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battery charging won't keep up to game play???

B

Brows

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
60
2
Hi im a new apple user and I have a new macbook pro that i just bought. 17" i7 and i've been playing some games in OSX like assassins creed and before i start playing the battery is at 100% and plugged in to the wall charger apple supplied. The icon in the top bar indicates its charging. anyways while i play the charger won't keep up to battery drain while playing the game. is this normal? seems odd to me i would think that plugged in it should keep up regardless what im doing. its not a super fast thing but if i game for any length of time i can drain the battery while its plugged in. like 5-6 hours game time. any info would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brows
 
Sigh...

Yep, working as designed. The power requirements for the system when using all the capabilities (full processor usage, graphics card, display) are more than the power supplied by the charger so the system supplements its power with battery. So if you do game for a LONG time, yes you may run out.
 
palpatine said:
I don't think his question was answered there. At best, it was only suggested in the last line.

This is news to me, and I am kind of surprised that the computer would actually run itself to death by remaining at peak operation for hours on end.
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Yes, it is answered in the FAQ. Under the AC POWER section, if you click the link:
Also, it is not recommended to run your Mac on the AC adaptor with the battery out
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It says:
If the battery is removed from a MacBook or MacBook Pro, the computer will automatically reduce the processor speed. This prevents the computer from shutting down if it demands more power than the A/C adaptor alone can provide.
Click to expand...
 
GGJstudios said:
Yes, it is answered in the FAQ. Under the AC POWER section, if you click the link:

It says:
Click to expand...

I guess I am kind of dense, then, because I still don't see it.

First of all, I wouldn't have clicked on a link that seems to have nothing to do with the issue. His battery is in. In fact, is the battery ever out? You'd have to physically open up your computer to remove it. Is this a common scenario?

Anyhow, I don't see it saying anywhere that extended use at peak capacity (drawing on both the AC and battery) will potentially drain the battery to 0 before the computer reduces processor speed.
 
palpatine said:
I guess I am kind of dense, then, because I still don't see it.
Click to expand...
If the computer uses the battery "if it demands more power than the A/C adaptor alone can provide", then it stands to reason that if it consistently demands more power, it will consistently use the battery. Since the battery in the OP's MBP isn't removable, the processor speed is not reduced, continuing to draw power from both AC and the battery. It's a well-known fact that MBPs do this when extreme demand is placed on the system. Usually, it's only moments at a time, unless you have extensive game playing, as is the case here.
 
GGJstudios said:
If the computer uses the battery "if it demands more power than the A/C adaptor alone can provide", then it stands to reason that if it consistently demands more power, it will consistently use the battery. It's a well-known fact that MBPs do this when extreme demand is placed on the system. Usually, it's only moments at a time, unless you have extensive game playing, as is the case here.
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Yeah. I get that. Of course, you could infer that this would happen from the information given. I don't think it is so obvious, though. I would have expected the computer to give a warning message or reduce processor speed if the peak power usage continued for a long period. I am glad the OP made this thread, because I would not have considered the implications of this feature otherwise.
 
Yah i also think thats kinda a vage answer... as i said in my original post im a new mac user and that is a "hint to" answer really. It doesn't happen in the PC laptop i have so i wasn't expecting something like this to happen on a mac.
 
Brows said:
Yah i also think thats kinda a vage answer... as i said in my original post im a new mac user and that is a "hint to" answer really. It doesn't happen in the PC laptop i have so i wasn't expecting something like this to happen on a mac.
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In defense of the link to that post, we tend to get A LOT of battery questions here. Instead of searching, people just pop on here and ask the same questions over and over again. It is an endless stream, and I think we all get pretty annoyed by it.

But, in this case I felt like your question was different, and not quite answered by that post. Like I said, I am glad you asked it, because it hadn't occurred to me that someone could run the computer at peak performance for so long.

I am surprised no one has suggested a solution along the lines of reducing processor power. Perhaps, if there was a way to run the game at slightly lower performance, you could retain the charge.
 
palpatine said:
In defense of the link to that post, we tend to get A LOT of battery questions here. Instead of searching, people just pop on here and ask the same questions over and over again. It is an endless stream, and I think we all get pretty annoyed by it.

But, in this case I felt like your question was different, and not quite answered by that post. Like I said, I am glad you asked it, because it hadn't occurred to me that someone could run the computer at peak performance for so long.

I am surprised no one has suggested a solution along the lines of reducing processor power. Perhaps, if there was a way to run the game at slightly lower performance, you could retain the charge.
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There's the option of undervolting but I haven't researched it at all so I couldn't say what consequences there are or if it's even viable long-term.

Another option, for the Windows side, is to go to the high performance power opitions>advanced options>processor power management and then change maximum processor state to 99%; this effectively disables turboboost which is utilised during gaming.

I'm pissed off that this ~1500 laptop I bought is supplied with an inadequate powersource.
 
edifyingGerbil said:
There's the option of undervolting but I haven't researched it at all so I couldn't say what consequences there are or if it's even viable long-term.

Another option, for the Windows side, is to go to the high performance power opitions>advanced options>processor power management and then change maximum processor state to 99%; this effectively disables turboboost which is utilised during gaming.

I'm pissed off that this ~1500 laptop I bought is supplied with an inadequate powersource.
Click to expand...

Prepare to keep having more and more of these feelings
 
edifyingGerbil said:
I'm pissed off that this ~1500 laptop I bought is supplied with an inadequate powersource.
Click to expand...

