15 inchers though

 

i wouldn't wait if i were you. i don't see any miracle battery-boosting windows drivers coming around the corner.

I think Apple understands that of their buyers who use bootcamp, almost all of them are using it for gaming, and are plugged into the wall anyway.

 

yup, I know, my Thinkpad T500 does over 5hours, but the screen is TERRIBLE as the blacks are well, not black AT ALL.

I run a program called Zoomtext with a reverse video filter, as my eyes are crap and I can't see very well at all (yes I'm a little stuborn and don't want to use voice over/JAWS). for me big screen + solid CPU to do the zooming + decent battery life is perfect.

17 inch with 5 hours battery life = dream come true. OSX has a magnifier, but it's not that great at least the snow leapard one one isn't that great. it works but not nearly as good as windows. so now you see why I would love a macbook pro 17.

I agree, this just means I'll continue to buy non-apple hardware.

 

Ask the guys in WNSIB forum and tell them you want a GOOD 17" screen as the MBP 17" screen is no where near the top of the easy on the eyes scale

 

excellent idea. there are plenty of 17" windows laptops with excellent screens- many are better than the macbook pro.

you just won't be shopping in the sub $1000 category.

 

but can they hit 5hours battery life? that's the next question... and the Macbook pro screen is WAY WAY WAY better then the POS Lenovo installed on my machine.

 

I belive some hit 5 hours, and well many Lenovo series's had TERRIBLE screens
some of the Business class thinkpads make the UMBP screens look like 4 color EGA

 

maybe... what's consider business class? I figured my T500 fell into the catagory... I don't think I'm gonna buy lenovo again, still a little bummed over the screen on my current Lenovo...

 

Im certain Dell and ASUS both have units

Like I said try the WNSIB forum, good bunch in there normally

 

Hey Yuio, are you sure all the t500 users are experiencing this problem or was it with your particular case? The reason i was asking this was that i was waiting for the t510 to be released before getting one. I went to a computer exposition today and handle d an sl series. The keyboard was quite nice but the machine felt creaky.. Btw, i heard there's a refresh on january for the macs. Maybe you could wait until then..

 

I think it was mine, as I don't here alot of complaing from the lenovo section. the screen is bad over all, it very bright and it's clear, but blacks are not black at all, and when all the test on your screen is white on black it make a huge difference. I've seen the macbook's screen and they are much better.

 

I purchased my MacBook Pro 17" in April of this year, I average 5 hours in Windows Vista and about the same if not a tad more in Windows 7 if I keep brightness at about 50%, keyboard dimmed as much as it will go and bluetooth off.

Typical use is remote controlling servers, Outlook and Internet browsing. If I use my Slingbox cut it down to about 3 hours.

If I use these settings in OSX I have gotten as high as 6 hours out of the machine before it started warning me.

Not bad but in my view to get the amount of time Apple brags about I'd need to dim the display to un-usuable levels. A side note, last night I removed the base from my MBP and cleaned out the fans and generally blew the whole thing free of dust, I was amazed at how much the machine had built up dust inside.

I was impressed with the build quality of the machine and the little shock absorbing pegs inside but I was not impressed with how thin the base really is but I can see why it had to be. I think they could had given a little more structure to it but that's such a small nit really.

Now if Apple would only get off their collective arse and get us Blu-Ray already, good grief.

 

dont hold your breath on Blu Ray OSX does not support it. but ya can hook up an external drive and bootcamp it. As for collecting dirt yes, and if your unit runs hot, there is an old thread on how newfiejudd and myself have resorted to drilling our baseplates to cool them better

 

yeah, i had opened my mac to clean off the dust and lots of dust came out....some in chunks...

 

I don't want ot doubt you or anthing like that. but your the only one I've heard of gettting even close to 5hours inside windows.... can someone confirm this? I'd be running the screen at 100% brightness how much more power does that take?

 

You could take a look at the Elitebooks - 8730w's - with the extended batteries. You could buy a standard plus an extended to give you weight / runtime options. Quality displays are available, unlike the merely-decent matte UBMBP.

 

I seen it on line, but I want to see it in person first. around here there isn't much for business class computers.

 

I'd definitely contact a sales agent as the choices can be a little bewildering, as well as the possibility of accessories. They can probably recommend a local dealer to go and see something.

 

I just know that I sleep for crap so at night I bring the MBP with me to bed and often times get 5 hours before getting warned it's time to plug in.

But then, I turn off bluetooth and turn the display down to 50% or maybe a little bit lower but on average 50% (dark room, 50% plenty bright) and I turn the keyboard lights down as far as they go in Windows.

I seriously doubt I'm alone here.

 

I can confirm the Elitebooks have decent battery life with the monster attached at the bottom but I'm not impressed with the machines themselves.

 

They're solid, good performers, and he's apparently not averse to lugging an extra pound or two.

I ended up going for more Dell Covets after an initial evaluation due to differing requirements - but in what way, relative to the comparatively delicate, unreliable and poorly supported MBP could it be less impressive? Not shiny enough for you?

 

I hear you regarding the MBP, as for the Elitebook, they aren't bad but for the money I wouldn't buy one for myself. THe owner of the company I support only buys the Elitebooks, he has a love/hate relationship with them, but keeps buying them.

If Dell could get it's sh*t together I'd buy the Latitude Z, but they are completely worthless when I call their sales group.

My secondary laptop purchase will have to wait until something comes up that I want to spend my money on, it would be nice if the Z is ready for prime time before the end of this year as I need this purchase to be done before 12/31 for business purposes.

 

yah, that may be a option, assuming there is a dealer, the isn't a big 'business' computer market here as all the head offices are in the city south of us...

@NordicPc, I'm sure you get 5hours, which is ideal I'm just looking for a second person to confirm it, maybe you got a freak unit... maybe I need to just go to the apple store and buy one, and if it's not good I'll just take it back.