MacBook Pro :: Does Increasing RAM Affect Battery Performance
Mar 29, 2012
increasing the amount of RAM in a MacBook Pro (latest model unibody 15" i7 processor). If I increase the amount of RAM in this laptop from 4Gb to16 Gb, should that in and of itself result in a decrease in battery performance? This is assuming no increase in number of active programs, etc. A friend of mine was told by an Apple employee that just increasing the total RAM in a laptop would result in the battery draining more quickly. I am no computer genius, but that does not sound right to me? After all, why should the battery work harder if the excess RAM is not being used at the time.
View 7 Replies
ADVERTISEMENT
Mar 24, 2010
I just switched my old 120Gb drive with a 320gb one (FUJITSU MJA2320BH G2 -- speed should be the same as my old one), and I'm noticing a drop in battery performance of about 20%. Is this just a coincidence?
View 3 Replies
View Related
Apr 16, 2012
Machine Details:Macbook Pro 13inch model (2011)/Core i5 4gb RAM 250gb Standard harddrive
The laptop was running like a dream and much better than I remembered my last mac (Macintosh LC) ever did. Ive had minor hickups this last year (a trackpad that went bust under warranty and a broken power supply) otherwise its been a wonderfull experience. The final hiccup that might be a cause, not sure hence I will mention it is that my battery is Conditon: Replace Now for about a month now.
The laptop, as always was left ON, on its own connected to the wifi home network, when I returned the computer was working very slow. Any load on the harddrive/CPU. The cursor starts lagging (jumping), any keypresses are registered with a 2-10second delay. Any vidoes that i would try to play would suffer freezes in framerates/jams but audio remained fine. First step i was afraid that i may have contracted one of the new trojans so i downloaded an antivirus program, scanned the drive, but came out clean. Second step was to format the drive and perform a fresh install of OSX but no luck. Being inexperienced in Apple products i assumed that my harddrive (used to PCs) was on the fritz and went out and bought a 160gb Western Digital Black series 2.5inch harddrive.
I placed in my installation OS 10.6 CD formatted the drive through the disk utility and performed a fresh install. Before doing any steps I went through the update cycle a couple of times till only the thunderbolt update remained (havent updated as I never used it). Sadly it hasnt solved the problems with cursor repsonse lag, video playback, and keyboard input lag under load. On this install I have performed:
Verify Disk Permissions Many were found so I performed Repair Disk Permissions
Verify Disk Came up with "Appears to be OK"
performed a Pram reset (CMD+option +P +R)
My main problem is that I live in europe nowadays (Poland to be precise) and cant go to a genius bar as they dont exist, and sadly the support is a tad behind the US standards and any minor repair will be at least a 4 week wait?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
View 3 Replies
View Related
Dec 2, 2010
Odd question but would magnets affect the performance of an apple mouse.
View 4 Replies
View Related
Jan 11, 2009
I installed XP onto Boot Camp, so I can run some Windows games on it. At first, it didn't seem like it was that bad but after loading Sims 2, 2 expansion packs and 1 stuff pack it was a little... different. Windows still starts up pretty quick and everything, but in OS X... the performance has been decreasing slowly. Doesn't the things only affect the things in the Windows partition instead of OS X? Safari's performance wasn't as smooth as it used to be.
View 14 Replies
View Related
Nov 20, 2009
Just upgraded to a 27" quad-core iMac yesterday and I noticed the startup time is much slower than it should be once I migrated all of my files from my old 24" iMac over. I usually keep my system up for months at a time, so startup time isn't an issue, but the question is: Does a slow startup time indicate that once I'm up and running, the system could be much quicker, too, or is that slow issue solely restricted to just the startup time?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Jul 8, 2010
I know that back in the day, when I used Windows computers, they always said that you should have at least 10% of your hard drive free, and that less could affect the performance of your computer. Is this true for macs.
