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Battery Drain

W

wowee

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 23, 2015
121
100
Hoping you guys could help me out.

I have had the new rMB for about 3 week now. Absolutely love it but totally confused how people are getting 9-10 hours of battery life? I am lucky to get 4hours. For example, I just turned on my computer, it's fully charged at 100%, the only app running is safari (as i'm typing this) and the estimated run time is now 3hours and 50mins (have already lost 3%). WTF? Only one app running, Safari, how is it possible to get apples claimed times???

- Scott
 
Yes I just downloaded coconut battery and my max capacity is at 95%

Love this computer but not thrilled with this battery situation. I've actually never been able to get anything close to the advertised times on any mac laptop I've owned, but when i read people saying they are getting the advertised times or higher i'm wondering what am I doing wrong??
 
check activity monitor to see what is running in the background.
also do you have the screen at 100% brightness?
i get 8 hours with mine with a few apps open (light use, mainly office) and brightness at 2/3.
Battery is pretty good to me.
 
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I second some of the suggestions from the poster above. Definitely check Activity Monitor if you haven't done so already to find out if anything unusual is the culprit.

What is your brightness level typically set at? Do you have bluetooth running, or do you just use the trackpad? Is there anything else connected to it wirelessly?

If the overall capacity of the battery continues to drop drastically then you may unfortunately have a defective battery.

Hope this helps.
 
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Dark Void said:
I second some of the suggestions from the poster above. Definitely check Activity Monitor if you haven't done so already to find out if anything unusual is the culprit.

What is your brightness level typically set at? Do you have bluetooth running, or do you just use the trackpad? Is there anything else connected to it wirelessly?

If the overall capacity of the battery continues to drop drastically then you may unfortunately have a defective battery.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Ditto There may be some setting or background task draining the battery

When I start my rMB at 100% battery, use 50% brightness, WiFi and Bluetooth on, I initially see 4 hours of expected battery life. When only running browser and email that normalizes to between 8 and 10 hours.

Under normal use at 70% brightness at work I see 6-7 hours. Only when I'm doing heavy work do I see 4-5 hours.

But as an original MBA owner I learned a long time ago how to optimize and squeeze the most from my ultrabooks. I've kept at that over the years even though it may not be neccisary. If you can't resolve it yourself reach out.to apple tech support.
 
Thanks for the replies. I checked background apps with activity monitor. Nothing seems to be runnong except spotlight occasionally. I have tried using 12 bars of brightness. the most ive ever squeezed is 5hours.
 
Ive only had my rMB a few days but getting the expected battery runtime apple suggests... 8-10 hours in total while using light usage of safari and iTunes. Screen brightness usually between 50-75% of max
 
I've found it to be similar. Had mine just over a week now (though I've probably only charged it to 100% maybe 3 or 4 times). I've got the battery percentage displayed and I find myself constantly looking at it drop (seems like a percent every few mins). It reckons I've got just over 5hrs in the tank but I have several apps open (twitter/safari/mail). I don't actually use for long periods though so I can't say whether I'd actually get 5+hrs straight usage...
 
just called the apple support line today. they have agreed to replace my entire macbook - sadly it will be a 3-4 week wait. really love this computer but 4.5hours battery with 75% screen brightness and simple web browsing is not acceptable.
 
wowee said:
just called the apple support line today. they have agreed to replace my entire macbook - sadly it will be a 3-4 week wait. really love this computer but 4.5hours battery with 75% screen brightness and simple web browsing is not acceptable.
Click to expand...

They offered to replace mine as well due to similar battery issues. I decided to get a rMBP instead of getting another Macbook. They were good enough to let me do that exchange at the Apple Store. I have had mine since the middle of April so I was surprised they allowed it. All is good though
 
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