MacBook Pro Users Express Concerns About Limited Battery Life

[Prothis]

So not sure if the SMC / PRAM reset or migration is an issue as it wasnt for me doing a fresh install and moving my stuff over through cloud but here are some tips that seemed to help me dramatically for battery life. Please give these a shot and let me know if these help you at all. I average 7-10 hours daily.

#1 - In the 15" if you are not doing something graphics intensive like browsing the internet, check your dGPU (Radeon) to ensure its not being used. Look at the Activity Monitor to see if it says 'Integrated' vs 'High Perf.' on energy tab. This will make you lose at least 3 hours off your total battery time leaving programs open that cause your dGPU to stay on.

#2 - Brightness has a dramatic effect on your battery life, 500 nits is not easy to maintain but I have issues reading text if its below 50% brightness. I keep mine around 60% most of the time.

#3 - Turn off your keyboard light - For me this is a feature they could lose and I'd care less. I dont use it at all and turning it all the way off can help your battery life substantially.

#4 - Turn off touchbar text recommendations. I'm an adult and know what I am typing, I don't need this feature unless I'm torn on how to spell a word. I have not figured out if touching the chevron on the TB (causing the recommendations it to collapse to the keyboard button) is the same as turning this feature off completely (if it calculates what you're typing still or just removes it visibly). To turn it off for good, go to keyboard settings in system preferences, click the text tab, and uncheck 'Touch Bar typing suggestions'.

#5 - Mail. I changed the setting in mail preferences to only check for mail every 5 minutes instead of the 'automatically'. Not sure if this one helps but it makes sense logically (especially with multiple mail accounts constantly checking) and the mail I receive is normally not time crucial.

#6 - Turn display off after... I have it set to 4 minutes. If you're like me working at home on the couch or at work and you get up to get a snack for a couple minutes, not always throwing it into sleep or shutting the clamshell, having it turn off automatically is saving tons of minutes of battery life that I am sure add up through the day. I leave 'Power nap' off also, not sure how this affects battery life.

If you're reading this apple employees, please please - Have a setting to not have the dGPU turn on. Automatic graphics switching should have options as to which GPU you're using, and the Pro's doing editing can leave their GPU on. (I use programs that are no longer supported that cause my dGPU to turn on when they don't need it. I know they don't need it because I use them on my old 13" rMBP with no dGPU and a way older integrated GPU with zero issues).

Hope these help

 

[Rob_2811]

For those trying to shift the blame on to Google/Chrome.. (comments re battery life from 6.20 onwards.)

 

[KPOM]

Really, lots of the design features could have been kept w/o making it thinner. The .5 lb loss was due to shrinking the battery. Do you really think the 500+ posts decrying battery loss would have even come close if it weighed the same as last year? No way!

But we'd have a 500+ post thread about how Apple makes big, heavy notebooks and has lost its design flair because the Dell XPS 13" is under 3 lbs.
[doublepost=1480881139][/doublepost]

Yes, they need buddy. If you are going to use Wifi sync you need to connect the iPhone to the USB and open iTunes to enable this. At least for Windows.

And that's another form of adapter, please, understand my point. Apple was known for hassle free setups and etcetera. We are tech fans and we know all this, the regular consumer doesn't.

But that's probably why they still provide the USB-A cable with the iPhone (because most Windows PCs don't have USB-C slots). You don't need to plug it into the Mac to sync.

A new cable isn't an "adapter." Might Apple include both cables next year? Perhaps, but given that it's been more than 18 months since the 12" MacBook came out, I'm guessing they won't.

 

[n-evo]

if you just don't work on it but just stare at the screen, it will last even longer!

You have some weird ideas about Safari.

 

[MH01]

just did a quick 30 minute test with a 2015 2.8 v 2016 2.7, and 2012 2.7 max build, browsing Macrumors .

Machines were set to 80% brightness (I like to enjoy these nice screens) and this was just web browsing....

After 30 min, the 2016 was 85% battery, the 2015 92% battery and 2012 90%

Im sure I can get the 2016 to match the 2015 if I play around with the settings, though I have no interest of dropping down the brightness and systems setting to such a level that I cannot take advantage of the upgrades in the new machine. The 2015 machine, just works. The 2016 just plain lacks the battery to run its lovely screen....