View 7 Replies
View Related
May 28, 2010
I was checking out my battery life while working on some pictures in Aperture and it was RIDICULOUS! At an 80% charge it said less than 2 hours left. Check out the screen shot. Doe Aperture kill battery life?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Mar 13, 2010
A month ago, I started to get kicked off my wireless network seemingly random. I have eight devices on the network, but only my MacBook Pro was affected. I use an Airport Extreme base station - the UFO-looking one from about 2006. This wasn't regular "can't find the network", greyed-out Airport icon kicked off - the icon became an outline and no matter what I tried, only a restart would get me back on (often to be kicked off again within minutes). Again, I have six devices on the network - my wife is in the same room, feet away, and her 2003 iBook stays on the network with no troubles. A week after I started having this problem, I noticed my battery was no longer holding a charge. I just bought a new one. My question: I didn't initially think there might be a connection between the two issues - dying battery and Airport connectivity - but now that I've had the new battery working for a day, I haven't been kicked off the network. Could the bad battery have caused the Airport to totally disconnect?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Nov 8, 2010
if using mail.app is more power efficient than keeping 3 gmail account tabs open in google chrome.
View 15 Replies
View Related
May 31, 2009
So I am about 1 month away from buying a new MBP, and I was wondering what affect VMware fusion has on battery life.
I was also wondering if you could use all the multi-touch features of the touchpad while using a windows program.
In particular, I will be needing Microsoft Onenote.
Quick summary of questions:
1. How does running VMware fusion affect battery life.
View 6 Replies
View Related
Jan 1, 2010
I use Spaces all the time when running my mac. I like applications having a dedicated space so I can leave many open at once without losing screen real estate. I just discovered that in the Preferences you can increase from the default 4 spaces to any number you want. If I increase this number will I start noticing performance decreases? I realize if I leave too many apps open I may notice it, but assuming I have the same number of apps running, will I see the same performance if I have 6 or 9 (or more) spaces open as if I only had the default 4?
View 4 Replies
View Related
Nov 4, 2009
I recently installed the new OS X on my MacBook 13" (the 2Ghz Dual Core white one) hoping it would increase the performance of the system, and specifically iTunes. [URL]. My iTunes library, like many out there, is large, but not overly large and definitely not to the point where it should be a problem. It's now at (I would guess) about 30 or so gigs, filled with mostly large MP3 files (70-200Mb).
- It's got to the point where I wait 3-4 seconds to go to the 'next' song when I press the 'right' arrow. This is (obviously) unacceptably slow. I thought about upgrading the RAM of the machine since it only has 1Gb I think. Now can anyone guarantee that doubling the RAM will properly increase performance again up to the point where I don't want to throw the machine out of the window? Yes, of course it will increase performance, that's obvious. But will it be enough, if not, I'll wait until it's completely unworkable and buy one of those new babyproof MacBooks (Edit: Or 4Gb?)
- The library is on an external 1Tb USB2 drive, but I could easily move it to the MacBook's HD but that's slower than the USB2 drive. Would this help any bit?
- Would removing all CD covers and images I have in there significantly increase performance?
View 7 Replies
View Related
Jul 11, 2010
had my MPB for a week and a half now. I have noticed in istat menues that it capacity has been increasing, yesterday it was 6915 now 6945 against the design of 6900, I thought these things could only go down?
View 5 Replies
View Related
Nov 9, 2009
i've heard that there are some tips on using laptop batteries to increase their life time. nowadays many laptop battery's are lithium-ions. but macbook's are lithium-polymer.
i've heard tips like dechargin the whole battery every 2 weeks. or things like not pluggin in the adaptor when the battery is full!
are these things true? and what are similar tips for increasing the life of a macbook pro battery??
View 1 Replies
View Related
Mar 26, 2008
So first off, I absolutely love my MBA. Now that we have that out of the way. Since day 1 I've noticed that the cycle count on the battery seems to be climbing MUCH faster than it should.
- I've had the machine 51 days. I was out of the country without it for 9 days so really, I've had it for 42 days.
- According to iStat and System Profiler my battery's cycle count is 37
- According to System Profiler my battery's health is "Good"
- According to iStat my battery's health is at 98% (It started around 96%, has been as low as 94% but seems to have settled in at 97 or 98% for some time now)
- According to system profiler my maximum charge is 5006 mAh. (It's also gone up a bit since the machine was new).
