Macbook Pro 15 2017 Battery/heat issues?

[graffixnyc]

I have a Macbook Pro 15 2017 model. 3.1ghz, 1TB SSD and I seem to be getting pretty horrible battery life. Right now I'm doing a test where all I am doing is playing a 1080P video on YouTube in the browser(the new FireFox Quantum, but get same results with Safari), nothing else is running in the foreground and in 4 hours I'm at 43% I took it off charge at 4:51 it was at 100%, by 7:09 it was at 70%. by 7:51 it was at 59% with 3:48 estimated in Activity Manager and 3:00 on battery. And now at 4 hours it's at 43% with 2:46 Estimated and 4:00 hours total time on battery

So it looks like this is going to get just about 6.5 hours total just with a video playing! I have read that browsing and watching videos you should get close to the 10 hours advertised, If I do anything heavier, like compile even a simple hello world app in xcode, or anything more processor intensive than just a video playing I'll probably get like 3 hours!

I would also get about 7 hours of heavy use (coding and compiling etc, doing a lot more than just playing a video, that's for sure) on the 2016 model where it seems like I'm getting about half that with the 2017. I have also noticed this machine heats up quick. I had the 2016 2.7ghz prior to this and it never got as hot as this. Compiling a simple hello world app in xcode made the 2017 model heat up to 160F, The fans started going at a high speed as well. It will heat up about 5 degrees F just opening a simple application like sublime text. My old machine never heated up like this, granted it was not as fast of a cpu, but the fans rarely kicked on, and it never ran that hot really. This one the fans kick into high doing menial things, even installing an application makes them kick on high and I watch my temp just climb. It just seems to get hot quickly.

I'm getting the temp from istat, and the intel gadget

I have tried SMC, PRAM resets as well as even erased the disk, then reinstalled MacOs and then reset SMC and PRAM again

Nothing looks like it's really eating up the battery in Activity manager except for the window I have open playing the video, brightness is at about 50%


What else can I do to troubleshoot the issue further? This doesn't seem normal. I'm wondering if the poor battery life and heat may be related. I hope it's not the logic board and the battery that need to be replaced.. good thing is if it is HW the machine is less than a month old and I have AppleCare.. Just stinks if it is something HW related. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong to cause it?


Here is my Activity Manager after the 4 hour mark of having the full screen 1080P youtube playing.

Yes, it looks like there is a lot running but there is not really anything eating up that much energy. If you look at the energy impact it's all pretty low except for firefox quantum which is playing the full-screen 1080P video (this video:

)


Battery % over time since 100%

4:51 - 100%

5:51 - 90%

7:09 - 70%
4:37 left
2:18 on battery

7:51 - 59%
3:48 left
3:00 on battery

8:51 - 43%
2:46 remaining
4:00 on battery

9:51 - 26%
1:40 remaining
5:00 on battery

10:51 - 10%
0:37 remaining
6:00 on battery

So I was right about 6.5 hours of just watching a video full screen. Imagine if I was doing something more CPU intensive? I'd for sure get like 3 hours.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Firstly, make sure you run it all the way down from a full charge using a stopwatch. Do not rely on those estimates as they are constantly changing depending on current load etc.

Secondly, the temperature isn't necessarily high. 70'c is well within the operating temperature, and if you're stressing the CPU by compiling code (It'll still be stressed, albeit for a shorter period) then the energy use will increase, ergo the temperature will increase.

Also use Safari to do these tests as it's native. Using 3rd party browsers (Firefox, seriously?) could result in other variables which could affect things.

10 hours estimate is bold but usually fairly accurate depending on what you're doing. Watching a video off wifi I easily get that time, however over wifi it's using more energy, so a little less. And streaming could result in other peaks from buffering or poor connection, all of these effect results.

So load up a video in YouTube in Safari and let it run down.

Also as a note doing anything with the CPU tends to dramatically effect battery life, if it kicks in the GPU it gets even worse. If I'm running Affinity Design it runs about 20-40% in an hour, but again that's an estimate.

 

[KiwiAdventure]

YouTube is having problems with battery drain so try an iTunes Movie

 

[graffixnyc]

Firstly, make sure you run it all the way down from a full charge using a stopwatch. Do not rely on those estimates as they are constantly changing depending on current load etc.

