MacBook Pro Users Express Concerns About Limited Battery Life

[KPOM]

STOP!

As I've argued before, how can you really consider this a 'first' of anything product!?! They've been making laptops for almost 3 friggin' decades! Sure they redesigned it, but for god's sake, you mean to tell me a multi billion dollar company with 40 years of experience making computers can't redesign an ongoing product line without it having multiple problems?

These "first generation' excuses need to stop. Really.

There were lots of bugs with the Skylake chips last year. Dell had issues with graphics drivers. So did Microsoft with the Surface Book. And HP. It is surprising that Apple has had as many glitches as they have given that they arrived late to the Skylake party (and there weren't issues with the Skylake 12" MacBook), but apparently these chips are finicky.

And in the early weeks of any new hardware release, unexpected software glitches can arise. Out in the "real world" there are lots of software and hardware combinations that can't realistically be tested in the lab.

It does seem Apple was aggressive in estimating the battery life, which is unusual since they are generally conservative. But it does not seem like they are getting worse battery life than similarly equipped Windows PCs. And it also validates their decision not to put in the desktop RAM that would have been necessary to support 32GB.

 

[daniel1948]

I wonder what people expect when a company claims "Up to ten hours of battery life." That statement is identical to "No more than ten hours battery life." Yet people seem not to realize that all they're really telling you is the maximum possible battery life. And then people complain "We expected longer life." Yeah, well Apple never made any promises about how long it would last. Only that it won't last longer than 10 hours. I like Apple devices. But I never expect performance other than what's in the specs, and in this case, the specs make no meaningful promises.

It's good that users come to sites like this one to post real performance numbers. Reviews (user reviews and professional reviews) are where you have to go for real information when the manufacturer isn't willing to provide them.

Thanks to everyone who posts reviews on all their gadgets. From books to movies to computers to household gadgets.

 

[benobi]

Thought I would add my own anecdotal experience, coming from a 13 non-TB MacBook Pro (I upgraded to 16GB of RAM but kept everything else stock.)

Obviously, most of the battery life concerns are coming from the TB variety, but I believe that if you need to upgrade and need decent performance and great battery life then the non-tb is a very viable option.

Benchmarks put this model within 5-10% of the TB model, yet I have consistently been getting fantastic battery life. I am in the film industry and bought this to upgrade from my 2012 15" MBP. We were going to be on the road in foreign countries and I wanted something much more portable. My job is a writer and director so I wanted great battery life to read and write scripts while on an airplane, but also be able to review daily footage and do some light 4k editing when needed.

So far, I have been very impressed with the non-tb model. I recently flew from LA-->Atlanta-->Paris-->Berlin, working in-air and on layovers. This machine lasted the entire journey on a single charge- I believe I landed in Berlin with about 30% left. Granted, I was not working the entire time, but I felt this battery life was more than adequate. Workload included email, iMessage, reviewing cuts of movies in QT, Google Docs, Final Draft, and Safari.

Since starting production here in Germany, I have had no problem quickly transferring footage to the machine from multiple hard drives for review (I bought a $30 SD and 3xUSB A dongle before I left) and no problems playing back 4k footage. (Not to mention the color accuracy on this screen is incredible)

I understand some of the frustration on this forum, but my personal experience has left me very impressed with this machine. The size and weight have made a considerable difference for me constantly moving from location to location - and the battery life has remained impressive (around 10-11 hours) - even in the freezing temperatures we have been experiencing here.

My few complaints? I am still getting used to the keyboard, and on occasion, it seems that the trackpad will fail to recognize a click with its haptic engine (I think because of the palm rejection software). However, I am quickly adjusting to both.

The price? Yeah - it certainly is a bit steep. But I felt like I got a good deal. I found the custom 16GB model at BHPhoto for $100 off without tax, plus I happened to open a new credit card with a $150 signing bonus. All in all, I would gladly pay $1450 for this machine again.

I guess what I am saying is, if you have to upgrade now, and don't need a 4-core machine, give a serious look at the non-tb version. I think it just might be the best combo of speed, portability, design and battery life offered by any manufacturer at the moment.

 

[KPOM]

the 2013 MacBook Air's/Pro's shipped with the Haswell chipset, which was showcased a major increase in both graphics and battery life.

That was the one I waited for (gen 2) on the rMBPs....this new unit is amazing, but I am starting to feel the same way. Although, back then the rumors were all saying that Haswell was going to be a major leap forward. We are not hearing that this time around.

