Battery with Kabylake for 15" Touch Bar rMBP ? Has it got any better ?

[KGB7]

This is an excerpt from 9to5mac.com people have been greatly disappointed with the Kind of battery backup that they are getting !

Again, light use is subjective. World domination can be light use to some people.

Or few people got a bad batch of batteries. Don't read in to all of this too much.

Buy it or don't buy it, it's up to you. Apple warranty is one of the best out there. If you can't get 10'hours from light use, than go back to the store and exchange it for a new one.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

This is an excerpt from 9to5mac.com people have been greatly disappointed with the Kind of battery backup that they are getting !

You seem to want people to confirm a bad battery life as opposed to what everyone has actually said here?

 

[dpny]

Otherwise how much ?

Depends. Photoshop will kill the battery in a couple hours because it cranks the CPU and dGPU. Given the conditions manufacturers usually use for maximum battery life claims--light use, screen at half brightness, etc.--I wouldn't be surprised to see ten hours. Honestly, I've never run into battery problems.

 

[augustya]

When I was in the Apple store and the rMBP was charged to a charger when I removed the charger the battery was showing 100% and when I went into Activity Monitor>Energy and there when I saw the estimated battery time left it said something like 3:54 hours that was horrendous to see.

 

[srikat]

Not every one here is from the U.S or U.K or EU. Apple has different policies for different countries don't have the 14 day try and use and return policy here ! Having said that would like to have more opinions on this

I am curious to know where (country) you live. I always thought Apple had the same 2-week policy regarding returns regardless of country.

 

[dpny]

When I was in the Apple store and the rMBP was charged to a charger when I removed the charger the battery was showing 100% and when I went into Activity Monitor>Energy and there when I saw the estimated battery time left it said something like 3:54 hours that was horrendous to see.

The time remaining measurement can be weird. I just unplugged my tMPB from the charger and moved to my couch. The time remaining has gone from 4:27 to 5:09 in the space of about ten minutes, and I imagine if I sit here for another half hour it will be around nine hours.

 

[augustya]

The time remaining measurement can be weird. I just unplugged my tMPB from the charger and moved to my couch. The time remaining has gone from 4:27 to 5:09 in the space of about ten minutes, and I imagine if I sit here for another half hour it will be around nine hours.

So the estimated battery time left increased from a lesser time to more time ?

 

[leman]

When I was in the Apple store and the rMBP was charged to a charger when I removed the charger the battery was showing 100% and when I went into Activity Monitor>Energy and there when I saw the estimated battery time left it said something like 3:54 hours that was horrendous to see.

Was it full brightness?

Anyway, I somehow feel like discussing with you is pointless. Third-party reviews show that the battery life is excellent, a lot of users confirm that the battery life is excellent, yet you try very hard to argue that these facts are false. Yes, there might have been some computers with faulty batteries in the beginning and there was a bug in the first few Sierra releases that unnecessarily triggered high power-states on the GPU, but all this is long fixed.

 

[augustya]

I am curious to know where (country) you live. I always thought Apple had the same 2-week policy regarding returns regardless of country.

India does not have an official Apple Store, all Apple Products are sold through authorized resellers and hence Apple does not have its global policy in India. There is no 14 day return policy, you buy an Apple product you have to use it no matter you like it or not ! You cant return it !! So who will take the risk ?

 

[augustya]

Was it full brightness?

Anyway, I somehow feel like discussing with you is pointless. Third-party reviews show that the battery life is excellent, a lot of users confirm that the battery life is excellent, yet you try very hard to argue that these facts are false. Yes, there might have been some computers with faulty batteries in the beginning and there was a bug in the first few Sierra releases that unnecessarily triggered high power-states on the GPU, but all this is long fixed.

When it was plugged in it was at full brightness but when I unplugged the charger the display dimmed and the estimated battery time left was showing on the dimmed brightness.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

When it was plugged in it was at full brightness but when I unplugged the charger the display dimmed and the estimated battery time left was showing on the dimmed brightness.

The estimated battery life remaining estimates the battery life based on current usage. That's how they work you know?

When you unplug it, the software will go "Oh, I'm using 100% brightness and doing all this stuff, I reckon 4 hours", then it'll go "Oh, I've dimmed to 50% and reduced my usage, okay I think 7 hours". The longer it is on the battery and the more consistent your use, the more accurate that estimate will be.

India does not have an official Apple Store, all Apple Products are sold through authorized resellers and hence Apple does not have its global policy in India. There is no 14 day return policy, you buy an Apple product you have to use it no matter you like it or not ! You cant return it !! So who will take the risk ?

Are you in India? There's an Apple warranty office specifically for that country.