I thought the definition of a cycle was the equivalent of 100% depletion of the battery -- whether that's one long unplugged stint that sucks it dry or 10 really short ones. A cycle is the same as using ~5000 mAh of battery power. I've been really good about keeping it plugged in while I work (the outlet is conveniently located). I've run the battery most the way down maybe 5 times. I do, however, run it down 10 or 20% almost every day as the machine travels with me in sleep mode or spends the night unplugged in sleep mode at my girlfriend's place).
I haven't done any careful testing but it seems though that if I run the battery down just 20% or 30% or so and then charge it all the way back up the cycle count increases by 1. Considering I've only used it for 42 days, and the cycle count is already at 37, I'm worried that it will hit 200 cycles by the time it's 8 or 10 months old. Isn't the point where battery performance starts to wane? Anyone else out there notice a rapidly climbing cycle count?
View 4 Replies
View Related
Feb 27, 2012
Apple Macbook Air late 2010, has been giving me poor battery performance even after replacing the battery under warranty. I am unable to find a solution, even the local apple service provider seems confused. Should I go for a replacement?My Macbook Air runs on the OSX 10.7.3 with all updates as on date. I use only softwares such as Microsoft Office for mac, Safari, Mail, iChat, iTunes regularly.
Info:
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
View 2 Replies
View Related
Oct 29, 2010
i remember in Leopard you were able to select different profiles in the battery menu on the menubar. There was an option for high performace and power saver, etc. In snow leopard this is not an option, is there anyway I can bring those settings back? Or is snow leopard automatically adjusting processor power?
View 5 Replies
View Related
Dec 15, 2010
Just wondering what the norm is in terms of where my battery levels should be. When I first received my MBA 2 weeks ago, the full charge mAh capacity was around 7100. Now after 6 cycles, the full charge max mAh is 6678.
Is this normal for the max to drop so much after only 6 cycles? Just wondering what others are experiencing in terms of battery performance.
View 4 Replies
View Related
Aug 15, 2009
I have a MacBook (late 2007) and I've noticed that my internet crawls when I'm using the laptops battery power. I can be downloading a file at 200 kB/s under A/C power, and as soon as it goes on to the battery it'll drop to 10 kB/s. I'm assuming some kind of power saving is being activated, but this has only happened recently. Around the same time this started happening, I updated my computer to 10.5.8 and I also turned in my computer to the Apple store to have the palm rests replaced for having cracked under the weight of the lcd. Would this problem be caused by either the update or the repair, and if not, what could be causing it?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Apr 29, 2010
I just ordered my first mac a few days ago online, and seeing that almost everyone takes advantage of the suposed 10h battery of the 13', I wonder if it gets slower when you are using the battery.
my current notebook (compal FL90) is considerably (much) slower when it is not powered to the grid especially if I'm running photoshop for casual editing.
View 6 Replies
View Related
Apr 17, 2012
What effect will the macbook have, if i fully charge and discharge the battery on a daily basis. I will leave it running on battery power when i leave for the day, and let the battery drain/discharge fully through the night.I will hook it back up in the morning to have it fully charged, may be 30 - 60 mins after it being fully charged, i will pull the power out and run the laptop the whole day on battery.
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
View 5 Replies
View Related
Nov 26, 2010
I know that Flash uses more battery power. However is that only when you are actually using a window that needs Flash. Does just installing it decrease your battery performance in any way? I am running into lots of sites that require Flash and I would like to install it but not at the risk of severely limiting my battery usage when not actually using it.
View 3 Replies
View Related
Mar 17, 2009
I am not sure if it only my macbook, but I notice a slight performance drop when I run on the battery v the AC. I notice that my application load slower, folders open slower and expose and spaces response is also slow as well.
View 7 Replies
View Related
Oct 19, 2009
I am planning to buy a new 13" MBP but I am kind of concerned on the battery performance.
Specs:
a) 2.26 GHz CPU
b) Upgrade RAM to 4GB
c) Upgrade HD to 500GB 5400 WD
d) Brightness at 70% / with keyboard backlight / Bluetooth OFF
Questions: (Can you give me an estimate on the following)
1) How long will the battery last if I play Facebook games nonstop (poker / mafia wars / cafe world / etc.)
2) How long will the battery last if I play Sims3 nonstop?
