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2014 13" rMBP - Battery Performance

R

raymondkerr

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 6, 2008
211
36
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Just got my rMBP on wednesday and loving it so far. The only thing that might be a concern so far is the battery. 9 hours estimated by Apple. I'm getting about 5 maybe 6 hours max, basic browsing, a bit of final cut editing and some youtube videos. Using chrome which appears to be a power hog, just wondering if the battery needs more time and charge cycles before I see an improvement? I have a portable USB external drive connected all the time for my iTunes library.

Just wondered if anyone else had experienced lower battery performance on a brand new MB ?

Raymond
 
raymondkerr said:
Just got my rMBP on wednesday and loving it so far. The only thing that might be a concern so far is the battery. 9 hours estimated by Apple. I'm getting about 5 maybe 6 hours max, basic browsing, a bit of final cut editing and some youtube videos. Using chrome which appears to be a power hog, just wondering if the battery needs more time and charge cycles before I see an improvement? I have a portable USB external drive connected all the time for my iTunes library.

Just wondered if anyone else had experienced lower battery performance on a brand new MB ?

Raymond
Click to expand...

You said it right there. If you want better battery life, you have to ditch Chrome. Also, the battery life greatly depends on what screen brightness you use (I believe Apple does their tests at 75%).
 
raymondkerr said:
Just got my rMBP on wednesday and loving it so far. The only thing that might be a concern so far is the battery. 9 hours estimated by Apple. I'm getting about 5 maybe 6 hours max, basic browsing, a bit of final cut editing and some youtube videos. Using chrome which appears to be a power hog, just wondering if the battery needs more time and charge cycles before I see an improvement? I have a portable USB external drive connected all the time for my iTunes library.

Just wondered if anyone else had experienced lower battery performance on a brand new MB ?

Raymond
Click to expand...

Chrome is a massive resource hog. It's the worst browser ever made for OS X.

Never ever use Chrome on OS X, use Safari.
 
I don't know about Chrome, but I'm sure that Final Cut editing and video watching aren't great for battery life.

I believe that the 9h estimate is in certain conditions, such as bluetooth off, 70% screen brightness, nothing plugged in, etc. "Real world" conditions will lower the estimate considerably. My 2012 15" Retina is has always been around the 5-6h mark.
 
6-7 hours is extremely good for youtube streamig and fcp on 75% brigthness.
 
No issues here. I use all of the basic apps (Safari, Mail, Messages, etc), MS Remote Desktop, BBEdit and various others. Seems to be lasting ages. Charged it last night and have been using it on/off (i.e. closing the lid and coming back to it) since 9am. Still on 70% with 7:35 remaining. Brightness is on about 60% too. Thoroughly impressed with this thing!
 
thanks people for your input, maybe I'm expecting a bit too much, this being my first proper laptop for power use I wasn't sure what to expect. Very pleased with the machine so far though. I've moved to safari now and looked at other ways to reduce power usage.

Raymond
 
Be sure to install click to flash for Safari. There's no need to have flash running if you don't need it. It'll also convert flash videos to html5
 
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