They abide by the laws of the country though. So does the Indian government offer no kind of warranty on any sale or something?

 

[augustya]

Are you in India? There's an Apple warranty office specifically for that country.

Yes there is a warranty but that is limited to if your product turns out to be faulty or damaged only and only then the product is replaced otherwise if you just wanna try for somedays and have no intention to keep it after 14 days Nah ! Nah ! all that is not possible ! Apple has its office in Bangalore but Apple does not operate directly in India it is only through resellers.

They abide by the laws of the country though. So does the Indian government offer no kind of warranty on any sale or something?

The Indian Government has a law no foreign company can directly sell in India unless it has 30% of its raw materials and resources sourced from India. Warranty in India is only for service there is no 14 day return policy for any product, Even Samsung does not have it. People will Jolly well use a product and start returning it and there will be huge godowns of brand new products lying with people returning it back. The mentality is different people will start taking advantage of this policy in India. So I doubt when Apple even directly starts selling its products through its stores in India in a couple of years I doubt it will ever have the 14 day return policy in India !

 

[aristobrat]

You've made it clear that YOUR expectation is that the battery life will not be sufficient for you, so why don't you just sit out another year and see if the next MacBook Pro meets your needs.

 

[KGB7]

When it was plugged in it was at full brightness but when I unplugged the charger the display dimmed and the estimated battery time left was showing on the dimmed brightness.

You should have closed all apps, restarted it and waited 5min for it to settle down, so it could properly calculated battery hours left.

Just go buy a Dell with extended battery.

 

[augustya]

The battery of the 2016 Touch Bar 15" rMBP went from 99.5Wh in the 2015 models to 76Wh in the 2016 models why don't you guys consider that ! As much as I am worried about the battery of the 15" rMBP I am also equally enthralled with the whole Mac Eco system that it offers the ease of use, the APPs that it offers everything is just mind blowing !!

 

[aristobrat]

The battery of the 2016 Touch Bar 15" rMBP went from 99.5Wh in the 2015 models to 76Wh in the 2016 models why don't you guys consider that !

Because you didn't ask about that in your original post...

You've been a member of this forum since 2012. You should know that if there are major issues with an Apple product, there will be constant postings about them on the forum here. I am not seeing that in regards to the 2016 or 2017 battery.

 

[wiffle]

The battery of the 2016 Touch Bar 15" rMBP went from 99.5Wh in the 2015 models to 76Wh in the 2016 models why don't you guys consider that ! As much as I am worried about the battery of the 15" rMBP I am also equally enthralled with the whole Mac Eco system that it offers the ease of use, the APPs that it offers everything is just mind blowing !!

Not sure what additional datapoints you're looking for.. many here have provided real-world experiences with both 2016 and 2017 options. You're right, the battery capacity has decreased in the 2016+ machines; however, you fail to account for both hardware and software advancements to increase overall battery life. I assume you're aware that battery performance has been empirically tested and validated externally?

It seems like you're looking for others to agree with you that the battery sucks, but considering how enthralled you are with the entire OS system you still want to dabble with the machines. Why not just appease your unwavering opinion and pick up a 2015 then?

 

[jerryk]

When I was in the Apple store and the rMBP was charged to a charger when I removed the charger the battery was showing 100% and when I went into Activity Monitor>Energy and there when I saw the estimated battery time left it said something like 3:54 hours that was horrendous to see.

I would never use the estimated time as a measurement. First, power usage is highly dependent on usage. Second, peoples usage patterns vary. Some people do Photoshop all day, others just check their email and surf. So in an abundance of caution, the estimated time is very pessimistic. In fat it is not monotonically decreasing, that is it does not always go down. It is not too unusual for the remaining time to go up as you use the computer.

It works like the distance to empty estimate in a car.

 

[aevan]

Exactly my point that is what Apple advertises in real life usage people don't get 10 hours it is up to 10 Hours so it could be 5 hours aswell and in most of the cases Atleast in the 2016 models no one has reported more than 4-6 hours of battery ! I don't know what is the case with 2017 models ?

You have to realize OP that currently there are no laptops that reach 10 hours of battery life in almost any scenario. You can hit 10 hours if you only watch movies with half brightness and offline. Honestly, I don't know how these manufacturer estimates are not under bigger scrutiny, they are getting ridiculous. Apple is far from worst here, though.

I just watched a review of a Dell XPS with a 1080p screen and a large battery, which is the best combination you can get on a Dell. Dell claims that with that combination you get.... wait for it - 19.5h battery life!! The result? In everyday work, the battery life is slightly worse then on a MBP 2017, both get around 8h. The 4K XPS option fares much worse.

