Apple Warns You When Your Display is Using Significant Energy in Latest macOS Beta

[gnasher729]

Apple has to manage to the lowest common denominator of users - so there are enough people who don't understand that things like cranking the screen brightness, keyboard backlight and running flash video on Youtube will have a negative effect on battery life.

You forgot "while charging your iPad and iPhone at the same time" :-(
[doublepost=1484610388][/doublepost]

This is why desktop is great. Although it's not mobile, it sure as hell wouldn't suffer battery life.

If you put your laptop on the desk, and then don't plug into the charger, well you get what you deserve.
[doublepost=1484610783][/doublepost]

Do you have OCD or something? I have no problem using 70% brightness.

Well, some people do. There are people who won't leave their home until their Mac is 100% charged - so the battery displays "100%" even when you can charge it a bit more.

 

[pat500000]

You forgot "while charging your iPad and iPhone at the same time" :-(
[doublepost=1484610388][/doublepost]
If you put your laptop on the desk, and then don't plug into the charger, well you get what you deserve.
[doublepost=1484610783][/doublepost]
Well, some people do. There are people who won't leave their home until their Mac is 100% charged - so the battery displays "100%" even when you can charge it a bit more.

That's their fault as well.

 

[bjet767]

start producing hardware in their computer division that people actually want to buy.

Serious?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2016/11/09/apple-macbook-pro-sales-figures/#1fd019e06bf0
"
In its first five days on sale, Apple's MacBook Pro has outsold the total sales of every major Windows-powered laptop. The only laptop that remains ahead of it in sales is the twelve-inch MacBook, which went on sale in April 2015. Give it another five days and the Pro should overhaul Cupertino's smaller ultrabook.

The MacBook Pro has sold almost four times as many units as Microsoft's Surface Book, nine times as many units as the Asus Chromebook Flip, and ten times the Lenovo Yoga 900."

Of course Forbes is an unreliable publication...

Yep, nobody wants to buy them. You said it on the internet so it must be true.

 

[bringel]

Do those of you who run your screen at 100% brightness also complain about the gas your car uses when you drive everywhere with your foot flat to the floor the whole time?

I'm looking at a MacBook screen now and if I turn it up to full it almost blinds me it's so bright. Perhaps you should go see an eye doctor instead of moaning that Apple are wrong.

Rather than criticize those who may prefer different brightness settings, why don't you try a little tolerance for those who may have aged eyes or some other sight impairment.
Apple and most all other web designers could help the battery issue as well as the sight impairment issue by using more contrast with the textual pages. There seems to be a trend to use a lighter gray color for fonts on a white background which causes many of us to increase the brightness just so that we can read it.

 

[GoodWheaties]

You, sir,
are a nit-picker.

I actually was just astounded that people were claiming to use a 500 nit screen at full brightness 100% of the time. Perhaps to overcome reflections sometimes but ALL the time?

Edit: Also apparently I am very slow catching the joke as well

 

[Tech198]

I think there should be a limit to this list. Granted to the older people, but if u can *see* a bright screen,would u say,,, "my screen is bright at 70% but i an using same energy ?"

Contrary to the real world a light bulb is bright so it uses more energy.. we don't need a sticker to tell us. We can "see" it.

Apps make sense because we can't see what's pulling more or not much energy, but i think anything we can "see" with our eyes would mean less of a reason to just display it in the battery.

 

[macduke]

I hadn't really seen the difference display brightness can make on battery life until recently. At work I do a mix of design and development on my iMac and leave the brightness pretty high all the time. At home I mainly do design and photo editing, so I have my display color calibrated to 14/16 brightness ticks and leave it there. However, the last few weeks I've been working from home doing a bunch of overtime trying to finish a big project that is mostly web development. I don't need to keep my display calibrated for that so I keep it at 40-50% and the battery life on my 2012 rMBP has nearly doubled.

 

[rizzo41999]

Still a digression from the real issue. I see it more as a way to buy time until higher and more efficient batteries fit for these newer MBPs become a market standard.

 

[einsteinbqat]

75% of brightness?! Gosh! I feel for the eyes having to look at such a screen! My screen is set at 5/16!

