Macbook pro 15 with only 9400M, batterylife windows.

Ok so I'm sure some of oyu saw my thread a couple weeks ago, in which we determined that the 17 macbook pro would have poor batterylife due to drivers and the forced use of the dedicated gpu.

now I got an idea: how about the 15 with intergrated graphics? I've heard that the 15 on dedicated graphics can hit 3-4hours(in windows) which isn't quite enough but VERY close. so anyone know?

 

yeah i also heard about the same figures as you mentioned...that's pretty good....if apple allowed us to switch gpu in windows....that would be so good. it would mean cooler running macbook pro and longer battery life.

 

well what I was thinking is I want the 17, but the dedicated GPU kills me so I could live with a 15. Now seeing as a hopefully a large protion of the issue is with the dedicated GPU. so if I buy the one that doesn't have the dedicated GPU, what's the battery life going to be?

if it's enough I may just need to make it to the apple store after christmass and pick one up (I want to see what the new ones in january are going to bring).

 

Edit: withdrawn.

New model releases that I managed to not keep up with .

 

I think he's referring to the entry level 15" MBP (the one that starts out at U$S 1699 and has a 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo). It has the same hardware specifications as the high end 13" MBP but in the 15" chassis.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTAyNTQzMzk

As for the battery life, I suppose it must be similar to the high end 13" MBP. It has a larger screen to power but should more than compensate for it with a larger battery. It'll probably run cooler, too.

Hope it helps

 

yes I thats the one I am talking about. I know what the advertised bat life is. but what will it be in windows? how long is it in the 13incher?

thanks so much.

 

yuio, you know there's an imminent update due in january....i would wait if i were you. i suspect they'll be replacing the 9600m gt with either an ati....if our luck is bad, then they'll probably got for something like the gt210 or 240m.

 

yup I know, I'm going to wait. I just want to see if apple's currently lineup will do. if they will I now have a choice when the new one comes out.

no one has the 15inch with 9400M then?

@Luke1708 what is the windows battery life in your machine?

 

I found this http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3582

its claiming light usage in Vista SP1 to yeild about 6:02mins... which is enough (I need about 4.5-5hours with light usage). anyone else have any more info. I don't really want to base any sort of desicion on one review.

 

Well - you're talking about a quasi born-again fanboi who ascribes an 8-hour runtime under OS X on a Macbook Pro and 5-hour runtime on the Air. Unless he's on Jobs fumes I don't know how he gets these runtimes actually doing stuff, as opposed to letting the computer idle.

I *never* get more than 3.5 hours out of the Air for example, and when I had the 15-inch, never significantly more than 5.5 hours on the 9400M. And it's not like I'm winding up the machine to screaming levels - we're talking near-minimum screen brightness, Office-type apps plus web, and maybe, just maybe, a couple of youtube videos.

To get a more accurate figure, divide my figure with his, then just to be sure divide his Windows runtimes with the resulting ratio.

If you can wait a while however, I'm about to Boot Camp one of my 17-inchers in W7. I'll be in a position to offer you actual runtimes after that, after which you can extrapolate 15-inch runtimes.

 

I have an older black polycarbonite MacBook, but I can share my experiences with running Win7 on it vs OS X.

I have both Win7 Pro x64 and 10.6.2 on it, with a newish battery, and I consistently get significantly less battery life on Win7 than OS X. On the Mac side, I can squeeze out 3-3.5 hours. On Windows, I'm lucky to get 2.5 hours, and that's with the same usage patterns on both OSes.

I'm guessing it's due to the lack of proper Win7 Boot Camp drivers. I'm using the latest BC for Vista x64, 2.1 (I believe).

So, point is, it's not just the new models getting worse battery life on Windows vs OS X, and I believe that it's the older drivers. That's just my best guess, I could be wrong.

 

that would be fantastic. at the earliest I'm waiting to see whats new for Jan. then I'll make a final desicion wether or not to get one or the other or neither. but bat times are too low, it won't happen. real world run times in windows 7 would awesome

(I too thought there was something fishy about those times)

 

It's loaded up, synced and ready to go - so I'm going to be heading out with it either today or tomorrow since I have some intensive Visio-ing to do, and see how long it lasts.

It's very ironic though - W7 looks somehow *right* on a Macbook Pro. Pretty OS, pretty machine. The reality though is of course a little different as some of you know - just for starters the fans wind up more than the (fairly noisy in laptop terms) Sony SZ while doing...

... Windows Update.

I just hope I don't begin to smell crispy fried Invisibleshield down the line.

 

right no, good luck!

 

BTW - I doubt the Vertex will make much of a difference, but that's what all my MBPs are running FYI when I post the figures. In this particular case, I've been optimistic (that I might actually use it) and set up a 118Gb-118Gb OS X / W7 split.

 

i barely get 2hours with lowest brightness and powersaving and light internet browsing. more like less than 1.30 hours as these number fluctuate on the battery time remaining window.

 

ok thanks luke1208

actually test with a SSD is good as I will be installing my Intel M-25X in it anyway.

 

i would once again advise you to wait. how i wish i could sell my mac and wait...anyways, good luck for your purchase. btw, if you cant stand heat, i would suggest you steer away from macs if you plan on using only windows...that's my first and last mac...i'm either purchasing a dell or lenovo as my next laptop..i had a dell vostro 1700 and it was quite nice. I never got any heat problem with it.