Is it inadequate? Really, I don't know. But, it seems to me that there is potential for an app / game to call for more power than the processor (in any laptop) is capable of providing. Rather than forcing the user to accept slower performance, Apple ingeniously incorporated the option of drawing on both battery and AC power to work through the demands. It might be possible that another laptop would just force you to play at lower levels and not even give you the option.

So, is it inadequate, or a misunderstood superior feature?
 
palpatine said:
Is it inadequate? Really, I don't know. But, it seems to me that there is potential for an app / game to call for more power than the processor (in any laptop) is capable of providing. Rather than forcing the user to accept slower performance, Apple ingeniously incorporated the option of drawing on both battery and AC power to work through the demands. It might be possible that another laptop would just force you to play at lower levels and not even give you the option.

So, is it inadequate, or a misunderstood superior feature?
Click to expand...

Well when I "disabled" Turboboost in Windows using that trick I mentioned in my previous post my MBP ceased drawing energy from the battery and I didn't notice any lag in the game I was playing (Mass Effect 2).

I suspect if Apple had provided a power source that outputted more energy this issue would never arise; it's not a superior "feature", it's just that previous MBP models whose CPUs/GPUs had a lower wattage had more than adequate energy coming in. Omitting to upgrade a plug commensurate with the needs of the machine could not be considered a feature lol

Besides, you can use MBA power sources for MBPs and vice versa (although I'd be cautious about using a MBP power source on a MBA). So I don't see why they couldn't have increased the power output.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

MBP come with 85W AC adaptors not the humongous 200W AC bricks that come with PC laptops.
 
i duno about you but im fine with the size of the power supply that comes with the pc laptop i have that keeps up to power demands... maybe even if they would make power supply's on option when purchasing so you could go with a bigger one if you wanted ... or even as a buy a bigger one option if that one came standard. I'd buy another bigger one in a heartbeat if it would keep up. I cant imagine that another 50 watts would make it that much bigger really.

also for a company that prides itself on a laptop battery that lasts longer than the competition and then they go for a solution that reduces that battery duration because its charger cant keep up ... just seems like a step backward not forward
 
Has the OP tried another charger? Maybe the one he has is defective or borderline charge challenged.
 
Icy1007 said:
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

MBP come with 85W AC adaptors not the humongous 200W AC bricks that come with PC laptops.
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Yeah... the MBP doesn't need 200Ws of power so likely they could just increase the wattage but keep the same slim power adapter that comes with the MBP already.

Brows said:
i duno about you but im fine with the size of the power supply that comes with the pc laptop i have that keeps up to power demands... maybe even if they would make power supply's on option when purchasing so you could go with a bigger one if you wanted ... or even as a buy a bigger one option if that one came standard. I'd buy another bigger one in a heartbeat if it would keep up. I cant imagine that another 50 watts would make it that much bigger really.

also for a company that prides itself on a laptop battery that lasts longer than the competition and then they go for a solution that reduces that battery duration because its charger cant keep up ... just seems like a step backward not forward
Click to expand...

I'm fine with the size it's just that the wattage gets on my tits (as they say in the UK, and they don't mean bluetits)
 
I honestly can't believe that this issue is acceptable by apple and the apple community. I love my MacBook Pro but I went out of my way to find a new 2010 model because of this specific issue. I play wow on my MacBook Pro between classes and that can be a couple hours. I do not want to go to class where there is no outlets with a drained battery. I really don't see how this design lives up to the high standards that I have come to love from Apple. :mad:
 
silverf1re said:
I honestly can't believe that this issue is acceptable by apple and the apple community. I love my MacBook Pro but I went out of my way to find a new 2010 model because of this specific issue. I play wow on my MacBook Pro between classes and that can be a couple hours. I do not want to go to class where there is no outlets with a drained battery. I really don't see how this design lives up to the high standards that I have come to love from Apple. :mad:
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I can see why people would be annoyed. Would any MBP battery be drained in two hours from a game, though? It seems inconceivable to me that you couldn't play a game for a couple of hours and still have enough juice to attend a lecture.

Also, do PCs have an issue with being underpowered for the games, do they give lower performance to conserve power (instead of eating into the battery), or do they just run better?

I am not a gamer, so I guess I am not pushing my MBP as much as others might, but I have never had any issues with the battery or power supply.
 
palpatine said:
Also, do PCs have an issue with being underpowered for the games, do they give lower performance to conserve power (instead of eating into the battery), or do they just run better?

I am not a gamer, so I guess I am not pushing my MBP as much as others might, but I have never had any issues with the battery or power supply.
Click to expand...

It doesn't just affect gamers, if you were to do something with an application that used the full power of the GPU and the CPU it would still drain.

Before I did the 99% maximum processing power trick I highlighted earlier Windows would cause the MBP to lose about 5% of battery power after 1.5 hours or so on Mass Effect 2, after I changed the max processor power it stopped draining the battery (I also noticed the fans weren't as loud).

In OS X by contrast, Dragon Age II drained the battery a lot, after 4 hours of playing I was down to 89% plugged in.

Perhaps Turboboost is the culprit, who knows?
 
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It's only happens in the 2011 quad core models. They use up to 40w more power under heavy load than the 2010 model. Apple however in their wisdom did not upgrade the 85w power supply.
 
I wonder if Apple used the TDP for the i7 and 6750? In theory, a chip can draw more power than the TDP rating when under heavy load, which could have lead to them underspeccing that power supply.

e.g. the TDP for the i7 is 45W, leaving only 40W spare (based on an 85W power supply) for the screen, hard drive, logic board and GPU.
 
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