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    Subpar battery life = bad battery?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by enter260, Jan 20, 2009.

  1. enter260

    enter260 Notebook Consultant

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    I'm on a Santa Rosa MBP with 2.2ghz and 4 gigs of RAM. I used it almost exclusively at home on a charge for about a year. Lately, I've been using the battery and I've been noticing really poor (IMO) battery life. Using lowest brightness, wifi off, and Microsoft Word on, The battery will go from 100% to about 60% in roughly 80 minutes (1 hour 20 minutes). If this rate continues I would have less than 3 hours usage with the lowest brightness! Is this a little low? And yes, I have cycled the battery a couple times to make sure the readings are accurate. I also have less than 50 cycles on my battery.
     
    enter260, Jan 20, 2009
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  2. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Do you have your battery constantly plugged into your computer? That could adversely affect battery life, especially in the long run.
     
    MidnightSun, Jan 20, 2009
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  3. aan310

    aan310 Notebook Virtuoso

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    it's advised NOT to run without the battery in....
    This can cause issues with the MOBO or powersupply
     
    aan310, Jan 20, 2009
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  4. diggy

    diggy Notebook Deity

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    How many cycles has your battery been thru? What is the maximum charge it will take? You can check that in System Profiler, or download a program called Coconut Battery
     
    diggy, Jan 20, 2009
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  5. WillEat4F00d

    WillEat4F00d Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm wondering, how does this work? Not saying that you're wrong or anything.
     
    WillEat4F00d, Jan 20, 2009
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  6. StrongerThanAll

    StrongerThanAll Notebook Deity

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    try calibrating the battery, i was having the same issues, it was starting from 3:00 at 100%.. but it actually lasted 4 hours
     
    StrongerThanAll, Jan 20, 2009
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  7. enter260

    enter260 Notebook Consultant

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    yes i do.
    less than 50. the battery percent meter usually hovers around 97%
    isn't calibration done by running the battery down to 0 and then recharging it? i've done this twice now. i'm also running on lowest brightness so something is definitely wrong?
     
    enter260, Jan 21, 2009
    #7
  8. StrongerThanAll

    StrongerThanAll Notebook Deity

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    yeah, what kind of programs are u running?
     
    StrongerThanAll, Jan 21, 2009
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  9. fastrandstrongr

    fastrandstrongr Notebook Evangelist

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    from what i hear its that the power brick isn't able to supply enough power to safely run the computer at full speed... so its scaled back. i dont think that there are issues with running without the battery, and the performance dip is smaller than what many people will tell you. of course, i may be wrong.
     
    fastrandstrongr, Jan 21, 2009
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  10. Stunner

    Stunner Notebook Deity

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    Take a look at the Battery Guide. This appears to be normal for a year old battery, and don't calibrate it too much or you risk killing it even more quickly(refer to Battery guide for details). Batteries tend to die out after some time, it sucks but hey... that's life right?
     
    Stunner, Jan 21, 2009
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  11. chyidean

    chyidean Notebook Evangelist

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    chyidean, Jan 21, 2009
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  12. fastrandstrongr

    fastrandstrongr Notebook Evangelist

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    fastrandstrongr, Jan 21, 2009
    #12