14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has released a new update for owners of any 13-inch MacBook model, in an attempt to improve battery life when the system is shut down and is not used for some time. The update is available for free by downloading the standalone installer and performing the installation manually.
Apple's Support section reveals that Battery Update 1.4 “improves the ability of MacBook batteries to maintain a charge when the system is shut down and not used for an extended period of time.” Apple is not addressing any reported issues with the MacBooks' batteries, but rather trying to improve the users' experience.
Furthermore, Apple links to an additional Support piece outlining the affected products (pretty much all 13-inch MacBooks, including the recently refreshed polycarbonate model), as well as the steps users need to follow to determine whether or not they need the update. Those details are available in a different article, here. MacBook models that may require the update include:
MacBook (13-inch) MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2007) MacBook (13-inch, Late 2006) MacBook (13-inch, Late 2007) MacBook (13-inch, Early 2008) MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009) MacBook (13-inch, Late 2008).
The 1.4 Battery Update is 210KB in size and can only be applied on 13-inch notebooks running the latest version of Leopard available - Mac OS X 10.5.6. Supported languages include Deutsch, English, Français, Chinese and Simplified Chinese, Español, Italiano, Nederlands, Dansk, Norsk Bokmål, Polski, Português, Pусский, Suomi, Svensk and more.
Unlike most Apple software updates, Battery Update 1.4 only comes as a downloadable installer, since users first need to determine whether or not their systems need the update. After checking that, users may download the package using the link below.