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Battery life 7 hrs...NOT!

zipur

zipur

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 3, 2011
588
84
The great state of Texas
I am getting 4 hours battery life 100% -- 1% constantly. I called the G-folks and they walked me through the SMC reset but it did not help. They then said that 4 hours is normal? 4 hours is no where near 7 hours, and yes my brightness is at 60%. Today I am testing with BT turned off.
 
Might want to say with model you have and also what you are doing in those 4 hours.
 
I have about 4 hours of battery life if I am watching movies and about 6-7 hours using iMovie and adobe after effects (50% brightness), really depends on what you are doing and how many battery cycles you went through. Maybe try calibrating your battery (the news ones dont need to be calibrated but its helpful for me), charge your mac up to 100%, leave it charged @ 100% for about 30 minutes, then unplug it and let it go down to 0%, like literally until the mac shuts down by itself from low battery, then charge it back up to 100% and leave it charged for another 30 minutes. I do this once a week and I'm getting decent battery life, I guess.
 
zipur said:
I am getting 4 hours battery life 100% -- 1% constantly. I called the G-folks and they walked me through the SMC reset but it did not help. They then said that 4 hours is normal? 4 hours is no where near 7 hours, and yes my brightness is at 60%. Today I am testing with BT turned off.
Click to expand...

How old is your computer?
 
Without knowing what you're doing during those 4 hours, no one can tell you if it's normal or not. The 7 hour estimate is going to be with light usage and always using the integrated graphics card. A lot of applications cause it to switch to discreet graphics, which drains the battery much more quickly. Turning of Bluetooth will likely make very little difference. What are you doing on your computer when it's draining so quickly? Be specific.
 
zipur said:
I am getting 4 hours battery life 100% -- 1% constantly. I called the G-folks and they walked me through the SMC reset but it did not help. They then said that 4 hours is normal? 4 hours is no where near 7 hours, and yes my brightness is at 60%. Today I am testing with BT turned off.
Click to expand...

No model details, no usage pattern details, no processes running in the background, no mention of usage of the optical drive or not, no mention of the machine's age or the battery's health....

Seriously, you need to provide more details before we even begin to try and tell you if anything is wrong
 
The answer relies in your usage of the computer. Do some light tasks on it and you'll get better battery life.
 
2.3 basic rMBP - 7 weeks old. My plan was how long will this machine last on battery if I was on a trip with not power outlets available.

I set it up with the brightness at 60% (9 clicks) and screen saver disabled.
I did some light browsing from time to time in chrome for news and popped off an email or two as well. I work from home so I was able to watch it all day, its gonna be a windows 7 day for me. I did not play any music, games or YouTubes. So the machine sat there mostly left it alone. I do have the blue tooth mouse and keyboard.

My next test is going to be No blue tooth and drop the brightness down to 7 clicks vs 9 (16 clicks total).

Then try with BT mouse and keyboard. Then BT Mouse, Keyboard and external display extended. Then same in clamshell mode.

I'm really bummed that I am not getting near 7 hours 4.03 hours according to Battery Health app. is not what I expected.
 
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My almost 2 months old 2012 cMBP lasts for 4 hours too. I used to get 6 right out of the box but then came the update and everything went downhill. What surprised me the most is that this is a common thing. I sometimes feel kind of cheated cause I bought this considering the longevity too and bit the bullet and paid the premium price... I am hoping for a new update to solve my issue.

P.S. I tried calibrating.
 
zipur said:
I am getting 4 hours battery life 100% -- 1% constantly. I called the G-folks and they walked me through the SMC reset but it did not help. They then said that 4 hours is normal? 4 hours is no where near 7 hours, and yes my brightness is at 60%. Today I am testing with BT turned off.
Click to expand...
There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.

The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
Silmarien said:
P.S. I tried calibrating.
Click to expand...
The built-in batteries in the newer Mac unibody notebooks come pre-calibrated and do not require regular calibration like the removable batteries in older Apple notebooks.
 
zipur said:
2.3 basic rMBP - 7 weeks old. My plan was how long will this machine last on battery if I was on a trip with not power outlets available.

I set it up with the brightness at 60% (9 clicks) and screen saver disabled.
I did some light browsing from time to time in chrome for news and popped off an email or two as well. I work from home so I was able to watch it all day, its gonna be a windows 7 day for me. I did not play any music, games or YouTubes. So the machine sat there mostly left it alone. I do have the blue tooth mouse and keyboard.

My next test is going to be No blue tooth and drop the brightness down to 7 clicks vs 9 (16 clicks total).

Then try with BT mouse and keyboard. Then BT Mouse, Keyboard and external display extended. Then same in clamshell mode.

I'm really bummed that I am not getting near 7 hours 4.03 hours according to Battery Health app. is not what I expected.
Click to expand...

If it's Windows 7 in Bootcamp, then you won't ever get more than 4 hours of battery life.

If it's OSX, then you'll be able to get a lot more (up to 8 hours) if your usage pattern is exactly as you just wrote.
 
13 hours here.

My new late 2011 17" MacBook Pro 2.5Ghz i7 (LION) anti-glare, always reads 13.5 hours on a full charge and when I am performing large tasks it only goes down to 6.4 hours and stays there for a couple of days while doing medium tasks. This all since I upgraded the heck out of her. Snappy and cool. Best investment ever since my early 2007 17" MBP.

Thanks.
 