So, no, you most likely will never get 10 hours on a MBP, and yet it's a laptop that is among the best when it comes to battery life, only bested by MacBook Air and similar lower-performance notebooks.

You should also know that the battery situation of the MBP 2016 was overblown greatly, mostly for clickbait reasons, riding the wave of hate, but also due to some unfortunate bugs (since fixed).

TL;DR: In reality, 2017 and 2016 have almost identical battery life which is around 8h for light work, 4-5h for moderate/intensive work (even less for some really demanding stuff). They are also among the best when it comes to battery life and you won't get better battery life on any other notebook out there, from Surface to XPS. This is just the state of technology today. Want more? Wait 5-6 years.

 

[jerryk]

You have to realize OP that currently there are no laptops that reach 10 hours of battery life in almost any scenario. You can hit 10 hours if you only watch movies with half brightness and offline.

I just watched a review of a Dell XPS with a 1080p screen and a large battery, which is the best combination you can get on a Dell. Dell claims that with that combination you get.... wait for it - 19.5h battery life!! The result? In everyday work, the battery life is slightly worse then on a MBP 2017, both get around 8h. The 4K XPS option fares much worse.

So, no, you most likely will never get 10 hours on a MBP, and yet it's a laptop that is among the best when it comes to battery life, only bested by MacBook Air and similar lower-performance notebooks.

You should also know that the battery situation of the MBP 2016 was overblown greatly, mostly for clickbait reasons, riding the wave of hate, but also due to some unfortunate bugs (since fixed).

TL;DR: In reality, 2017 and 2016 have almost identical battery life which is around 8h for light work, 4-5h for moderate/intensive work (even less for some really demanding stuff). They are also among the best when it comes to battery life and you won't get better battery life on any other notebook out there, from Surface to XPS. This is just the state of technology today. Want more? Wait 5-6 years.

As someone who owns a XPS 15 with 1080 screen, M.2 SSD (no sata SSD or rotational SSD), 16 GB, i7, I can say you can get well over 10 hours battery life doing office, browsing the web, email, etc. Each Dell is essentially a BTO unit. So you cannot assume one person's numbers will match another until you see the entire build sheet.

 

[aevan]

The battery of the 2016 Touch Bar 15" rMBP went from 99.5Wh in the 2015 models to 76Wh in the 2016 models why don't you guys consider that ! As much as I am worried about the battery of the 15" rMBP I am also equally enthralled with the whole Mac Eco system that it offers the ease of use, the APPs that it offers everything is just mind blowing !!

Due to optimizations, battery life remained more or less the same. In most cases it is better than 2015 even with a smaller battery (this is not unprecedented, iPad Air got a smaller battery and better battery life). Certain high-demanding workflows that rely on sustained CPU performance (like rendering) will give shorter battery life on 2016/17, but everything else will be longer - it's a balance.
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As someone who owns a XPS 15 with 1080 screen, M.2 SSD (no sata SSD or rotational SSD), 16 GB, i7, I can say you can get way over 10 hours battery life doing office, browsing the web, email, etc. Each Dell is essentially a BTO unit. So you cannot assume one person's numbers will match another until you see the entire build sheet.

Sure - I am not speaking from personal experience, I just watched the review. It seemed objective, that guy even chose the XPS over the MBP (due to price difference) in his conclusion (here's the link to the reviews) - but sure, it depends on what you do. I am not surprised you can get 10 hours or more doing Office stuff, but still, I do believe the 19h mark is not realistic. And office stuff on MBP will also get you close to 10 hours I think. No idea, really, I didn't want to bash XPS here, just to explain how manufacturers like to toss these numbers around.

 

[montanaco]

At least in the 2016 models no one has reported more than 4-6 hours

Uh in the battery thread plenty of people had reported great battery. I've hit 14 hours before just doing youtube and web surfing. On average I probably get close to 8 hours on my 2016 MBP. It just depends on workload. When I'm editing video or producing music the battery is going to drain super fast. But just for casual usage? It'll last a while.

But to answer your question, my friend just bought the 15" 2017 model and gets the same battery as me, so no there is no marked improvement or decline. Same solid battery life as last gen.

 

[nph]

So does the 13" TB 2017 model have equal life to the 15" or better/worse?

 

[Sovon Halder]

So does the 13" TB 2017 model have equal life to the 15" or better/worse?

Have this question too.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Exactly, a lot of it is subjective to your use. 100% brightness and rendering a 4K video file will not net you 10 hours.

I was gonna say the same thing.

You might be able to watch five 2-hour movies... but you certainly won't be able to peg your CPU at 100% for 10 straight hours.