Is the MacBook Pro Battery Life Thing a Software Issue?

[corruptfreedom]

Hey guys,

I have a 2016 TBMBP 15" and I noticed my battery life isn't phenomenal right now. I've lost 10% in roughly 30 minutes and I'm wondering if I should exchange it for another one or if it's a software issue. I don't have the beta update and I know that the update is supposed to increase the battery by quite a bit. I was thinking about downloading the public beta, but was wondering if there are any risks to it/how stable these releases usually are.

 

[Inframan]

The battery life issue should have been fixed with the new update on Jan 23 - you might want to install Sierra 10.12.3

 

[Sanpete]

Hey guys,

I have a 2016 TBMBP 15" and I noticed my battery life isn't phenomenal right now. I've lost 10% in roughly 30 minutes and I'm wondering if I should exchange it for another one or if it's a software issue. I don't have the beta update and I know that the update is supposed to increase the battery by quite a bit. I was thinking about downloading the public beta, but was wondering if there are any risks to it/how stable these releases usually are.

What does your Activity Monitor show in the Energy tab? What's using how much power?

Most 15" users have been getting good battery life all along. There's no single cause of poor battery life, and it's probably not a bug that's eating up your battery life.

 

[corruptfreedom]

What does your Activity Monitor show in the Energy tab? What's using how much power?

Most 15" users have been getting good battery life all along. There's no single cause of poor battery life, and it's probably not a bug that's eating up your battery life.

According to the monitor, it says safari has been using the most power, I'll use it on battery for a few days to see how it holds up. I'm still wondering though, how stable are the public beta OSes?

 

[Sanpete]

The beta is stable, if you want to try it. If Safari is showing more than 20 in the energy impact, that may be where your problem lies. Or if you have your screen brightness set high, or ...

 

[corruptfreedom]

Ahh that's a good point, my brightness is typically turned to 3/4 of the max, so that might be it. I'm also using bluetooth too

 

[im_ashley]

Ahh that's a good point, my brightness is typically turned to 3/4 of the max, so that might be it. I'm also using bluetooth too

Bluetooth's effect on battery life is negligible considering the 2016 models are packed with latest gen bluetooth. You are saying you keep brightness on 75% which is actually what Apple also tested with Safari. Truth to be said your discharge rate seems pretty abnormal. Do you have any background processes running (of the 3rd party apps)? A screenshot of your Activity Monitor>Energy @ 85% battery will give us a clear idea.

 

[maflynn]

I think its a number of things, there's no denying that Apple is using a smaller battery in the machine and when the computer is under load its going to consume power. Having the brightness cranked up will affect it, but I think a lot of the battery issues is related to the Software.

 

[im_ashley]

I think its a number of things, there's no denying that Apple is using a smaller battery in the machine and when the computer is under load its going to consume power. Having the brightness cranked up will affect it, but I think a lot of the battery issues is related to the Software.

It had been months and Apple is still keeping calm. I think only few of Apple user base is aware if the issue, isn't it?

 

[malikkamran]

what battery issue I have great battery life

 

[Queen6]

It had been months and Apple is still keeping calm. I think only few of Apple user base is aware if the issue, isn't it?

Doubt the average user is aware or cares and Apple knows it's target audience very well. Had battery runtime been a priority the capacity would never have been reduced, it was therefore it's not a major consideration for Apple with just enough being good enough these days...

Q-6

 

[Sanpete]

Doubt the average user is aware or cares and Apple knows it's target audience very well. Had battery runtime been a priority the capacity would never have been reduced, it was therefore it's not a major consideration for Apple with just enough being good enough these days...

Q-6

Apple significantly improved the battery life for the 15", so apparently that's what they thought their target audience wanted.

 

[Queen6]

Apple significantly improved the battery life for the 15", so apparently that's what they thought their target audience wanted.

Yet it could've been significantly greater, then again Apple shaved 1/8" not a great trade off in my opinion. Yet to hear anyone ever complain about a portable that has too much battery capacity, a point worth considering. As for the 15" opinions vary and time will tell, simple as that...

Q-6

 

[Sanpete]

Yet it could've been significantly greater, then again Apple shaved 1/8" not a great trade off in my opinion. Yet to hear anyone ever complain about a portable that has too much battery capacity, a point worth considering. As for the 15" opinions vary and time will tell, simple as that...

