Big Sur or coincidence? Apple failed to reach resolution.

[cRzz]

Hey – First-time poster with a bit of a complex problem. First and foremost, I’m not a heavy user and don’t necessarily tax my MBP in ways that some people do i.e., video editing, photoshop, anything that requires multiple cores and GPU at a constant rate. I use my MBP mostly for research, streaming, work and writing – nothing fancy! I’ll admit that I’m guilty when it comes to unplugging my MBP upon a full charge, which I suspect to be a contributing factor to the current “semi-decent” state of my battery, despite a massive cycle-count. Who knows? I’m not exactly hardware adept. I normally wait a couple of months before upgrading a new OS as in the past I have experienced a few issues here and there, some worse than others and it’s a bit of an inconvenience to revert back. So, I was conducting research and in the middle of writing up when I encountered an error message, which more or less led to corrupt data during a save. Now, bearing in mind I’m rocking a MBP Mid 2014 2.2 Quad Core i7 16GB, that I bought brand new during the summer of 2014 so obviously I’m going to have a really old version of Microsoft Word (2011) because I’ve never really found a reason to replace something that works – much in the same way that I’ve had no reason to replace my model, which at the time of error (Dec2020), was running perfectly with no throttling or fan issues. With that, I decided that maybe I need to upgrade to the new OS. Oh, how wrong was I to do so. I learned three things very quickly:

1) I had to buy a new Microsoft Word package as Big Sur wasn’t compatible.

2) My MBP started to overheat despite not running anything in the background other than Safari.

3) My battery went from lasting approx 4 hours upon a full charge to less than 2 hours.

I decided to do some research into the issue and decided that I’ll allow some time for the machine to index, but this didn’t have any kind of impact whatsoever. With being from the UK, I couldn’t just go to the Apple Store to be patronised by an Apple Genius because of lockdown of course, so I decided to request a call back from a senior tech engineer who basically told me what I predicted beforehand (Yeah it’s an old model, high cycle-count – nothing to do with Big Sur, You’ll most likely have to wipe it clean to try and resolve the issue or replace the MBP entirely) Obviously this was after he talked me through performing diagnostics in Safe Mode, which returned no red flags.

I have noticed something strange though… When my battery drops into the red, the fans no longer spin like crazy, and my MBP begins to feel cool to the touch. Why? Also, I pointed out a popular thread on Apple’s forum citing the very same problem, but he denied all knowledge of there being a problem in the first place. Typical apple, eh? In the end, Apple notified me that the case was now closed and warranted no subsequent follow up regarding the issue.

I'm holding out for the new upcoming models with a new iteration of the M1 chip.

Has anyone else found a solution to this or even a reason for why it occurred?

Any feedback would be appreciated - Cheers!

I’ll attach a photo of my overall battery health too.

 

[ian87w]

I just want to say that any battery with that age (6 years+) will have issues, regardless of anything else. This is another downside of batteries, they do age, and as they age, their chemical composition and ability to deliver stable current can be affected/erratic. One thing I would suggest is to plan to replace the battery with a new one. I would consider this before deciding on buying a new computer altogether if the current one still do the job.

To test if it's a software issue, you do need to do a fresh install, which may or may not be ideal, especially if this is your only computer.

I have a feeling that the newer versions of macOS have more running processes and underlying techs that require reliable source of power (eg. all the integration stuff with iOS, screen time, etc). As such, an older machine might see its battery life dropping due to the higher power requirement from those processes, in addition to the already ageing battery. Just a hunch, and sorry if this doesn't give you any solutions. Battery remains the Achilles' heel in our modern gadgets.

 

[Apple_Robert]

With over 2,000 cycles, it is time for a new battery.

 

[cRzz]

I just want to say that any battery with that age (6 years+) will have issues, regardless of anything else. This is another downside of batteries, they do age, and as they age, their chemical composition and ability to deliver stable current can be affected/erratic. One thing I would suggest is to plan to replace the battery with a new one. I would consider this before deciding on buying a new computer altogether if the current one still do the job.

To test if it's a software issue, you do need to do a fresh install, which may or may not be ideal, especially if this is your only computer.

I have a feeling that the newer versions of macOS have more running processes and underlying techs that require reliable source of power (eg. all the integration stuff with iOS, screen time, etc). As such, an older machine might see its battery life dropping due to the higher power requirement from those processes, in addition to the already ageing battery. Just a hunch, and sorry if this doesn't give you any solutions. Battery remains the Achilles' heel in our modern gadgets.

I performed two fresh installs of Big Sur to no avail. I haven't opted for a hard reset though as I simply cannot be bothered with the setup. I'll take on board that a new battery is needed. With lockdown easing, It's something I can definitely set out to do. I'll probably shelve this model and keep it as a back-up and press ahead with one of the newer upcoming models as I like the look of this new chip being more energy efficient.

 

[cRzz]

With over 2,000 cycles, it is time for a new battery.

Hey, this old-dog of a laptop has lasted a fair while without the need for any repairs -- some retina bleeding though, expected. I'll go ahead with a battery replacement for sure.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hey, this old-dog of a laptop has lasted a fair while without the need for any repairs -- some retina bleeding though, expected. I'll go ahead with a battery replacement for sure.

You have certainly gotten your use out of that battery. I don't normally see cycles that high.