A subjective review of the new MacBook Pro 13″ – part 3
Posted on July 20, 2009 by admin
In the third part of my subjective review of my new MacBookPro 13″ I am going to deal with efficiency of the built in battery, especially in the context of 7 hours announced by Apple.
The newest MacBooks Pro are equipped with built in flat batteries, that can be fit perfectly inside the body and thus they are much more efficient than traditional cylindrical ones. New technology enabled 3 times longer battery life compared to the typical ones, that are provided with other laptops. In theory, new MacBooks Pro will need a battery replacement when they are very old.
According to Apple, new MacBooks Pro 13″ can run on the batteries up to 7 hours, with typical activities like browsin the web or working in wordprocessor. Since most of my time I work with text and browse the web, in theory, my new MacBookPro 13″ should meet the assumptions made by Apple. I decided to test my MacBookPro13″ in different conditions of power consumptions of which I used to work on the old white plastic model.
When I am working unplugged on my MacBook Pro 13″, I am usually on the go (concert tours) or I am in the club, concert hall or in the cafe or restaurant. I use a 3G Internet connection via Huawei E220 modem, excluding unnecessary items, such as the Airport Extreme WiFi card and Bluetooth (though not always), and dimming the screen to about 30pc. When I bought my old white MacBook, it allowed me to work about 5 hours on the batteries. Now, after 13 months, time on batteries is shortened to 4.5 hours. New MacBook Pro 13″.
The very first test I did with all energy consuming devices being on – like keyboard backlight, screen dimmed to 70percent Bluetooth and AirPort turned on. New MacBookPro 13″ enabled me to work 4 hours.
Beginning of a test
End of a test
Another test I did with the screen dimmed to 50percent and switched off Bluetooth. At the beginning OS X predicted 6 hours on the batteries, in fact it survived nearly 5 hours (4:44).
Beginning of a test:
End of a test:
Following tests I did in different conditions and with different configuration of the devices turned on or off and the results varied from 4 up to 5,5 hours (Bluetooth and backlight off, screen dimmed to 20 percent). To get the best timing ones should turn off all the features of MacBookPro like keyboard backlight, light sensor, Bluetooth and Airport.
My MacBookPro 13″ couldn’t work 7 hours on the batteries, that announced Apple. In fact I can work on batteries almost the same amount of time like on my old white plastic MacBook. I have to admit – the battery efficiency and capacity in new MacBook Pro 13″ is the only thing that let me down. Longer time on batteries was one of the factors that helped me to decide and to buy it.
In fact, the batteries efficiency is not a problem for me. 5 hours is really enough since usually I spend in the car, bus, train or plane from 2 to 5 hours, and it is rather seldom when I work on my MacBook all the way. People who really need longer time on batteries should reconsider buying new MacBook Pro13″ and maybe they should think about older series of MacBook Pro unibody released in 2008. They have replecable batteries, so they can buy another one and thus extended time up to 10 hours or more.