Note : Browsing done in safari - Chrome is not the issue here.....its the thin design, so people blaming Chrome are just looking for excuses. I can rerun my 30 minute test in chrome, it will just make the numbers worse for both the 2015 and 2016.... the gap will still exist though.

Note 2 : Continued using the 2015 until I hit 85% battery (2016) to work out how much more actual time the 2015 got over the 2016....so the 2016 to hit 85% took 30 minutes, the 2015 to hit 85% took 54 minutes.

Though this is not scientific, it does show the superior battery performance of the 2015 v 2016 with both running 80% brightness. Heck a 4 year old 2012 has better battery life....... (its in pristine condition )The 2016 is going back.

 

[Magnificenthack]

Ah the new world of being an Apple post-beta guinea pig. Tim Cook is more concerned with making ride-sharing deals in India and China for $billions (or should I say rupees and yuans), than the North American $million dollar laptop market.

Yeah, if only they'd make the Mac a global product like the iPhone... oh wait.

 

[KPOM]

Cutting the battery from 74.9-watt-hour in the 13" 2015 model to 49.2-watt-hour in the 2016 model, and still claiming the same battery life is wishful marketing at best. The CPUs in the the above models have the exact same TDP, and there's no magic to make up that big difference. Instead, Apple bridges the raw numbers exactly by for example claiming Safari software improvements as battery life improvements on the machine specs!

To be fair, they did reduce the claimed iTunes movie time from 12 hours to 10 hours. They went from a conservative estimate to an aggressive estimate, though. Had they just said "8 hours" maybe that would have been better.

Another option would have been to use the 15W processors, but then we'd be hearing complaints about performance, even though the performance differences aren't that significant (the Dell XPS 13 uses those processors).

 

[groove-agent]

It's a hard thing to gauge as there needs to be objective test. Getting less than stellar battery life while using an external display is hardly proper testing (why would you do that anyway?). As for the battery dropping from 10% to 5% suddenly, i don't think is a cause for concern as I've seen it happen on a lot of devices - maybe to hurry you to connect to a power source so people don't lose their work.

What makes me shake my head is Apple's desire for thinness. Keep it slightly thicker and put in a bigger battery morons! Sacrificing key aspects of the laptop experience to make it *slightly thinner" is ridiculous!

Apple says "up to 10 hours" which is quite nebulous. This means really nothing as far as what to expect for battery life. Powering the touch bar probably eats battery life also.

 

[CBlakeston]

everyone having the issue should just return the damn thing to send a message to Apple. Stop being so complacent because this is not acceptable for a $3500 machine.

If the issue persists, I will. At my own convenience. I can't simply send it back and wait 6-8 weeks for a replacement. Some of us use them for work.

 

[junkstory]

Battery has been very spotty and I certainly hope Apple responds to these valid concerns.

During both these times I had only Safari, Mail, iMessage, gfxCardStatus and a few others open. Made sure I was only using the iGPU and no TimeMachine backup was running:

• On one occasion I got close to 9 hours of battery and the MBP was cool throughout.
• But off late it's only been 4-5 hours and the MBP was warm.

I am debating whether to return this MBP (the first ever Apple product that I might return) or just deal with the issues. I love the portability, the screen and the speakers. But I've had issues with UI lag, with battery being very spotty and occasional bugs making for an overall poor experience that I would not expect out of an Apple product.

This especially after shelling out about 3.5K for it. I suppose with time these might be sorted out (maybe after a class action or two). But right now, this decision is extremely frustrating after having waited for so long for a MBP. At-least if Apple responds officially, that would make me lean towards keeping this Mac.

I still love Mac OS despite Windows being much closer in features and experience. I've owned about 3 MacBook PRO's including an older Powerbook G4. The Powerbook G4 albeit being slower than Windows at that time was certainly a lot stabler and offered a superior OS experience.

I'm sorry, but complacent customers like you, who suck up to these issues on a $3500 machine, are actually part of the problem. Apple doesn't read these forums. The only way to send a message to them is to RETURN IT.

 

[UKPoliticsGuy]

Wow, imagine paying £1900 for a lemon.


... At least the battery doesn't blow up! (fingers crossed!)