Haswell was a big leap (as was Sandy Bridge). Broadwell and Skylake have been much more incremental. Kaby Lake wasn't even supposed to exist, except that Intel experienced massive delays with their 10nm process. So expect refinement, but no big leap assuming Apple does update the MacBook Pros next year. They might just skip Kaby Lake and wait for Coffee Lake.

 

[robeddie]

I'm not buying a 6lb notebook. It isn't 2001 anymore.

That's fine. There's a notebook that's been on the market since 2008 that's just right for you. It's called the macbook air. Why they had to ruin the macbook pro is beyond me.
[doublepost=1480892705][/doublepost]

There were lots of bugs with the Skylake chips last year. Dell had issues with graphics drivers. So did Microsoft with the Surface Book. And HP. It is surprising that Apple has had as many glitches as they have given that they arrived late to the Skylake party (and there weren't issues with the Skylake 12" MacBook), but apparently these chips are finicky.

And in the early weeks of any new hardware release, unexpected software glitches can arise. Out in the "real world" there are lots of software and hardware combinations that can't realistically be tested in the lab.

It does seem Apple was aggressive in estimating the battery life, which is unusual since they are generally conservative. But it does not seem like they are getting worse battery life than similarly equipped Windows PCs. And it also validates their decision not to put in the desktop RAM that would have been necessary to support 32GB.

Ok dude. We're clearly on opposites sides of this conversation. But if anything, do me a favor: Watch all of this video below and tell me how you would refute it:

 

[meboy]

This deserves to appear on every page of this thread.

Making that my signature now..

 

[sundragon]

With all due respect, powering an external monitor uses the GPU more and requires more resources - It's not rocket science that it's not lasting as long.... I have both the Touchbar and the non touch bar and the non-touch has a longer battery life but both have been around the 2015 MBPr 13 with the touch bar having a little less battery life and the non-touch having a bit more - Right in line with Ars Technica and Notebook Check reviews.

 

[robeddie]

With all due respect, powering an external monitor uses the GPU more and requires more resources - It's not rocket science that it's not lasting as long.... I have both the Touchbar and the non touch bar and the non-touch has a longer battery life but both have been around the 2015 MBPr 13 with the touch bar having a little less battery life and the non-touch having a bit more - Right in line with Ars Technica and Notebook Check reviews.

Watch the video above and stop making piece-meal excuses that don't even being to encompass the entirely of problems with this laptop. Please.

 

[simonmet]

I wonder what people expect when a company claims "Up to ten hours of battery life." That statement is identical to "No more than ten hours battery life." Yet people seem not to realize that all they're really telling you is the maximum possible battery life. And then people complain "We expected longer life." Yeah, well Apple never made any promises about how long it would last. Only that it won't last longer than 10 hours. I like Apple devices. But I never expect performance other than what's in the specs, and in this case, the specs make no meaningful promises.

It's good that users come to sites like this one to post real performance numbers. Reviews (user reviews and professional reviews) are where you have to go for real information when the manufacturer isn't willing to provide them.

Thanks to everyone who posts reviews on all their gadgets. From books to movies to computers to household gadgets.

But you know Apple are being sketchy when they claim the 13" "Pro" model with a touch bar has the same battery life as the non-touch bar version that has a larger battery.

 

[FifaFrancesco]

Hate to say it, but same here. MacBook Pro 13" with Touch Bar and 16 GB RAM running completely dry in about 4.5 hours.

Only writing some stuff in Pages, everything else was open but idle.

Thinking about returning it because this is just not okay, Touch ID is great but have yet to use the Touch Bar for anything than changing the brightness/volume.

SMC reset done, problem persists.

 

[ArmCortexA8]

I've said for years to buy the first of any new model is crazy as these "kinks" need to be ironed out. With the history of Apple hardware issues in the last month, I think it's time for some heads to roll. Customer's pay a mint for these products and yet it appears Quality Control (or lack of it) is causing some major issues. Plus the good old "Donglegate" - effectively dumping a 20+ year old connection called USB and dumping MagSafe which was specifically designed to prevent accidental "pulling" of the system with the power cable - effectively it was a "Fail safe" to prevent this. First it was the lack of USB ports, then GPU issues, now battery issues. Hell the "de-lamination" issues with the earlier models are still occurring and not a single word as to the cause, yet they keep replacing the screens.

