Hello, I mentioned to an Apple sales that whenever I did not plug in my MBP 2017 13" to the power supply overnight, it remained about 10% in the morning. He mentioned that it much be the TouchBar and models without the touchbar has better battery life. Based on your user experience, is the TouchBar really that power hunger?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Does TouchBar consume a lot of power?
- Thread starter hajime
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I am going to leave my 13" MBPro unplugged and off it's charger tonight to see what happens. I do have the touch bar. There are two other threads about battery life on this model so I am going to see how mine will do. So far I have not noticed any issues with battery life but this will be the first time I let it sleep all night without plugging it in.
As for if the touch bar is eating up power - I have no idea but it would seem it would be off when the laptop is sleeping.
I will post back with my findings.
Lisa
As for if the touch bar is eating up power - I have no idea but it would seem it would be off when the laptop is sleeping.
I will post back with my findings.
Lisa
Can users turn off TB? I don' find it useful. I cannot even change the volume when watching youtube videos. Know the reason?
Does not look like it can be turned off. You can adjust what it shows in Sys Pref -> Keyboard. But that is all.
Lisa
Lisa
I can’t say how much effect the Touchbar has on the power usage.
I agree that theoretically it should not be active during sleep. But... does it distinguish between sleep with the lid closed versus open lid.
Because, theoretically, it could be designed to allow the system to wake when touched if the lid was open during sleep. Like pressing a key, or clicking the mouse buttons, etc.
But I would expect it (if I designed it) to be useless and deactivated if the lid is closed. Because obviously, you have to open the lid first, which should be a waking trigger before pressing any key would be in the sequence.
But... in electronics, anything requires more power than if it didn’t exist. So that logic would indicate that the touchbar electronics automatically require more power than if they were not there.
I agree that theoretically it should not be active during sleep. But... does it distinguish between sleep with the lid closed versus open lid.
Because, theoretically, it could be designed to allow the system to wake when touched if the lid was open during sleep. Like pressing a key, or clicking the mouse buttons, etc.
But I would expect it (if I designed it) to be useless and deactivated if the lid is closed. Because obviously, you have to open the lid first, which should be a waking trigger before pressing any key would be in the sequence.
But... in electronics, anything requires more power than if it didn’t exist. So that logic would indicate that the touchbar electronics automatically require more power than if they were not there.
I just did a battery test on mine. I left it off the charger for 48 hours. I used it moderately through out two days - email, web, youtube videos, a few other apps. The first night I let it run a MS Office update - battery dropped 7% that night. Last night it dropped less than 4%. I got up this morning and it was at 7%. I worked on it for a hour until it dropped to 5% and finally plugged it in. As I have been working on it since then it has risen to 68% charge level in the last hour.
I did leave the lid open the first night because it was updating but I have it set the display to shut off after 10 minutes. I need to check and see if that includes the touch bar. I never noticed but I assume it did.
I just haven't notice the touch bar using that much power.
Lisa
I did leave the lid open the first night because it was updating but I have it set the display to shut off after 10 minutes. I need to check and see if that includes the touch bar. I never noticed but I assume it did.
I just haven't notice the touch bar using that much power.
Lisa
Thanks Lisa for testing. I guess the one I got has a power issue. Glad that I have returned it for a refund.
The touch bar using lots of power? No way. Sorry. Just not possible. First of all, it's on OLED display. Only the pixels needed to display. LCD's require back lighting which consumes more power. The processor running the touch bar is running WatchOS which also doesn't use much power.
Notice how your touch bar goes dark after not using it, or typing after a while? No power used. I believe the processor also goes in to standby, consuming even less power.
Quite frankly, I'm shocked at how long my 2017 15" MBP lasts on battery. Getting 10+ hours on a machine of this calibre is amazing to me.
I'm able to use the touch bar to change the volume of anything playing, including YouTube. Not sure why the OP is having an issue there.
Notice how your touch bar goes dark after not using it, or typing after a while? No power used. I believe the processor also goes in to standby, consuming even less power.
Quite frankly, I'm shocked at how long my 2017 15" MBP lasts on battery. Getting 10+ hours on a machine of this calibre is amazing to me.
I'm able to use the touch bar to change the volume of anything playing, including YouTube. Not sure why the OP is having an issue there.
Agreed - probably 90% of the difference between the two comes down to the 10% smaller battery and higher wattage processor in the TB.
The other thing I'd check is power nap. By default it is off when on battery power, but if active it will drain battery while sleeping.