Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MBX

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
2,030
817
I just got the non touch bar MBP 13'' and I love it. It's 2.0ghz, 16gb Ram, 512gb ssd.

However the first time after fully 100% charged I noticed that the battery isn't quite that amazing as it sounded.

I was fairly quick at 50% with browsing, some Spotify and occasional YouTube videos.

The screen brightness was 2 notches away from full brightness and I have the screen resolution set to "More Space".

From estimation it told me about 4hrs after fully charged. Not the 8-10 hours I was expecting :( especially since the non touch bar version was supposed to have slightly better battery life than the touch bar versions.

Any idea?
 
It's probably spotlight indexing, give it some time.

Battery wasn't good when I first got it, but after letting the indexing finish, it got better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sanpete
I tried mine,with about the same specs,when running Sid Meier railroads,got battery warning after about 2,5-3 hours,depending on what apps was set to standby in the background.
 
As @Idarzoid says, you may have indexing going on in the background, and the OS take a few days to settle in. A couple notches below full is fairly bright, but you'll probably get 8+. Also best not to rely on the time remaining function to actually see how long the battery lasts.

By the way, generally Safari uses less energy than Chrome.
 
There's no indexing going on, still not more than 4hrs.

I'm seeing battery says "health good" and fully loaded at 4800'ish mAH, can it be? Because that's not much bigger than a smartphone battery.
 
There's no indexing going on, still not more than 4hrs.

I'm seeing battery says "health good" and fully loaded at 4800'ish mAH, can it be? Because that's not much bigger than a smartphone battery.
4 hours is good for a 13 inch MBP,so,your computer seems completely normal. Everything seems to be in perfect working order.
 
4 hours is good for a 13 inch MBP,so,your computer seems completely normal. Everything seems to be in perfect working order.

Really? Good to hear but it's nothing like the 10hrs as advertised and shown by some reviewers who played video/ audio non stop straight for 6-10 hours?
 
There's no indexing going on, still not more than 4hrs.

I'm seeing battery says "health good" and fully loaded at 4800'ish mAH, can it be? Because that's not much bigger than a smartphone battery.
4800 is normal. Test it after a few days of normal use, actually running on the battery and not relying on estimates. Keep track of what you're doing when you test it.

4 hours is good for a 13 inch MBP,so,your computer seems completely normal. Everything seems to be in perfect working order.
Not at all good for light use.
 
The biggest battery drain may be the screen brightness.

But honestly during normal day hours anything less than 1-2 notches below 100% isn't good for me. I need it at full or almost full brightness otherwise the glare is really distracting and I can't see anything. As I mentioned in a previous thread I was spoiled by my MB-Air matte screen for 2 years.
 
Screen brightness is a major factor, but even at a couple notches below full brightness you should get 6-8 hours for browsing a ordinary Youtube. Give it a couple more days and then test.

If you have auto brightness selected, that may result in the screen being even brighter than it would normally be at whatever setting you have it at, so it might be useful to test it with auto brightness off, so you'll know how bright it really is.
 
Obviously,it also depend on video resolution,frame rate,and where the video clip came from. Streaming videos and sound from internet usually cause more battery drain than locally stored files,and that Apple spec was probably measured in a laboratory under ideal conditions.
 
The biggest battery drain may be the screen brightness.

But honestly during normal day hours anything less than 1-2 notches below 100% isn't good for me. I need it at full or almost full brightness otherwise the glare is really distracting and I can't see anything. As I mentioned in a previous thread I was spoiled by my MB-Air matte screen for 2 years.

Its almost certainly a combination of spotlight indexing and just settling down, many people reported low battery times in the first few days and then they settle down quickly. if it lasts more than 2 or three days contact apple and get it looked at.
 
I just got the non touch bar MBP 13'' and I love it. It's 2.0ghz, 16gb Ram, 512gb ssd.

However the first time after fully 100% charged I noticed that the battery isn't quite that amazing as it sounded.

I was fairly quick at 50% with browsing, some Spotify and occasional YouTube videos.

The screen brightness was 2 notches away from full brightness and I have the screen resolution set to "More Space".

From estimation it told me about 4hrs after fully charged. Not the 8-10 hours I was expecting :( especially since the non touch bar version was supposed to have slightly better battery life than the touch bar versions.

Any idea?

My wife easily gets 12 hours on her nTB 13". She surfs the web, uses Office, watches Youtube and Sling. Screen set at 75% brightness. Bluetooth off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sanpete
My wife easily gets 12 hours on her nTB 13". She surfs the web, uses Office, watches Youtube and Sling. Screen set at 75% brightness. Bluetooth off.

That's crazy.

I'm assuming certain users are just lucky with getting it perfect.

There must be some driver/ firmware or macOS issue right now on my nTB MBP 13'' that isn't running the way it should.

I'll see how it goes with the next 10.12.5 update coming out soon.
 
Something strange happened.

I had the MBP plugged in overnight. And when I started to use it in the morning the battery estimation in stat menu was at 10 hours approx instead of the 4-5hrs like the days before.

The battery is also discharging slower while I'm doing same tasks and settings as previous days.

Seems it needed a few days to adjust or something indeed, hmm.
 
  • Like
Reactions: biffysix
Sorry, I see the thread too late, but did you check the CPU and energy tabs in the Activity Monitor ?
From time to time, I observe strangely high battery consumption on my macs, but this always allows me to pinpoint the reason...
 
Im also getting the same issue. Is 4-5 hours for youtube and normal surfing and 2-2.5 hours for dota 2 normal? I turned off bluetooth, use safari and constantly check out activity monitor. lambertjohn's 12 hour of use is what Im looking for. I am using 13 ntb macbook 2016
 
Something strange happened.

I had the MBP plugged in overnight. And when I started to use it in the morning the battery estimation in stat menu was at 10 hours approx instead of the 4-5hrs like the days before.

The battery is also discharging slower while I'm doing same tasks and settings as previous days.

Seems it needed a few days to adjust or something indeed, hmm.

Nothing strange here this has happened to almost everyone I have spoken too.

Im also getting the same issue. Is 4-5 hours for youtube and normal surfing and 2-2.5 hours for dota 2 normal? I turned off bluetooth, use safari and constantly check out activity monitor. lambertjohn's 12 hour of use is what Im looking for. I am using 13 ntb macbook 2016

Take a look above, it will take a few days to settle down, leave it plugged in overnight for 3-4 days and then worry if things haven't settled down to a good battery life, gaming will always cane your battery though it'll never be great when gaming.
 
Nothing strange here this has happened to almost everyone I have spoken too.



Take a look above, it will take a few days to settle down, leave it plugged in overnight for 3-4 days and then worry if things haven't settled down to a good battery life, gaming will always cane your battery though it'll never be great when gaming.

I bought the macbook around mid march though. It should settle down by then? Thanks for reply!
 
I bought the macbook around mid march though. It should settle down by then? Thanks for reply!

Not the same situation then, try looking under energy in activity monitor to see what's eating up your battery if nothing sticks out take it back to apple to look at they will change the battery if its rubbish.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.