3) How long will the battery last if I watch a DVD movie nonstop? (from the drive)
4) How long will the battery last if I type documents nonstop?
BTW, can this MBP 13" play sims3 in the default normal settings?
View 3 Replies
View Related
Mar 13, 2012
Point 4. Says the computer will automatically go to sleep and then point 5. Says I should turn of the computer. Isn't it the same of the computer stays in the sleep mode?
Info:
MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 20, 2012
Earlier today, maybe around 3PM, I was using my laptop, and it was charging and it was maybe around 60% battety life when out of no where it just shut off and even the light on my charger went out. When I turned it back on, the fan was running and there was an X over the battery icon. I've tried turning it off and on, and leaving it alone for a few hours, to see if it would resolve the problem but it didn't. It is currently 9:52PM, I'm still experiencing these problems and I'm using the exact laptop to type this, but I don't know how much battery life is left.
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 21, 2012
Running MacBook ProMacBookPro4,1Intel Core 2 Duo2.4 GHzW882458RYJZos x 10.6.8 Im running differnt language My battery is pretty much dead is that the problem?
Info:
Mac OS X (10.6.8)
View 2 Replies
View Related
Jul 2, 2009
Planning on Purchasing one of the New Aluminum MacBook Pro's. I would like to know what are the best ways to have your battery last longer and hold the normal charge? Also on the Battery Section on [URL] it says it not good to have your computer charging all the time but then people on the forums say it's better to keep it plugged in! What is it? What should I do? Listen to Forum users or Apple). Also what is a good setting for the Screen Lightiness? Is HalfWay see able? What about 75 percent notches. Will lowering the battery brightness save battery?
View 1 Replies
View Related
Feb 26, 2009
I've been looking for some info on the older 2007 MacBook Pro battery specs and stats, etc., but have been somewhat unsuccessful. Lately my MBP has been draining the battery at a much quicker pace than normal. This machine is only a year old now (however CoconutBattery says the battery is 16 months old). Still, the battery capacity shouldn't have diminished too significantly. Before I restored the Mac and installed the Windows 7 Beta, I could average 3-4 hours on a full charge. Normally, I would keep WiFi + Bluetooth enabled, an external monitor attached, several USB peripherals plugged in, and the main display would be set to maximum brightness. 3-4 hours was pretty nice considering the amount of power the machine could have been using.
After I partitioned my hard drive, the battery life was cut in half on the OS X side. Windows 7 power management was even worse. I figured that there may have been extra disk activity causing this problem. After I finished toying with Redmond's new OS, I removed the Windows partition and moved on from there. I know after I removed the partition, I was getting excellent battery life initially. Once that short period ended, it went downhill from there. The battery meter has become surprisingly accurate as of late; in a minute or so, you can easily watch the percentages drop 1-2%, which appears abnormal. I can manage 3 hours on a single charge at best, but I usually get less. I decided to take greater care in cycling the battery, in hopes of nursing it back to health, so to speak. It doesn't appear to be working so well. Enabling WiFi and other peripherals only drains more power, but turning them off again adds only 5 minutes. So when I'm using several devices at once, I'm lucky to get a little over 2 hours. Turning off menu items and background apps does nothing either.
It's been this way for several weeks now, and yet, iStat, System Profiler, and CoconutBattery all report seemingly acceptable and consistent battery info: 86% Battery health, around 180 charge cycles, and the capacity is around 4700mAh (out of the original 5500) for now. The computer believes all is well. Performance says otherwise. I'd like to think that physically the battery seems to be okay. I've cycled and calibrated it several times. I have read reviews that indicate that Santa Rosa MacBooks with new batteries have averaged similar runtimes to the ones I experience now, but I know mine has usually bested all of the reported tests. It just seems wrong for the average runtime to go from almost 4 hours to 2 when the battery is (supposed to be) maintaining the same health level. I have AppleCare if it needs to be replaced, since this drastic change in usage time is very noticeable and counterproductive for me, but it could just be the computer (or me for that matter). Is this behavior normal for a battery of this age? What should I look into? If this is normal behavior I can live with it, but I would prefer to get as much out of the one I have.
View 18 Replies
View Related