 

[2b1ask1]

Please give me a reason to buy this! I've been wanting to upgrade my 2011 MBP since the retina version. Now I'm almost considering a regular MB for the weight. Either way I'll probably have buyers remorse. What do?

Get a MacBook Air. It has awesome battery life and all the ports...

(The only thing missing is the Retina monitor)...

No problem:

This is a Retina-like monitor at a super affordable price:

http://dailyboxgiveaway.com/lg-cheap-4k-uhd-27ud88-w-27-monitor-with-usb-c/

Problem solved.

 

[actinide]

 

[zifty]

I have a BTO 15" with the 460 card and initially I was getting about 3 hours of battery life after having used migration assistant to transfer the files from my old machine. I thought it was very odd, but thought maybe it was something like spotlight doing indexing in the background, so I let it go for a few days and saw no improvement, even when I didn't have any apps running.

I then tried completely reformatting the machine, reinstalling apps from scratch, and manually moving data over from my old machine and my battery life instantly improved to 8+ hours. If you used migration assistant and have bad battery life, I think there's something about old software that is copied over in that process that causes the problem (at least in some instances). Manual migration is a pain, but it was worth it for me in this instance.

 

[malikkamran]

My 15 touch bar base model is after browsing for 30 minutes 99 percent

 

[kwandrews]

If the issue persists, I will. At my own convenience. I can't simply send it back and wait 6-8 weeks for a replacement. Some of us use them for work.

re: return, your signature line has a 2015 MBP listed in it. Did you already sell it? If so, I can see how a return could be tough. I haven't sold my 2016 MBr m5 yet and I'm on the edge of returning this 15". I have until 8 Jan 2017.

Today is one of my last test days for the base 15". I've been on battery, after a near drain (4%) last night, since a full charge. This was on the heals of a 3rd fresh Sierra install (no migration), NVRAM reset, etc. and this time I turned OFF Filevault (which I hate doing, but thought maybe it would help battery life).

Results: 4:20 time spent on battery, 3:45 of actual usage (the rest = lid close/sleep). Tasks: Safari (a little YouTube - maybe 20 min, mainly text web stuff though), Apple Mail, some activity monitor and that's it. Battery remaining is 26% with an ETA of 0:53 min left. I think that's pretty accurate based on the activity I've had. That means I should see around 4:40-5 hours of battery life with VERY light usage. Oh, screen at 12 clicks and backlight off.

If I used it the way I normally would, during the business week, I think the battery would be what I've been seeing 2-3 hours at a max. This includes Outlook 2016, Excel, Skype for Business, Safari and Preview.

The way I see it, 2-5 hours battery life for a base 15% MBP is pathetic. I had a non-touch 13" and was easily getting 7-10 hours for work and sometimes 11-12 for really light stuff. I changed because I wanted a bit more horsepower and screen space for my photography and video stuff (4k) after work. I'm contemplating going back to it.

 

[slughead]

E.g. Don't use Chrome because it's poorly coded and does lots of stuff in the background without your permission.

I'm browsing on my 2013 rmbp, I haven't charged it in 2 days and have used it doing probably 6 7 hours of web browsing since then. WITH CHROME. I still have 14% battery life.

Plus when this battery gets old I can swap it without trying to unglue anything.

Also: my magsafe ... love it.

 

[gertruded]

So just to sum up the new MacBook Pro:

- it doesn't connect to any devices easily
-it costs £400 more than previous versions
-the Speakers explode
-The graphics go crazy after 2 weeks
-The battery life is nonsense.

Pros:
-emojis to express your disappointment.

Over 200 likes!! I have never seen that before. The stockholders better take note, even though the executive team obviously will not.

The posters on this site are a worldwide group of elite Mac users, and most influence others in their opinions too. Apple seems to be losing their support base, and fast.

It is a shame to see this.

 

[MarsViolet]

Suddenly replacing the battery in my mid 2012 MacBook Air looks like a much better option than spending $1,800 for blown speakers, graphics issues, a loss of ports, and worse battery life.

This is what I just did. I resurrected my 2009 17-inch MacBook Pro with a NewerTech battery. I would have gotten an Apple OEM battery except that Apple no longer makes them, and my three previous Apple OEM batteries died prematurely.

