Does using Bluetooth drain the battery faster?

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Level 1

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Does using Bluetooth drain the battery faster?

Just got my Macbook yesterday, and I charged it to 100%.

Bought MS Office, installed it and did a few updates in the span of an hour and already my battery is at 54%. I have a Bluetooth mouse hooked up to it as well.

Does Bluetooth drain extra battery power? If so, what should my battery setting be- normal, better performance or better life?

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.10), Bluetooth/Battery

Posted on Aug 28, 2007 8:06 PM

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Answer 1

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Stuart Vandeventer

Level 2

390 points

Aug 28, 2007 9:31 PM in response to MattPreprost

Use of bluetooth and airport of course cause battery to drain quicker.

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Answer 2

MattPreprost Author

Level 1

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Aug 29, 2007 4:54 PM in response to Stuart Vandeventer

i figured that it would drain the battery quicker, but 50% in one hour? that seems a bit much to me but oh well, it is what it is. i just need to adapt to using a trackpad.

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Answer 3

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Aug 29, 2007 5:29 PM in response to MattPreprost

In approximate order of battery usage: CPU, backlight, optical drive, hard drive, WiFi, BT, sound. From your description of usage, you not only had BT going but also the hard drive and optical drive. Also, how high is your backlight set?

Also, until you condition your battery and use the computer for a week or so, the battery meter isn't going to be very accurate. You'll find that your (apparent) battery usage will improve over the first month.

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2007 4:54 AM in response to MattPreprost

i have the same problem that u have... my macbook doesnt even last 2hrs whils using a wirless mighty mouse... and whe not even using the mouse (jut the trackpad it will last about 4hrs.... thi time includes medium airport and cpu use...

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