Decrease in battery life after update?

I've noticed a considerable decrease in battery life of my 2008 Macbook white after the 2009.001 security update. Earlier I used to get around 4 - 4.5 hours on normal usage, but its down by about an hour now. Its only around 9 months old, and the battery cycles is just 20.

Is anyone facing the same issue, or do I have to give it to the service center?

 

If you want feedback from a Aluminium MB user then, mine stayed the same

 

I have the aluminum Macbook, and there's been no drop in battery life. I'm still getting 4+ hours surfing the web. Try and calibrate your battery, to see if that helps at all. You may also want to look in Activity Monitor to see if there are any processes running in the background.

 

Thanks for the replies. I did calibrate the battery once, but it still remains the same. And no background processes are eating up cpu cycles.

The health has dropped to 95% for 22 cycles. Is this normal? Also is there any other way to verify what exactly is wrong?

 

I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be down to 95% after 22 cycles.. Mine is at 100% after 14 cycles, and my brothers older white Macbook is at 98% after 84 cycles. You could download coconut battery, and see if there is something wrong with the voltage, and how well it's charging.

http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

 

Cycles don't really tell the whole story. I read somewhere in this forum that a guy has his Mac for 2 years or so, but the battery is only at 15 cycles, just because it's been plugged in 98% of the time. However, the battery didn't hold that much charge for him either.

I think the battery needs to be calibrated once a month or so. Just drained the battery till it needs to be recharged. If you keep in plugged in all the time, the battery usually doesnt hold as much charge. PC nor Mac.

Just my 2 cent.

 

I've been doing this with my previous two laptops and it works wonders to extend the life of the battery. Unplug the machine at night or if you are away from it and if you are going to be using it as a desktop for an hour or more take out the battery and run directly off the wall.

I don't know if Apple does this but my thinkpad wouldn't charge the machine once it was 100%. The battery was physically plugged into the device but it wouldn't actually be charging. Either way I still took the battery out and did everything from above.

 

100% health
35 cycles
100% charge

BOOYAH!!!


From the moment you get your MacBook you have to calibrate it



Just go to apple and tell them to change the battery

 

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm recalibrating the battery now, and hopefully it will come out well.

@tayb, will try out your trick after its fully charged again.

 

Don't do this on a mac

 

+1, macbook/mbp is known to reduce the processing power when the battery is removed, even though it is plugged to the power outlet.