As a general rule, you can expect half the claimed battery life out of any piece of technology in typical use, as claimed life is based on extremely light usage.

The only exception I've ever found to this rule is the iPad: it claims 10 hours and I have had more.
 
markus843 said:
I have about 4 hours of battery life if I am watching movies and about 6-7 hours using iMovie and adobe after effects (50% brightness), really depends on what you are doing and how many battery cycles you went through. Maybe try calibrating your battery (the news ones dont need to be calibrated but its helpful for me), charge your mac up to 100%, leave it charged @ 100% for about 30 minutes, then unplug it and let it go down to 0%, like literally until the mac shuts down by itself from low battery, then charge it back up to 100% and leave it charged for another 30 minutes. I do this once a week and I'm getting decent battery life, I guess.
Click to expand...


Calibrating is done to keep your battery status reporting as accurate as possible, and should be done the first week you get your Mac or a new battery. Calibration does not affect your battery health, improve battery performance, or extend battery life. It does make battery condition reporting more accurate, so when your battery reports 97% health, it's more accurate. Without calibration, your battery health could be 60% but still being reported as 95%, for example.

Simply draining the battery and recharging is NOT the same as calibrating. The specific steps for calibrating a notebook battery are here:

1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
2. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
3. Disconnect the power adapter while the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, the low battery warning dialog appears on the screen.
4. At this point, save your work. Continue to use your computer; when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go to sleep.
5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
6. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.
 
markus843 said:
charge your mac up to 100%, leave it charged @ 100% for about 30 minutes, then unplug it and let it go down to 0%, like literally until the mac shuts down by itself from low battery, then charge it back up to 100% and leave it charged for another 30 minutes.
Click to expand...
That is NOT calibrating a battery. As already stated, the new built-in batteries do not require calibration and even if they did, that's not how to do it. All you're doing is putting unnecessary cycles on your battery, with zero benefit. The procedure that xAgustinx accurately quoted only applies to older Macs with removable batteries.
 
Neither Lion nor Mountain Lion have quite managed to deliver the same battery life for me as Snow Leopard did. I don't think this figure seems out of line to me.

Remember that iWork and several other Apple applications use OpenGL graphics, and as such they automatically switch to discrete graphics on the 15-inch laptops in a way that Microsoft Office does NOT. That comes with a brutal hit on battery life. With iWork it is possible to use the GFX switcher application to turn off discrete graphics and force the computer to use integrated. That will likely make a big difference. In my experience OpenGL iWork might mean a three to four hour battery life while non-OpenGL MS Word will get you well over six.

Go to a computer with integrated graphics only, and then it becomes more or less a non-issue; iWork ends up slightly below Office on battery life but nothing drastic, though anything involving animated graphics won't be quite as smooth as it is on the 15 with discrete graphics.
 
...

Chrome runs the discrete graphics whenever it is running, use safari. Also if you use windows battery life will suck regardless as discrete graphics are always on under windows also
 
zipur said:
2.3 basic rMBP - 7 weeks old. My plan was how long will this machine last on battery if I was on a trip with not power outlets available.

I set it up with the brightness at 60% (9 clicks) and screen saver disabled.
I did some light browsing from time to time in chrome for news and popped off an email or two as well. I work from home so I was able to watch it all day, its gonna be a windows 7 day for me. I did not play any music, games or YouTubes. So the machine sat there mostly left it alone. I do have the blue tooth mouse and keyboard.

My next test is going to be No blue tooth and drop the brightness down to 7 clicks vs 9 (16 clicks total).

Then try with BT mouse and keyboard. Then BT Mouse, Keyboard and external display extended. Then same in clamshell mode.

I'm really bummed that I am not getting near 7 hours 4.03 hours according to Battery Health app. is not what I expected.
Click to expand...

Chrome trips the discrete GPU. Use another browser such as Safari with an AdBlocker of some sort to block out most of the flash, it should help you gain quite a bit of battery life.
 
bill-p said:
If it's Windows 7 in Bootcamp, then you won't ever get more than 4 hours of battery life.

If it's OSX, then you'll be able to get a lot more (up to 8 hours) if your usage pattern is exactly as you just wrote.
Click to expand...

Right on the money!

OP, are you using Win7 in bootcamp or a VM? It sounds like that is what is draining your battery. Also be aware that Adobe Flash Player is not installed by default, which is part of the reason for the long battery life claims by Apple. If you are using Chrome(which includes Flash), your discreet graphics chip may be kicking in more than you notice due to Flash content. Use http://gfx.io to monitor when your discreet graphics card kicks on.
 
GGJstudios said:
That is NOT calibrating a battery. As already stated, the new built-in batteries do not require calibration and even if they did, that's not how to do it. All you're doing is putting unnecessary cycles on your battery, with zero benefit. The procedure that xAgustinx accurately quoted only applies to older Macs with removable batteries.
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure, but apple said that was how to do it right here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
 
markus843 said:
I'm not 100% sure, but apple said that was how to do it right here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490
Click to expand...

Oh my God, just read the article again and this time pay more attention. ;)

Portables with built-in batteries
Current Apple portable computer batteries are pre-calibrated and do not require the calibration procedure outlined in this article. These computers use batteries that should be replaced only by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

MacBook

MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009) and later
MacBook Air

MacBook Air, all versions
MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) and later
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) and later
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) and later
Click to expand...
 
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