Secondly, the temperature isn't necessarily high. 70'c is well within the operating temperature, and if you're stressing the CPU by compiling code (It'll still be stressed, albeit for a shorter period) then the energy use will increase, ergo the temperature will increase.

Also use Safari to do these tests as it's native. Using 3rd party browsers (Firefox, seriously?) could result in other variables which could affect things.

10 hours estimate is bold but usually fairly accurate depending on what you're doing. Watching a video off wifi I easily get that time, however over wifi it's using more energy, so a little less. And streaming could result in other peaks from buffering or poor connection, all of these effect results.

So load up a video in YouTube in Safari and let it run down.

Also as a note doing anything with the CPU tends to dramatically effect battery life, if it kicks in the GPU it gets even worse. If I'm running Affinity Design it runs about 20-40% in an hour, but again that's an estimate.

Actually, the new Firefox which I'm running has been optimized and has been reported as being better with energy consumption. I did run the same test using Safari and the results were very similar.

It just died at 11:21 which was 6:32 minutes of runtime. That's just with a video playing. What if I was doing something more CPU intensive, I'd probably get 3 hours, My 2016 model, with heavy usage (coding in an ide, compiling, having a web server running, running mongo etc.. doing a lot more than just streaming a video) I'd get about 7 hours. I'd get 8-10 if it was light usage (browsing the web, watching some youtube etc..)
[doublepost=1511152460][/doublepost]

YouTube is having problems with battery drain so try an iTunes Movie

Ok, I'll give that a shot. I'll also try playing something locally. See how the battery fairs. How I really noticed it at first was at work. When I took it to work the other day I got to about 3:30PM and noticed my battery was around 25% usually around 4:30PM my 2016 model would still have 59-60% that's what made me notice the battery was draining faster than my 2016 model. (I usually use it from 10am until 12pm then from 2pm- 4:30pm and it's shut down from 12-2. So usually at 4:30 I'll still have 59-60% left, so it was odd to have only 25%ish around 3:30)

 

[nickedwards]

I just wrote a post about heat/slowdown issues on the same MBP model 2.9Ghz version, but I omitted battery life. I recently switched to running multiple desktops for a new job (had never done this before) to help workflow. This really helped speed issues which are now pretty much gone. There seems to be a lag when I wake from sleep but it's momentary.

HOWEVER...

This new configuration absolutely murders battery life. I'm lucky to get 2 hours out of the battery now before 5% warning. I'm sure I could push it another 20 minutes but when I'm in the middle of working on something that's just not feasible. At any rate, I would say my battery is the same or worse than yours. I think it's a symptom of the line but not sure, maybe others can confirm.

 

[livewhereveryouwant]

I just wrote a post about heat/slowdown issues on the same MBP model 2.9Ghz version, but I omitted battery life. I recently switched to running multiple desktops for a new job (had never done this before) to help workflow. This really helped speed issues which are now pretty much gone. There seems to be a lag when I wake from sleep but it's momentary.

HOWEVER...

This new configuration absolutely murders battery life. I'm lucky to get 2 hours out of the battery now before 5% warning. I'm sure I could push it another 20 minutes but when I'm in the middle of working on something that's just not feasible. At any rate, I would say my battery is the same or worse than yours. I think it's a symptom of the line but not sure, maybe others can confirm.

Hi, I got a 2017 2.9Ghz 512SSD R560GPU config, and my battery life is roughly around 4 to 5 hours only under light usage.. so imagine if I use it with my CPU intensive task, it's onyl around 3 hour I guess.

I brought my macbook to apple store, they ran the test, and it's all okay, so they took it away and did a more comprehensive test which lasted for 2 days.

Again they said everything is fine, so they just reset my Mac with clean install..

i wonder what else can I do, just because it was tested successfully from Apple doesnt mean it's okay for me.

PS: funny thing is when you check online review, most of them said the battery life is really at 10 hours... no idea how they can do that.
[doublepost=1534517509][/doublepost]have you tried this app ans see how long your battery last??

https://luckyicon.com/en/software/batterytruth/stat/