I’ve just replaced the battery in my first generation Apple Macbook, well worth the $129 dollars. For such a small battery I was always amazed that I was able to get more then 5 hours of battery life and about 9 months ago when it started to drop off a bit I realized how great that was.
I will admit that to get better then 5 hours use has to be pretty minimal, but if I’m in a meeting or surfing the web while relaxing with the screen’s brightness down to it’s lowest setting I have no trouble keeping it alive for 5 hours. If you are editing photos or watching a movie that number comes down to about 3.5-4 hours depending on screen brightness.
I’ll be honest though, I like the screen to be not too much brighter then ambient light. If I’m at my office with the laptop right next to the window I’ll crank it up but in the evenings I don’t want the screen ultra-bright.
I was also pretty happy with how long the battery stayed in good condition. I do at least one full charge cycle a day and even after a year I was able to get times of about 4:30 hours. Recently it’s dropped off pretty badly giving me about 2:30 but in the grand scheme of things that is pretty good battery life. My HP work laptop goes for about 90 minutes with it’s internal battery. If I want to get 4 hours I have to strap on a giant extended battery to the bottom and it’s specs are not much different then my Macbook.
Topslakr