Battery Life - 1 hour 56 minutes ONLY?!?!

What apple laptop are you using. If it is one of the newer MacBooks with leopard pre-loaded then I think that the battery meter thing lies as it can jump from 2 hours to 3 hours as I saw tonight after using my MacBook for the first time with out the power pack.
 
Energize said:
Let it run down first and then post. ;)

My hp laptop meter went from 2hrs to 3.5hrs after I had done a proper recharge/discharge cycle.
Click to expand...

Echo. Even back then when Tiger was first on my MacBook, do a couple of cycles of fully charged to fully drained and it'll be around the 2 to 3 hours range then.
 
I agree with the others, run it through a few cycles first to let it settle, then carry out a battery calibration. Fully charge the battery and leave it charged for a few hours (the computer can be used during this time) then run it on battery power (again it can be used) until it powers down - remember to save any work well before hand. Leave it in the uncharged state for at least 5 hours and then fully charge it again. It is a good idea to repeat calibration every couple of months as well.

My MacBook Pro battery has been through 198 cycles and shows a full charge of 6038 mAh giving me almost 4 hours of normal use and all I do is calibrate regularly. Don't forget to change your power settings under Energy Saver in Sys Pref. :)
 
Ajuk, i have recently noticed that my battery life is getting low, using istat it shows that my battery life is now down to 63% after only 202 cycles.

Would what you recomended above help get my battery life back up to the 90's?

thanks
 
ok you beat me there. Looks like this battery callibration is supposed to sort it though. Read a few people have had issues in doing this, but going to give it a go as its a work machine and cannot have the battery dieing on me when i am out !
 
To all those noticing a drop in battery life, I would recommend calibrating as mentioned above. I would also recommend treating your battery like you treat your women - treat 'em mean and keep 'em keen. By that I mean try to keep the power flowing through it as much as possible so no letting it sit there with the charger plugged in all day, the computer will just be using mains power and no power will flow from the battery. Unless calibrating, unplug the lead a few minutes after full charge is achieved and use it on battery power until it tells you to plug it in.

I am not a big fan of these little apps like iStat as all they do is tell you what can easily be found out with a simple click whilst eating up CPU cycles and more importantly power! The easiest (and most accurate) way to find out about your Mac is to use System Profiler (alt+ click on Apple menu). Granted it doesn't tell you how hot your Mac is getting but, quite frankly, I couldn't care less. :)

Good luck with your batteries.
 
Complete discharge, leave it in the "sleep" mode overnight to completely drain it.

<If you are awake/around when it dies.. wait 2hrs before next step>

Full charge, and leave it plugged in for a good 2 hrs after it goes "green"

Done.
 
.. how many times the battery has charged, then discharged a certain percentage (AFAIK it's 80%+)
 
BTW guys apple replaces batteries that are < 80% at < 300 cycles IIRC.

So if you at 70% and 261 cycles then you can get it replaced :)

Edit: MBP 15" is at 30 cycles at 98%. I'll recalibrate it when it drops to 97%.
 
Well i have done a callibration and am still at 68% with 203 cycles with just over 2hrs life at full charge.

I guess if its keeps dropping and starts to go below the 2hrs of use then i will replace, kinda in the lucky situation that i do not have to pay for it.:rolleyes:
 
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