 

[Jurriaan]

You forgot a few:
-Keyboard is worse than previous generation
-Soldered components (cannot upgrade)
-three-finger drag issues on track pad
-Higher cost
-Gimmicky touch-bar
-Loss of mag-safe
-Loss of useful ports

But it's thinner!

 

[clauzzz203]

re: return, your signature line has a 2015 MBP listed in it. Did you already sell it? If so, I can see how a return could be tough. I haven't sold my 2016 MBr m5 yet and I'm on the edge of returning this 15". I have until 8 Jan 2017.

Today is one of my last test days for the base 15". I've been on battery, after a near drain (4%) last night, since a full charge. This was on the heals of a 3rd fresh Sierra install (no migration), NVRAM reset, etc. and this time I turned OFF Filevault (which I hate doing, but thought maybe it would help battery life).

Results: 4:20 time spent on battery, 3:45 of actual usage (the rest = lid close/sleep). Tasks: Safari (a little YouTube - maybe 20 min, mainly text web stuff though), Apple Mail, some activity monitor and that's it. Battery remaining is 26% with an ETA of 0:53 min left. I think that's pretty accurate based on the activity I've had. That means I should see around 4:40-5 hours of battery life with VERY light usage. Oh, screen at 12 clicks and backlight off.

If I used it the way I normally would, during the business week, I think the battery would be what I've been seeing 2-3 hours at a max. This includes Outlook 2016, Excel, Skype for Business, Safari and Preview.

The way I see it, 2-5 hours battery life for a base 15% MBP is pathetic. I had a non-touch 13" and was easily getting 7-10 hours for work and sometimes 11-12 for really light stuff. I changed because I wanted a bit more horsepower and screen space for my photography and video stuff (4k) after work. I'm contemplating going back to it.

All Apple products have a 'cooldown' post-install, of about 2 days. The software needs it to finish off background jobs. Check after for battery and performance

 

[tcho100]

This is what I just did. I resurrected my 2009 17-inch MacBook Pro with a NewerTech battery. I would have gotten an Apple OEM battery except that Apple no longer makes them, and my three previous Apple OEM batteries died prematurely.

Hows the new tech holding out? My wifes 17MBP is asking for a new battery and I 'm thinking of procuring said item.

 

[2IS]

I stopped using Ethernet years ago and haven't looked back. RJ-45 was one of the most poorly thought-out connectors in history. We still have them around our office but are phasing them out. Most of them are missing the plastic pin.

Those downloads are fast until the cable slides out of the port.

I don't use crappy or abused cables so that's not an issue.

 

[CBlakeston]

Results: 4:20 time spent on battery, 3:45 of actual usage (the rest = lid close/sleep). Tasks: Safari (a little YouTube - maybe 20 min, mainly text web stuff though), Apple Mail, some activity monitor and that's it.

That's in line with what I'm seeing. My gut says its software rather then hardware. Its too weird the drain is consistent whether I'm browsing, watching videos or listening to music. There are too many instances of people 'fixing' it with fresh installs or resetting smc.

I need to update my sig. The older 2012 MBP Retina is still in the family but don't have regular access to it. I manually moved stuff over to it so its the same as a fresh install from the factory.

As I mentioned I'm on power 95% of the time. Battery life isn't a major issue for me other then its not as promised. I'm not about to return it as its perfectly useable in my situation. I understand thats not the case for everyone. I've reported it as a bug to apple (as I hope everyone in the forum has). Hopefully there will be an update addressing things somewhere down the line. If not I'll call apple when supply catches up with demand and swap it out.

 

[stevelinus]

so i spoke to apple today, it must of been work experience day as the first person i spoke to was adamant of the following :- 1, no laptop is capable of running for 10 hours and the 10 hours quoted were standby time. i said its quoted by apple its 10 hours and she still insisted.
2, she then got me to look how many cycles by battery had which was 7, and its status which was normal. i was told this was impossible and the figure should be over 1000. she then went away and when she came back said this was actualy normal.

i then got passed to 2nd line support who connected to my machine and had a poke around and found nothing wierd then because i am running 10.12.2 because i thought it would address the situation of battery and they disconnected from my machine and said they cant do any more until i install 10.12.1

i am so annoyed with this machine at the moment and they need to rectify this issue quicktime otherwise its getting returned.

of all my support experience with apple its been exceptional but this incident was just shocking.