

AnandTech on the New 15-Inch MacBook Pro's Battery Life - sanj
http://anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3580&p=4

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Niten
"It looks like, once again, other notebook makers will have to play catch up
to Apple in this department."

Apparently this reviewer is unfamiliar with the modern lineups of non-Apple
manufacturers. For example, the Thinkpad T400 with nine-cell battery, which
also weighs 5.5 lbs, gets 10 hours of battery life at 60% screen brightness.
(The biggest difference being that the T400 has a battery that can be swapped
on the go, and it costs less to get a Thinkpad of equivalent specs to a given
MacBook Pro.)

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mbreese
The T400's battery does stick out the back though... so you're not making an
oranges to oranges comparison. I, for one, don't like the idea of the battery
sticking out the back. I'd prefer it to be a nice neat package (removable or
not).

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jeroen
It's worth mentioning, but indeed not a straight comparison. The extended
batteries on a Thinkpad aren't exactly pretty:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenovophotolibrary/2774790879/>

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PStamatiou
so i got my Late 2008 Unibody MBP in october and now i'll be lucky if i get
2:20 just doing wireless web browsing with low brightness (they claim 3:20 for
the same). I'll check in 9 months and see what kind of battery life they're
getting.

~~~
lutorm
I have a gen 1 early 2006 "thigh burner" model and I'd be lucky to get 1.5h
doing anything that requires the screen to be on... Now I got really, really
tempted to upgrade.

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stewiecat
Same here. My Rev. A core duo MBP gets about the same, 1.5 hours. Problem is
that once the battery hits 20% capacity it will _shutdown_ the machine at any
moment.

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asciilifeform
A table of battery life/mass ratios would be considerably more interesting.

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tdoggette
My Thinkpad T400 with a 9-cell battery gets 9 hours best-case and at least 4-5
with varying use including music and decent brightness.

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jsz0
I have a question for people who are upset over non-removable batteries:

Have you considered a universal external laptop battery?

I haven't used them personally so I don't know the possible drawbacks but I'm
browsing a few different models and it looks like a better solution than
carrying around a spare, model specific, battery. Some have USB 5V ports so
you can charge other devices off them. Some are pretty beefy but I'm also
seeing a lot of models that are barely any bigger than a spare laptop battery.
What's the drawback?

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ibsulon
...and still less time than if I carry a second battery around. And, if I'm
doing the LA-Paris trip more than occasionally, I probably have three
batteries.

~~~
chrisbolt
What airline are you flying LA-Paris that doesn't have outlets, even in
economy?

~~~
lutorm
United has no outlets in economy at all, afaik.

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Andys
Be very careful with these new batteries. The chemistry is very heat-sensitive
and if your laptop gets very hot for extended periods it will lost most of its
ability to hold charge after only 12-24 months.

~~~
siong1987
source?

~~~
Andys
I have about 3 years experience with lithium ion vs. lithium polymer batteries
whilst building my own e-bike battery pack, and using both types of batteries
in my Thinkpad.