 

[elmaco]

What I like to see is a countdown when there is one minute left of the battery.

Imagine large numbers on the screen 59, 58, 57 ….

Often you see the low battery level warning, but you are too lazy to get the power adapter, time flies away and then suddenly the laptop dies. If I would get a countdown, when there is one minute left, I would know that it is for real now.

 

[adib]

I don't like setting my display to less than 100% bright most of the time. I think most people feel the same way. Using 100% just seems good.

Apple should rename 100% as 130% and scale accordingly. It sends the message that, though your screen can go that bright, you shouldn't set it that bright unless you really need to.

60% is usually my comfortable level of brightness. At 100% it hurts my eyes, unless I use it under bright sunlight.

 

[2IS]

First we had apple execs telling us we are holding their phones wrong. Now we have their operating systems telling us we are using their laptops wrong.

 

[MacBH928]

I bought 2015 model. Same performance, better battery, more ports, think and sleek enough. Its like the perfect laptop form.

I might be old, but back in my days 4-6 hrs of battery life was amazing (Still is). I can't think of much situation where you need more than that without being close to an electric outlet. If you do, you can buy power banks.

I have question, those with SSD/retina macbooks, how does your batteries degrade over the years?
I have a 2008 unibody that after like 5 years it couldn't last 40min (actually I think it died).

 

[GoodWheaties]

I have question, those with SSD/retina macbooks, how does your batteries degrade over the years?
I have a 2008 unibody that after like 5 years it couldn't last 40min (actually I think it died).

It really would be interesting to see people's average battery life. My wife has a 2012 non-retina 15" that has about 600 cycles and is still at 95% health. We also have a 2008 MacBook unibody that has over 1000 cycles and is at about 75% health. Maybe we are just lucky.

 

[cult hero]

If users left the lid closed and the machine powered off, the battery life would be even better. Then they could spend even less putting costly batteries in them.

I don't understand these comments at all. No matter how much battery you put in a machine, a brighter display will eat more power. There is nothing wrong with this feature at all which just lets you know you're eating significant battery life with your screen turned up.

Of course in this same thread...

MacOS (Unix) has soo many options for throttling, scheduling, killing misbehaving apps that it should handle those more intelligently.
Just make an intelligent UI with different settings, warnings, schedules etc.
(or consult Redmond...)

Less Unix. More Redmond. Uhhh... right.
[doublepost=1484631115][/doublepost]

I have question, those with SSD/retina macbooks, how does your batteries degrade over the years?
I have a 2008 unibody that after like 5 years it couldn't last 40min (actually I think it died).

I had a late 2013 15" until I replaced it with a 2016 13" and the battery was okay. Over about three years the battery was still around 85%.
[doublepost=1484631206][/doublepost]

First we had apple execs telling us we are holding their phones wrong. Now we have their operating systems telling us we are using their laptops wrong.

No, we have the OS telling you a bright screen is using significant battery power. Which... ummm... it does? I'm really floored by the griping over this. It's on a special level of absurdity.

 

[2IS]

I don't understand these comments at all. No matter how much battery you put in a machine, a brighter display will eat more power. There is nothing wrong with this feature at all which just lets you know you're eating significant battery life with your screen turned up.

Of course in this same thread...



Less Unix. More Redmond. Uhhh... right.
[doublepost=1484631115][/doublepost]

I had a late 2013 15" until I replaced it with a 2016 13" and the battery was okay. Over about three years the battery was still around 85%.
[doublepost=1484631206][/doublepost]

No, we have the OS telling you a bright screen is using significant battery power. Which... ummm... it does? I'm really floored by the griping over this. It's on a special level of absurdity.

You can either get comfy with the fact people are going to talk ****, even about your deity, Apple, or just stay confused the rest of your life. The battery life on the new macbooks is **** under normal usage. Knowing specifically which components or apps are using the most power does not change that fact. It just allows you to know which part of your normal usage is requiring you to plug your MacBook in far sooner than you should be.

