Macworld’s 13″ MacBook Pro Review: The 10-Hour Battery Lasts Four Hours

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Jonathan Seff at Macworld has posted a detailed review of the new 13″ MacBook Pro, which has one interesting finding: the computer’s battery life doesn’t quite live up to Apple’s claims of 10 hours.

Seff writes:

“Our standard battery test, which plays a looped video in QuickTime until the battery dies, showed a life of 4 hours and 19 minutes for the 2.4GHz model and 4 hours and 33 minutes for the 2.66GHz model.”

In other words, better than the previous 13″ model. But still a long way from the 10 hours claimed by Apple.

Now, I know that the claims computer companies make for notebook batteries need to taken with more than a pinch (more like a truckload) of salt. And it’s true, they’ve covered themselves with those magic words “up to” – but alongside images like this one.

But, given the battery life of the iPad – in many cases exceeding Apple’s claims – it seemed fair to take the 10-hour claim at face value. After all, the clever battery technology that works in one device could be reasonably expected to work in another. The Macworld review suggests we should think otherwise.

Ever since they were announced, I’ve been on the verge of buying one of these machines, solely for the combination of portability and battery life. Now I’m not so sure.

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