They say there is no such thing as bad PR, but none of the issues can be made into a positive. As for battery run-time issues Apple love fine-print and "up to" means exactly that - it's not guaranteed and is subjective based on various system settings etc. Some applications will use more power than others, especially if written badly. If people read the fine print it clearly states these tests were conducted on pre-production machines and of course "subject to change without notice". So legally, Apple have covered themselves as they never guaranteed the run time specifically.

From Apple's site for battery times:-

"Testing conducted by Apple in October 2016 using pre-production 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM (wireless web test, iTunes movie playback test and standby test). Testing conducted by Apple in October 2016 using preproduction 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with a 512GB SSD and 8GB of RAM (wireless web test and iTunes movie playback test) and preproduction 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5–based 13‑inch MacBook Pro systems with a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM (standby test).

The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from the bottom or 75 per cent. The iTunes movie playback test measures battery life by playing back 1080p HD content with display brightness set to 12 clicks from the bottom or 75 per cent. The standby test measures battery life by allowing a system, connected to a wireless network and signed into an iCloud account, to enter standby mode with Safari and Mail applications launched and all system settings left at default. Battery life varies by use and configuration."

 

[KPOM]

That's fine. There's a notebook that's been on the market since 2008 that's just right for you. It's called the macbook air. Why they had to ruin the macbook pro is beyond me.
[doublepost=1480892705][/doublepost]

Ok dude. We're clearly on opposites sides of this conversation. But if anything, do me a favor: Watch all of this video below and tell me how you would refute it:

The previous MacBook Pros were 3.5lbs and 4.5lbs, so it isn't as if they had 24-hour battery life.

6 months ago when everyone was complaining that Apple was "neglecting" the MacBook Pro line, I pointed out that Skylake didn't bring significant performance improvements. And now that Apple has updated the MacBook we are getting complaints that it isn't a "Pro" machine anymore. If it isn't, then neither was the last generation. It has comparable performance, in line with the changes in Intel's chips.

If you have a 2015 or even a 2014, I agree the 2016 isn't a compelling upgrade. But that's true of just about any PC. But if you have a 2012 it's a different story.

 

[masterhiggins]

Is anyone else beginning to strongly dislike Phil Schiller?

 

[::::::]

With this kind of quality and pricing Cook should just resign! What is going on with this company?!?

 

[KPOM]

I've said for years to buy the first of any new model is crazy as these "kinks" need to be ironed out. With the history of Apple hardware issues in the last month, I think it's time for some heads to roll. Customer's pay a mint for these products and yet it appears Quality Control (or lack of it) is causing some major issues. Plus the good old "Donglegate" - effectively dumping a 20+ year old connection called USB and dumping MagSafe which was specifically designed to prevent accidental "pulling" of the system with the power cable - effectively it was a "Fail safe" to prevent this. First it was the lack of USB ports, then GPU issues, now battery issues. Hell the "de-lamination" issues with the earlier models are still occurring and not a single word as to the cause, yet they keep replacing the screens.

Apple announced loud and clear in April 2015 that they saw USB-C as the port of the future, both for wired charging, and I/O. No one should be surprised by what they did. It isn't much different from when they ditched a bunch of 14 year old connections in 1998 to adopt the newfangled USB. In retrospect, they might have thrown in one or two USB-C to A adapters, sort of like how the original MacBook Air shipped with display adapters (later versions did not).

 

[simonmet]

That's fine. There's a notebook that's been on the market since 2008 that's just right for you. It's called the macbook air. Why they had to ruin the macbook pro is beyond me.
[doublepost=1480892705][/doublepost]

Ok dude. We're clearly on opposites sides of this conversation. But if anything, do me a favor: Watch all of this video below and tell me how you would refute it:

This video conveys an overall poor user experience despite a number of positives. An experience that's in no way befitting the ultra-premium price that Apple is asking.

Someone should have killed the touch bar idea dead in the water early on in development but evidently there was a lack of good strong leadership. It's a waste of time and resources in order to have something gimmicky to market and distract from all the other downgrades in this machine, many of which were unnecessary.

The trackpad is too big. There was room to make it bigger than the previous model but not to such a ridiculous extent. Up to 50% larger would've been enough, not 100%. This might've allowed more room for a bigger battery (in addition to lack of touch bar circuitry).

I would've liked to see physical function and escape keys with only the physical power button replaced by Touch ID. Add to that a thinner MagSafe 3 on both sides, faster SDXC card slot and retain optical audio.

