Macbook pro 15" battery survey

[Scott R]

I just switched to a Macbook PRO 15" day before yesterday it's been in a box in my office since before the new year and I want to know if the battery is bad. Anyone else here with a 15" (early 2011) Macbook Pro that would care to post their battery times?

I'm getting about 1 hour and 45 mins of actual use time on a full charge, this would be some video playback, surfing, email etc. Nothing crazy. My other 2010 Macbook was getting about three hours on average.

What do you guys get? (trying to figure out if it's worth buying a new battery)

[stomachmonkey]

Have you calibrated the battery?

An early 11' should not require it but it's worth a shot.

Run it down till it force sleeps, leave it asleep for a few hours, charge to full.

[Scott R]

Ok, thanks I'll do that now.

[RANDY P]

purchased 3/2011 and already had my battery replaced under warranty.

rjp

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

purchased 3/2011 and already had my battery replaced under warranty.

rjp

Was it weak? Or not holding charge at all?

[Scooter]

Two years old and mine still averages over 5 hours.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Was it weak? Or not holding charge at all?

Noticably weaker- performance similar to yours. Kept having to charge it....

System check showed battery was OK, but the Apple guy replaced it anyhow.


rjp

[Scott R]

OK, thanks guys. I'm doing the discharge and calibrate now, if it doesn't change I'll call up and get a new battery. I'm not sure of this unit is under warranty or not since it was a demo. But even if it's not I'll get the battery as this is now my favorite laptop.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

my 2010 15" i7 I get 3-4 hours depending on if one of those is watching Top Gear.

[Scott R]

Well it turns out I have a "late" MacBook PRO and it's covered until 2013 so I suppose I'll just have the battery replaced by Apple then.

[89911]

My sons MacBook pro 15 which is also a late 2011 gets anywhere from 3-5 hours. He is a fairly taxing user and he runs windows 7 on it often . It has 8gb memory also.

[RANDY P]

Not surprising my battery is taking a crap. I think the ONLY time this laptop is turned off is when I get on an airplane. it's always on

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Wife's MacBookPro is about four years old and it seems we get about four to six hours with a charge while working on it. Turn key lights off, only addition is the mouseball, screen is not set to fullest brightness. It has easily outperformed my Toshiba. I'm glad to get an hour out of this battery, though the screen is 17".

[techweenie]

I have an early 2010 MacBook Pro and get around 4-4.25 hours running normal work activity off the battery. You'll want to cut back on screen brightness and if you're not using Wifi, turn it off. There is also a slider to control 'spin down' time after inactivity when you're running off the battery. I've noticed the operating time has dropped in the past (nearly) 2 years.

[vash]

my 7 year old macbook still goes around 4 hours of surfing.