If you have a killowatt meter plug your magsafe into it and it will show the wattage being drawn. The magsafe is pretty efficient so only a few watts are lost dissipating heat. I think my 2009 2.8ghz 17" macbook pro draws 17 watts at idle once the battery is charged.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2011 17" MacBook Pro Power Drawing Issue
- Thread starter aqualaguna
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If you have a killowatt meter plug your magsafe into it and it will show the wattage being drawn. The magsafe is pretty efficient so only a few watts are lost dissipating heat. I think my 2009 2.8ghz 17" macbook pro draws 17 watts at idle once the battery is charged.
My 15" 2011 MBP does the same thing when playing World of Warcraft occasionally. Pretty sure it's working as intended, even my old Dell XPS laptop would stop charging the battery when pushed hard.
I just played for a few hours while plugged in (17" 2.2) and lost a total of 4% on the battery. So theoretically, I could've gone for probably 48+ hours like that. It isn't like it drains quickly.
Ha, of course!I guess thats also why the communicated battery life went down to seven hours....
Yes. They have incremented the power consumption but they have not redesigned the power supply. That's very silly. The new quad cores macbook pros need at least a 100-120watts charger.
A message to APPLE: The mathematics and the physics are there to use them. Because they are inscrutable. Lets see if we learn to add watts.
We are in front of a new Apple-gate:
THE BATTERYGATE I usually need to let a computer for maybe two hours rendering at full load. And then start with another render for another two hours. It isn't so funny if you tell me that I'm going to wait in my work for the battery to be charged. That's insane.
They wouldn't redesign the MagSafe because it would have to get bigger. That means redesigning the packaging. The lamed out on the exterior redesign I can only imagine the laughs when the engineers mentioned redesigning the MagSafe.
Maximum profit from minimal changes. That's the 2011 mbp
Maximum profit from minimal changes. That's the 2011 mbp
That's a reason why they lowered the battery life claims. They didn't just change the battery testing method to better reflect the truth for no reason. Because they really can't claim to have 10 hours or 8-9 hours anymore, they have to face the truth. We can't deny the power of physics - more wattage for components with battery of the same size cannot increase battery life without magic.
Of course, you're right. Everybody with this "issue" please call apple about it and report back. They won't give us better magsafes if we don't make a fuss.
EDIT: Does all this mean that the computer will turn itself off when plugged inn when the battery is drained, or will the machine clock itself down???
Or DON'T! You make to much noise about a Non-Issue and they'll possibly release a F/W update that "dumbs-down" the processing during intensive tasks so as not to blow through the 85 watt threshold.
And again, it's a "Non-Issue!" As mentioned earlier...this is old hat. Check Apple's boards. It's been going on several generations now...especially with these ultra powerful CPUs and GPUs...MOST tasks don't tax the processing this much...Games, video rendering (not editing), and maybe some intensive PhotoShop applications possibly...but again, the loss of battery power is extremely minimal...it doesn't drain like it would when it's not plugged in...you'll lose a percentage point every 25-40 minutes depending, once again, on application. Who in the world would play a graphic intensive game or render video for the constant 48-60 hours it would take to drain the battery? No one I know.
"Non-Issue!"
All very true. Don't know what I was thinking. Apple would never create a new magsafe because of this issue. Glad I'm not buying it for gaming (if you're right, it isn't a problem anyway).
This is completely false. The tests are ore accurate and it has been widely known for some time now. The sandy bridge cpu WILL USE LESS POWER no question about it.This is a proven fact. Im sorry that you have a 2010 model but facts are facts. The sandy bridge can do more with less power than first gen i7. Obviously when plugged in and stressing gpu and cpu it may eat more because they are more powerful components.
Don't be so sensitive.
I mean the increase of cpu wattage from 35W to 45W and the more powerful and power hungry GPU.
I have a 15" 2011 macbook pro with the 6750M GPU and an SSD. I tried playing WoW and I also experienced the "not charging" issue. I looked around a lot and this is what I have been able to gather:
The power supply for the 15 and 17" MBPs is 85W. The new sandybridge cpus are 45W. The 6740M has a 30W draw. Thats 75W under heavy load so if you include the display, fans, etc. you are easily over 85W.
The 13" apparently comes with a 60W adapter, so even without a GPU I assume they could experience this as well.
As a test, I brought the battery low and tried running a heavy load while plugged in. When it got to ~2%, the charger light went from green (not charging) to orange (charging) for a couple minutes then turned back. I think that the CPU/GPU scaled back performance because the battery was running too low. This means that, while it will never die while plugged in, it WILL scale back performance if the combined wattage supply of the wall AND battery are not enough.
It is disappointing that this occurs, though not a huge issue. I have a feeling that, until they come up with some new battery/adapter technology, it is going to stay this way.
The power supply for the 15 and 17" MBPs is 85W. The new sandybridge cpus are 45W. The 6740M has a 30W draw. Thats 75W under heavy load so if you include the display, fans, etc. you are easily over 85W.
The 13" apparently comes with a 60W adapter, so even without a GPU I assume they could experience this as well.
As a test, I brought the battery low and tried running a heavy load while plugged in. When it got to ~2%, the charger light went from green (not charging) to orange (charging) for a couple minutes then turned back. I think that the CPU/GPU scaled back performance because the battery was running too low. This means that, while it will never die while plugged in, it WILL scale back performance if the combined wattage supply of the wall AND battery are not enough.
It is disappointing that this occurs, though not a huge issue. I have a feeling that, until they come up with some new battery/adapter technology, it is going to stay this way.
i thought this was common knowledge, but i guess not.
anyway the MBPs can drain more power then the charger can supply during peak performance, this has been the case for years, apple support pages also say so. I'm guessing its really starting to show now with the SB cpus. - my 2010MBP did this all the time.
anyway the MBPs can drain more power then the charger can supply during peak performance, this has been the case for years, apple support pages also say so. I'm guessing its really starting to show now with the SB cpus. - my 2010MBP did this all the time.
It's absolutely true.
Yes, games will run, but anything that demands more power than the AC adapter can provide will have performance issues if there isn't battery power to draw from.
The latter. It's not an "issue". It's working as designed.
It's not too surprising that it's not common knowledge, since so few actually read the Apple support documents.
It's not about being an "Apple apologist", and it's not an "issue". It's working as designed. The MBP wasn't designed as an ultimate gaming machine. If you want a computer that doesn't operate in this way, buy a gaming computer. Common sense suggests that one should buy a computer that's designed to meet their usual needs.
MacBook and MacBook Pro: Mac reduces processor speed when battery is removed while operating from an A/C adaptor
While the battery can't be removed in the newer models, this method of handling peak power demands remains.
GGJstudios said:
How is it not an issue? Just because it isn't marketed as a gaming laptop doesn't mean it can't play games and even then, Apple is one of the few companies to actually put pictures of the laptop running a game on the product page. It isn't limited to games either, anything that stresses both components like CAD or GPU accelerated encoders is going to drain the battery.
Apple put a powerful CPU and a powerful GPU into the computer and now they've equipped it with a charger that cannot supply the two with enough power. It would be completely ridiculous to buy a computer this powerful and then just accept the fact that you don't have access to all that power.
The magsafe charger is working as designed for a less powerful MBP.
So what happens when you stress the system, and have a 10W thunderbolt device plugged in, and a 5W USB device? Time to start asking that question of Apple.