(Credit:
Apple)
Some conflicting accounts coming out of the Web-o-sphere on Tuesday about Apple's revamped MacBook Pro laptops. At the heart of the controversy are reports that the new 15- and 17-inch Pro models have taken a nosedive on battery life, despite the inclusion of allegedly power-saving Intel Penryn processors.
Both Ars Technica and Gizmodo pointed out that Apple's own numbers on how long the battery should last in a 17-inch MacBook Pro have changed with the new models--going from more than 5 hours to only 4.5 hours.
There are actually a couple of different things going on here, all of which add up to new MacBooks that should last just as long as their predecessors, if not a little longer.
Apple says it's changed the way it reports battery life. It used to report numbers from three stock battery life tests, a so-called "highway" test, designed for maximum battery life, a DVD playback test (similar to what CNET uses), and a wireless productivity test.
Apple's Anuj Nayar tells us that the company used to publish all three scores on its site, but highlighted the highway test. Now, the highway test and DVD playback tests are out, and the wireless productivity test is the new default. So looking at Apple's older numbers is a bit like comparing you-know-what to oranges.
On the other hand, the new Penryn processors and optional LED backlit display (17-inch Pro only) should offer some advantages in battery life.
Battery numbers should always be taken with a fairly hefty grain of salt--your laptop's battery life is highly dependent on how you use it, from applications to screen brightness to USB-powered peripherals. We'll know more when we get our hands on one of these new models and run it through our own testing, so stay tuned.
After my Monday-morning blog post reporting on some preliminary battery-life testing for the XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project, I was contacted by Jim Gettys, vice president software for OLPC.
This early testing showed that the current Beta 4 development systems achieve only a little over 5 hours of operation from a ... Read more
On Sunday night, 60 Minutes reran a segment on the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project originally broadcast in May. I missed it the first time and never got around to watching it online (in Windows video format here, for example; there's a full transcript on olpctalks.com).
Hearing OLPC representative Walter Bender repeat the claim of "10 or 12 hours" of battery life "with heavy use" reminded me of ... Read more
(Credit:
Apple)
According to Apple, you can ditch your fears over the rumor that the iPhone has 45 minutes of talk time. The company announced Monday that the much-anticipated handset will ship with much better battery life than was expected when it was first announced in January. The iPhone will finally be released, as you probably already know, on Friday June 29.
The numbers from Apple? The company had initially anticipated that the iPhone battery would allow five hours of talk time (though rumors around the blogosphere suggested it was actually much less than that), but now Apple is boasting that it'll last a full eight hours with a whopping 250 hours of standby time. Apple is also saying that you'll alternately be able to enjoy six hours of Internet use, seven hours of video playback, or 24 hours of audio playback. That's twice as long as the ultra-efficient iPod Shuffle.
A comparison chart from Apple pitting the iPhone against its rivals.
(Credit: Apple)Additionally, the touch-screen of the iPhone has been upgraded from plastic to optical glass to make it clearer and more scratch-proof. So, with that and the extended battery life, maybe you can take your iPhone on wilderness excursions.
Update at 10:12 a.m. PDT: Whoops! There was an error in Apple's original competitive data chart (above, corrected). The original chart said that the Nokia N95 did not have Wi-Fi capabilities. It, in fact, does.
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