Q-6

I don't know what to make of your last remark, if it's supposed to relate to battery life, which has been objectively tested. No need for opinions on that point. If you mean some people will be unhappy that battery life was significantly improved while also making the machine smaller and lighter, I'm sure that's true. There's no way to please everyone.

You may be aware that it has been reported that Apple intended to put a new larger battery in the space currently allotted, but they couldn't insure its performance, so they used a smaller one known to be reliable. There's still space for a slightly larger one, if they can get one that will meet their standards.

 

[augustya]

what battery issue I have great battery life

The OP here is talking about 2016 15" rMBP, not any previous year.

 

[kevinkyoo]

what battery issue I have great battery life

You're only using Safari. How is that a benchmark for great battery life?

 

[jackoatmon]

I just want to point out that you needed to be using Safari in Developer mode with Caching manually turned off, for the battery issue to even present itself. So, basically, there never was a battery life issue to begin with. Just a lot of bad tech reporting and wild speculations and overreactions.

 

[Sanpete]

I just want to point out that you needed to be using Safari in Developer mode with Caching manually turned off, for the battery issue to even present itself. So, basically, there never was a battery life issue to begin with. Just a lot of bad tech reporting and wild speculations and overreactions.

That a particular battery issue was limited to that bug doesn't mean there haven't been real battery issues. Some people do have poor battery life for reasons that haven't yet been explained in terms of use and settings. I agree there has been bad reporting and overreaction.

 

[biosci]

I have a 13" 2016 TB MBP maxed except for the SSD and I'm look at an ave of 5 hours on battery.. So about 20% to the hour which I'm NOT happy about. 10.12.3 here. IDK what to do. Apple Store will probably give some bs runaround...

 

[Sanpete]

I have a 13" 2016 TB MBP maxed except for the SSD and I'm look at an ave of 5 hours on battery.. So about 20% to the hour which I'm NOT happy about. 10.12.3 here. IDK what to do. Apple Store will probably give some bs runaround...

What does your Activity Monitor show is using the energy (under the Energy tab)? And what's your screen brightness?

 

[sinoka56]

it's not an issue, it's as intended, Apple has reduced the size of the macbook pro's battery size.

99.6 Wh to 76 Wh

 

[jackoatmon]

That a particular battery issue was limited to that bug doesn't mean there haven't been real battery issues.

Well actually, yeah it pretty much does. No one's been able to demonstrate any battery issues with benchmarks or anything, other than that one single scenario.

 

[Sanpete]

it's not an issue, it's as intended, Apple has reduced the size of the macbook pro's battery size.

99.6 Wh to 76 Wh

In fact, battery life is better for the 2016 than the 2015 with the larger battery. As intended.
[doublepost=1485723993][/doublepost]

Well actually, yeah it pretty much does. No one's been able to demonstrate any battery issues with benchmarks or anything, other than that one single scenario.

In fact some reviews of the 13" TB version, in particular, have been unable to reach the Apple claims. Here's an example:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-reviews/apple-macbook-pro-13-inch-touch-bar-review/

 

[- rob -]

I have been using the 13"tbMBP since Thursday, with lots of idle time over night for it to do any disk encryption etc.

Unfortunately, I am getting very poor battery performance at this time. Here is a current look at Activity Monitor:

I am also keeping a log using the Battery Health app in the Macos App Store. I am doing relatively low-intensive web dev and biz tasks including a limited amount of audio or video conferencing and getting around 2-3 hours on a charge.

My gut says this machine is a little less performant battery-wise than my mid-2013 11" macbook Air that has about 490 cycles on it. I'm very surprised by this. I expected it to feel like double.

I followed the Consumer Reports saga and had believed power issues to have been worked out. Based on the weight and size of this product over the MBA I expected the battery to last far longer.

I want a portable that can drive dual 4k's. But it has to perform better than this. It won't even last a coast to coast plane flight at its current rate.

I am going to make an appointment w genius bar for tomorrow or Wednesday and see what they have to say.

EDIT:

I just called in for tech support, and their immediate reply was that the battery should be performing very well.

updates coming

 

[Sanpete]

Your Activity Monitor shows Chrome using an obscene amount of power, so that may be part of the problem. Though the average impact looks low enough. Chrome does have a bad reputation as a power hog, so you could try Safari instead and see if it helps. Keep an eye on the monitor while you're running your programs to see where the power goes.

Your battery will probably not reach maximum efficiency for a couple more cycles, if reports about that are to be believed.