Am i using my laptop right?

Question

I've never had a laptop and don't really know how to use it properly, this is my main computer i use for everything web based/word processing, itunes movies/tv shows etc. almost everything apart from live tv i use my Macbook Pro for.
Recently i've been noticing that the battery life isn't lasting as long as the prescribed 8 hours by Apple and i've been thinking maybe my battery is screwed or something but the condition is "normal" in the options menu so i think it's just maybe me under/over charging it....what i always tend to do considering i use it 100% of the time at my desk is charge it fully up and then use it until the battery is running on red 10% or so and charge it up again...and basically i do this over and over rinse and repeat....is this what i should be doing?
For example, at the moment i started using my laptop at 10:30PM (GMT) and it's now 12:37 (GMT) and the battery life is at 28%, surely that can't be right?
Lastly, even though i've had my laptop less than a year (i got it in August 2009) it's showing a charge cycle count of 82, is this normal aswell?
I understand these may seem like remedial questions to ask, but i don't want to hurt the longevity of my laptop as i plan to have it many years, so i would really appreciate any help and assistance from those of you that have more technical knowledge on this kind of subject than myself.
Thanks again,
B.
Message was edited by: Blakey101

Answer 1

Blakey101 wrote:
Recently i've been noticing that the battery life isn't lasting as long as the prescribed 8 hours by Apple and i've been thinking maybe my battery is screwed or something...
THere are various reasons why you may not be getting long charge life out of your battery, Blakey. A "bad" battery is just one of them. In your particular model a more likely cause after this period of time and level of usage is that you are doing things with the computer which involve a heavy load on the CPU, or are using bus powered peripherals that draw a lot of power, but a bad battery is always possible.
but the condition is "normal" in the options menu so i think it's just maybe me under/over charging it....what i always tend to do considering i use it 100% of the time at my desk is charge it fully up and then use it until the battery is running on red 10% or so and charge it up again...and basically i do this over and over rinse and repeat....is this what i should be doing?
No. That was a good approach back in the days of NiCad batteries, but it is NOT a good approach with Lithium based batteries like the one in your MBP. These batteries last longest if you use them gently, but regularly - ideally running a bit on battery every day or two, but avoiding regular deep discharges. See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1764220 and http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html for good advice on this. You also need to "re-calibrate" them every month or two. (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490 for instructions on how to do this).
For example, at the moment i started using my laptop at 10:30PM (GMT) and it's now 12:37 (GMT) and the battery life is at 28%, surely that can't be right?
It depends on what you have been using your computer for. The "up to 8 hour" figure is based on tasks that involve "light" usage, and that doesn't put a lot of stress on the CPU or involve other "power hungry" processes. If you are doing things that make extensive use of the computer's processing power, have "bus powered" peripherals attached, have the screen brightness turned right up or are running things like the built in iSight camera, Blue Tooth or the DVD drive, then the charge life can be much less.
One common cause of short battery charge life these days is precipitated by the very widespread use of "Flash" in websites. The 'Flash" plug-in that runs things like most "YouTube" videos, and most of the animated adverts that appear on web sites, is a very heavy power consumer, and also pushes up the power consumption of web browser themselves, too. Interestingly YouTube have recognised the problem with respect to their own content, and are now running a "beat" program which in many cases replaces "Flash" versions of the videos on their site with "H.264" ones. You can read about this HERE and join it </a<a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://">http://www.youtube.com/html5>HERE
Another thing you can do to deal with this problem is install the excellent free (donationware) Safari plug-in "ClickToFlash" - see http://clicktoflash.com/ This gives you the choice of opening any particular "Flash" items on a web page that you visit. It can dramatically improve battery charge life if you are a heavy web user. Helps you to avoid being bombarded with all of those animated Flash based adverts that seem to creep into just about every web page, too!
Unless you use 'ClickToFlash" you should avoid having many tabs or windows open in your web browser at any one time when running on battery, as they generally continue to use power even when in the background if they have any "Flash" components
Sometimes, though, you may not even be aware that processes are running in the background that are using a lot of processing power. On occasion this is due to faulty coding of a program, or things like system related database corruption resulting in a "Runaway" process.
A good way to check for such things is to follow the steps at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1473
Of course, leaving a lot of applications running at the same time, can also result in substantial reduction in charge life, as power will be being used to maintain their content in RAM memory, even if they are in the "background" and not being actively used.
Things like "bus powered" hard drives, USB TV tuners, and the like can also consume a lot of power. Anything which doesn't have its own power supply that you have attached to your computers own USB or Firewire ports will be drawing power.
Always turn off Bluetooth when you aren't actually using it, too. My own experience with bluetooth when using battery power is that it can knock up to an hour off the charge life off of my MBP13".
Lastly, even though i've had my laptop less than a year (i got it in August 2009) it's showing a charge cycle count of 82, is this normal aswell?
Yes, that is a perfectly normal figure, Blakey. A complete cycle or two or even three every week is just about ideal with these batteries, in fact, though this should preferably be occurring as a result of regular light use on battery, rather than the "Full charge and then run it right down" approach you say you have been using.
If you want to get a better idea of your battery's actual condition use system profiler (head to the Apple menu, hold down the "option / alt" key and select "System profiler" at the top of the menu).
Under the "Hardware" section, select "Power", and under the "Charge Information" section take a look at "Full charge capacity (mAh)". The original "Full charge capacity" of your battery on your 15" model will have been about 6665 mAh. The further it has fallen below this figure the more your battery has deteriorated. With the batteries in the "mid 2009" unibody MBPs with your cycle count you would still expect the current 'full charge capacity" to be above 95% of the original capacity. (to give you some form of comparison, my own MBP13", also purchased in August last year has 147 cycles chalked up, and is currently still at a little over 98% of its original "full charge capacity". This is typical of a healthy battery in one of the uni-body models with non-removeable battery.
If you want more advice about this copy the figures for "Charge Information" and 'Health Information" from System Profiler and post them here so we can check them out.
Cheers
Rod
(PS, even though my cycle count is more than double that of "ScorchinScooter"'s, over much the same period of time, you will find, if you do the sums, that my battery is, in fact, just a little "healthier" than his when it comes to % of original "full charge capacity" (though the difference is tiny) . I agree with him when he says that it is a good idea to use the computer on battery for an hour or so each day, but be wary of leaving it on the charger all the time. Keeping down the cycle count is important up to a point, but take don't this too far. Anywhere in the 1 to 3 cycle count each week is about right, depending on how much you use your computer, etc. It is HOW the cycles are achieved, rather than their absolute number, that really matters more with these batteries.)
Message was edited by: Rod Hagen