macbook 2017 battery life

[anonymous4a]

How's the battery life of the 2017 macbook compared to the 2016 model ?

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I am really curious myself...

 

[bill-p]

So far, somewhat on par. Maybe I'm getting an extra 1 hour or so, but I rarely run my computer down to that low anyway. Both 2016 and 2017 models are lasting me >7 hours on the occasions that I do need the longevity. But judging from my usual usage (coding, testing, VMs), 2017 seems to drain maybe 1% less battery per hour? Nothing significant.

Most of what has been improved to me are:

1. Less "your Mac is overheating" warning. Got that hourly with 2015, then 2016 reduced it to about daily, and 2017 I have only gotten the warning once when the inside of my car was super hot and I forgot the MacBook was in my bag running a test.

2. Smoother performance with a 4K display, especially for scaling higher than 1080P. Still have to disable transparency effect.

Otherwise, equal everywhere else.

Oh, and worth noting: my 2017 model has 16GB of RAM versus the old 2016 model had 8GB of RAM. More RAM draws more power so perhaps that's why my 2017 model is on par with my old 2016. Maybe 2017 with 8GB RAM will have better battery life. But I certainly wouldn't want to find out considering 16GB is making my VMs very happy.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Thanks for your thoughts.
I'm using my machine exclusively for office work when traveling and casual browsing at home. So 16 gb of ram really isn't necessary for this usage pattern. But better keyboard and battery life can be a real plus.

 

[wishxmaster]

ı used macbook 2016 but never get 9 hours as writing on reviews. I am using for social media, reading forums and watch video it was like 6-7 hours mostly.
Now ı ordered 2017 i5/16/512 but some of friends said 16 gb will use battery more thats why will be same not more long than 2016. Still waiting for my order dont know this is true or not :/

 

[gitresethard]

So far, somewhat on par. Maybe I'm getting an extra 1 hour or so, but I rarely run my computer down to that low anyway. Both 2016 and 2017 models are lasting me >7 hours on the occasions that I do need the longevity. But judging from my usual usage (coding, testing, VMs), 2017 seems to drain maybe 1% less battery per hour? Nothing significant.

Most of what has been improved to me are:

1. Less "your Mac is overheating" warning. Got that hourly with 2015, then 2016 reduced it to about daily, and 2017 I have only gotten the warning once when the inside of my car was super hot and I forgot the MacBook was in my bag running a test.

2. Smoother performance with a 4K display, especially for scaling higher than 1080P. Still have to disable transparency effect.

Otherwise, equal everywhere else.

Oh, and worth noting: my 2017 model has 16GB of RAM versus the old 2016 model had 8GB of RAM. More RAM draws more power so perhaps that's why my 2017 model is on par with my old 2016. Maybe 2017 with 8GB RAM will have better battery life. But I certainly wouldn't want to find out considering 16GB is making my VMs very happy.

Thanks for sharing, this is very relevant to me as my usual usage also consists of Coding+Testing in VMs. I was wondering which CPU did you get and usually which brightness level are you using to achieve >7hrs of battery life?

cheers