With the release of yesterday’s new and presumably shinier MacBooks and MacBook Pros, Apple tweaked a couple of things in its technical specifications. You’ll notice, for example, a brand new Environment section touting things like the fact that most of the notebooks’ circuit boards don’t use the thoroughly reprehensible brominated flame retardants. We’re pretty stoked about that, but as it turns out far more attention was given to another change: the new laptops’ estimated battery life.
The MacBooks, for example, are now listed as having 4.5 hours of “wireless productivity,” while the MacBook Pros lists 5 hours for the 15” and 4.5 hours for the 17”. Previous incarnations had been pegged at 6, 6, and 5.75 hours of battery life respectively. Apple’s notebooks have always promised more than they really deliver in real-world situations, just as the company’s iPod battery claims are usually underestimated. So what gives?
According to Gizmodo—whose story on the matter has undergone more changes than Madonna’s image—the reason behind the difference is that Apple has changed how they measure battery life. Instead of taking the longest of three separate results from tests as varied as watching a DVD to editing a text document, they’re taking the middle result, our new buddy “wireless productivity.” As Apple PR told Infinite Loop, “The wireless productivity test is the closest to normal usage, right in the middle of the road with WiFi, text editing, sending e-mail, etc.”
Whether this actually yields results closer to what you might see in the real world, well, we’ll reserve judgment until our cohorts at the Macworld Labs gets their hands on the models and give them the oh-so-thorough investigation they deserve, but it’s worth pointing out that the specs for the MacBook Air promise 5 hours of wireless productivity, which by all accounts isn’t quite the case. So, for the moment, continue taking battery estimates with the requisite dose of sodium.
"The MacBooks, for example, are now listed as having 4.5 hours of “wireless productivity,” while the MacBook Pros lists 5 hours for the 15” and 4.5 hours for the 17”
the pictures shows the opposite :P
"the pictures shows the opposite :P"
Er, no, I don't believe they do.
I equate Apple's battery life estimate to EPA's car gas mileage estimate.
nevermind. i'm stupid.