 

the main reason, I'm looking at a mac is I'm tired of my current lenovo's screen (its horrid) . and I want to see the screen first, that's something dell can't do. I'm also trying to get a new one before 16:10 is complete gone.

 

OK. I have to say - not spectacular, but pretty much what I expected given the probable lack of any power concessions in the Apple drivers.

- Win 7 Ultimate, Power Saver profile, 4 segment display, 1 segment keyboard backlight
- Wifi + BT on throughout (I couldn't work out how to turn off BT)
- Cycle count = 11

- MS Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 receiver plugged in - Touchpad is frankly unusable in Windows
- Major eyestrain due to the flickery display at 4 segments or lower
- Resume from sleep requires that you disable/disconnect the wireless adapter and re-connect

1:00 : Visio('07)ing - i.e. no web access, very light 2D GPU hit, lotsa mousing
0:30 : System slept
0:30 : Web - through VPN + RDP.
2:00 : More Visioing
0:35 : Web - through VPN + RDP.

So basically, for three hours of this sequence the machine was used with Wifi on, but not hitting the network at all.
Wifi was used actually for 1:05.

Including sleep battery drain, we're talking 4:15ish for that extremely light use. It's not terrible, and Win7 may be a (small) factor, but if you need useful runtime under Windows you will have to invest in an external battery. You could add the 60wh Hypermac for example to give you about two more hours of runtime (haven't tried yet, will do later), at a not-debilitating 450g weight penalty.

However that combined with the usable, but ultimately half-assed Windows experience, I'm inclined to say that if you spend more time doing heavy lifting in Windows than OS X, then the HP 8730w is an infinitely more viable choice, being essentially in the same ballpark in terms of weight, capabilities, and with the standard 8-cell battery in terms of runtime too - but actually, generally better throughput. If you don't mind carrying more bulk there is the Dell M64/500 - but having lugged 17-inch MBPs, HP w's and the Covet, I have to say the Covet is notably more of a 'carry to/from car' deal. While the looks may be there and it is the lightest, the function - and the all-important screen - of the MBP in Windows are IMO, immediately discernible as inferior to the Dell and HP offerings (I have mattes - can't use glassy).

Unfortunately, all this is not helping me to make my mind up about what to do about the Macs & Boot Camp. It's not really the Windows runtime that's the issue for me - it's the driver issues and the reduced stability, versatility and utility of the Macs in comparison to something like the HP in terms of the 17-inch for example, although the comparison is even more apt in the case of the Air. However right now is a very bad time to be extending my notebook collection... sigh. I'm going to repeat this process with one of the Airs, and try and use them as my primary Windows machines for a while. From a logistic and financial point of view it would be best right now if I can rely on Boot Camped Windows 7 for my mobile Windows needs, but I'm still pretty much sure at this point that from a hair loss point of view, it's not going to work. We'll see.

 

wow great detail. Thanks so much. I think I've made my dicision, a Macbook isn't going to happen. the battery life is too short. and if the drivers are half as bad as you say then I want nothing to do with it.

now I just need to find a local deal to fine a HP Eletebook to see if the screen is worthy of my $$$. (I MUST see it first... no exception). if I can't I'll just stick with my thinkpad.

 

ok good luck bro...remember, this is a unibody 17 which he has. Apple said that it would have w7 supported on bootcamp by December...let's hope they are talking about hybrid power!!

 

If the 9400M is made usable, I'd expect that to add an hour or so - not hugely more - to the runtime with the same light use as the above.

Basically, you'll be catching up to the real-life OS X runtime, although a 'real' Windows machine will probably eke more out of the parts in terms of runtime in power saving mode.

The 9400M is one of the best IGP's for sure, but it's not *that* economical an IGP in light use.

I'm going to play more with the power settings on the MBP and see if I can get anything more useful put of it. The above is however based on pretty much the same as I do with my other Windows machines - I just choose the most power-saving plan available. But first, I think I'm going to have to do something about this trackpad. And maybe I might send this machine back for the screen issue. And...

 

ok, great. I just assumed that apple had support for win 7 already... I guess not... well I'm still waiting and seening to see what the batterylife is like.

 

As want as everyone is for wild speculation, I'm pretty certain it's only going to be tweaks. The wireless issues for a start, probably. And hopefully a trackpad update. As I understand it, other Macs have other tics in W7.

However as far as what you'd be really interested in is concerned, since Vista is the same as W7 in terms of GPU switching aspects, and let's face it - they've had a year to get this under Vista - I don't see any indication at all that they'll enable GPU switching.

I would, of course, love to be proven wrong - but the usual for Apple in things like this is for fanbois (in the press too) to hype everything up with features *they* want, but for Apple to release only what they have to... and everyone then to recalibrate themselves and convince themselves that it was what they really wanted all along.

 

well, time will tell. I strive to not be a fanboi. there's a reason. I wanted an apple as I could see the screen before hand, it's made out of metal, has good battery life (but not in windows) in a 17incher. for 2400$ it better be nearly perfect if I'm gonna buy it. it isn't so I'll wait. I'm still looking to track down a EliteBook 17.

 

ROFL:laugh:

 

yah, I got a healthy chuckle out of this.

 

apple doesn't "support" windows 7 but it works about as well as the supported versions of windows in my experience.

similar issues.