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    Summer 2009 MacBooks running Vista / Windows 7 (or Parallels) -- Battery Life?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by exi, Aug 14, 2009.

  1. exi

    exi Notebook Evangelist

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    Was toying with the idea of getting a 15" MacBook Pro, but as OneNote is a major application with me, dual-booting with Windows 7 like I'm running now, or using Parallels, is required.

    What kind of battery life are you guys getting with Parallels / Fusion (or running Windows natively via Boot Camp)?
     
    exi, Aug 14, 2009
    #1
  2. EnterKnight

    EnterKnight Notebook Evangelist

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    As reported by Anandtech, you will see much worse battery life in Windows than in OS X on the built-in battery models.

    That's not because of Windows, it's because Apple has not released drivers for the battery controller.
     
    EnterKnight, Aug 15, 2009
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  3. irishhenshin

    irishhenshin Notebook Consultant

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    In Vista I am getting 2-4 hours of battery life.
     
    irishhenshin, Aug 15, 2009
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  4. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    2hrs on vista/w7 on mine.
     
    Luke1708, Aug 15, 2009
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  5. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    running Windows in a virtual machine will still not give you full OSX battery life.. because virtual machines make the computer work harder, more heat, faster fans spinning, and more power consumed... but on average, i can get longer batter life running a few windows apps in a virtual machine, than running booted directly into Windows.
     
    doh123, Aug 15, 2009
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  6. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Any free virtual machines programs ?
     
    Tinderbox (UK), Aug 15, 2009
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  7. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    VirtualBox is free... cant beat it for its price. it is far from the best, but its not bad at all.
     
    doh123, Aug 15, 2009
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  8. exi

    exi Notebook Evangelist

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    Right, I know -- just looking for specifics. I guess the alternative would be for me to move away from OneNote.

    Ooh...
     
    exi, Aug 15, 2009
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  9. 00fez

    00fez Notebook Deity

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    I get 6 hours with vmware fusion 2.0.5, xp sp3 virtual machine, wifi on, half brightness, using office 2007.
     
    00fez, Aug 15, 2009
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  10. owais

    owais Notebook Deity

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    1h20 on XP which i will change to win7 as soon as its not, i get 1h45 on vista/win7
     
    owais, Aug 16, 2009
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  11. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    owais, we're in the same boat. i remember you saying you need to run windows. i'm in 2nd year in my bsc computer science & engineering. We're doing heavy programming on the windows platform and little on the unix platform. how i wish i had bought a lenovo thinkpad. i need a good battery life on my mac and i cannot benefit from it. i sad.
     
    Luke1708, Aug 16, 2009
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  12. exi

    exi Notebook Evangelist

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    Wow. That's pretty damn good.
     
    exi, Aug 16, 2009
    #12