 

[SeaFox]

My tablet also warns me of the screen using excessive battery power when the brightness is up high. It runs Windows 8 (so, circa 2012).

Sounds like Apple is busy "innovating" again.

 

[Lankyman]

Serious?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2016/11/09/apple-macbook-pro-sales-figures/#1fd019e06bf0
"
In its first five days on sale, Apple's MacBook Pro has outsold the total sales of every major Windows-powered laptop. The only laptop that remains ahead of it in sales is the twelve-inch MacBook, which went on sale in April 2015. Give it another five days and the Pro should overhaul Cupertino's smaller ultrabook.

The MacBook Pro has sold almost four times as many units as Microsoft's Surface Book, nine times as many units as the Asus Chromebook Flip, and ten times the Lenovo Yoga 900."

Of course Forbes is an unreliable publication...

Yep, nobody wants to buy them. You said it on the internet so it must be true.

I'm not talking about toys I'm talking 'real' computers e.g. iMac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini. I wouldn't have a laptop given to me, Windows or Mac. They may be okay for student types and so called 'hipsters' but not for serious users.

A Laptop is simply another mobile device from Apple in their long and boring line of mobile devices....yawn!

 

[Tunster]

Just give us the estimated time back and a lot of this wouldn't of surfaced. Apple = shot itself in foot.

 

[decafjava]

This is why desktop is great. Although it's not mobile, it sure as hell wouldn't suffer battery life.

Which is why I went for the iMac after all. "If" I go mobile - and assuming my work needs me to do so over the next year (which is possible) I may go for a Macbook air or iPad pro.

 

[kstotlani]

Apple has to manage to the lowest common denominator of users - so there are enough people who don't understand that things like cranking the screen brightness, keyboard backlight and running flash video on Youtube will have a negative effect on battery life.

And then who actually use their laptop for working with apps that are intensive. So you will blame people for Apple giving up physical battery volume?

 

[JosephAW]

If you follow Apple's progression of removal of high energy parts from their laptops the screens will eventually be removed in order to improve battery life. I'm surprised we still have speakers in them since everybody owns a Bluetooth headset.
You laugh at this but when display glasses are used everyday and everyone has them what need is there for an old antiquated screen?

 

[dilbert99]

Leave the MBP a few mm thicker and battery life wouldn't even be a conversation. Foolish obsession with thin.

Its just a big iPhone with a keyboard. Soldered in ram, soldered in SSD and glued in battery

 

[Keirasplace]

It really would be interesting to see people's average battery life. My wife has a 2012 non-retina 15" that has about 600 cycles and is still at 95% health. We also have a 2008 MacBook unibody that has over 1000 cycles and is at about 75% health. Maybe we are just lucky.

Number of cycles don't tell the whole story
If you:
- Mostly keep your battery between 10-90% (never letting it fully drain or go to 100%)
- Don't do very heavy computing when plugged (so it will not heat too much)
- Don't do heavy computing in a non air conditioned situation
Only mostly do light to medium computing
- Don't let it unplugged for months while near 0%

Your battery will last a lot longer,

Doing very heavy computing while it's plugged in a overheated non air conditioned home (or in direct sunlight) would be the worst scenario for battery life (and probably would throttle performance too in such a small form factor)

 

[drewyboy]

Why can't you just admit that YOU want the MBP to be thicker and accept that others wanted it to be lighter and thinner while having a powerful CPU and Retina screen.

You need to let it go dude, it isn't a "foolish obsession."

Additionally I'll repeat again in this thread the last three betas seem to have fixed the battery drain issue. My 2016 13" MBPTB is now averaging 8 and with light use (no BT or WFI) over 10 hourd(I saw 12 hours once). The issue seems to have been some code which kept the CPU cranking at a higher watt use.

Great machine!

Why do you need it so insanely light and thin? Doesn't it sit on a fixed surface almost all the time? Would half a pound heavier kill your back?

That's what's so insane to me. For 99% of laptop users, it sits on a fixed surface. So lightness and thinness of these compared to say 2015 model is moot. Face it, their design has compromised functionality and Cook doesn't have the "courage" to tell Ives no.