 

[uncle.zed]

According to Wikipedia, your laptop was criticised at launch for:
1. exclusion of an optical drive
2. exclusion of an Ethernet port
3. very high starting price
4. lack of Superdrive
5. change to MagSafe2 with a lack of backward compatibility
6. glued in battery
7. glued in glass, limiting recyclability

Sounds familiar, don't you think? I am glad you're still delighted with it after all this time and for the foreseeable future.

1. did not care at all
2. A hussle until today
3. Got it suprisingly cheap
4. see # 1
5. A little hussle, even today, cause my wife has Air with old magsafe, so we have to carry on 2 chargers when away from home.
6. nah.
7. nah.

so I guess, 2 out of 7.
with the new MB pro, these 2 still apply + No SD, No USB, No HDMI, No magsafe, battery life..
But with USB C 'the port thing' can be fixed with one 30-40$ dongle, so that is not that bad, the battery is more trouble.

still, I think a kind of mix between old model and new would be better for nowadays.

 

[citysnaps]

Thought I would add my own anecdotal experience, coming from a 13 non-TB MacBook Pro (I upgraded to 16GB of RAM but kept everything else stock.)

Obviously, most of the battery life concerns are coming from the TB variety, but I believe that if you need to upgrade and need decent performance and great battery life then the non-tb is a very viable option.

Benchmarks put this model within 5-10% of the TB model, yet I have consistently been getting fantastic battery life. I am in the film industry and bought this to upgrade from my 2012 15" MBP. We were going to be on the road in foreign countries and I wanted something much more portable. My job is a writer and director so I wanted great battery life to read and write scripts while on an airplane, but also be able to review daily footage and do some light 4k editing when needed.

So far, I have been very impressed with the non-tb model. I recently flew from LA-->Atlanta-->Paris-->Berlin, working in-air and on layovers. This machine lasted the entire journey on a single charge- I believe I landed in Berlin with about 30% left. Granted, I was not working the entire time, but I felt this battery life was more than adequate. Workload included email, iMessage, reviewing cuts of movies in QT, Google Docs, Final Draft, and Safari.

Since starting production here in Germany, I have had no problem quickly transferring footage to the machine from multiple hard drives for review (I bought a $30 SD and 3xUSB A dongle before I left) and no problems playing back 4k footage. (Not to mention the color accuracy on this screen is incredible)

I understand some of the frustration on this forum, but my personal experience has left me very impressed with this machine. The size and weight have made a considerable difference for me constantly moving from location to location - and the battery life has remained impressive (around 10-11 hours) - even in the freezing temperatures we have been experiencing here.

My few complaints? I am still getting used to the keyboard, and on occasion, it seems that the trackpad will fail to recognize a click with its haptic engine (I think because of the palm rejection software). However, I am quickly adjusting to both.

The price? Yeah - it certainly is a bit steep. But I felt like I got a good deal. I found the custom 16GB model at BHPhoto for $100 off without tax, plus I happened to open a new credit card with a $150 signing bonus. All in all, I would gladly pay $1450 for this machine again.

I guess what I am saying is, if you have to upgrade now, and don't need a 4-core machine, give a serious look at the non-tb version. I think it just might be the best combo of speed, portability, design and battery life offered by any manufacturer at the moment.

Thanks... It's great seeing a genuine real life review, offered without aggressive drama, rant, or bluster. Much appreciated.

Whenever I see people using descriptors like "apologist or fanboy" or other snappy put-down, I automatically distrust the "review" knowing its aim is really to foster a pre-determined narrative and aggressively belittle those who have a genuine but different experience. It also tells me the "reviewer" who resorts to using such juvenile terms is likely still in high school having not yet fully developed a set of social skills for reasoned discourse.

 

[iSee]

please explain what "methodically tested means"?

Im happy to carry out any methodical tests on my 2016 2.7 460 512. I've just charged mine to 100% unplugged and being shown 6 hours battery, though in the space of 10min, running an update and reading news, its now showing 4 hours. Guess, I should not be using this lovely screen on 80% brightness and should drop it down to 20-30% to justify my purchase.....nah....

Click the various links making battery life claims. If you're trying to assess the battery life of the MBP in general, those are the ones you should be looking at, and you can decide for yourself if you think the method they use is relevant or valid.

But it sounds like you want to be doing troubleshooting on your specific problem. Go to Apple's support site, find the page on troubleshooting battery life issues and follow it. Or call Apple support. If your battery is defective, get your computer fixed.

Or, if you want, instead of solving your problem you can just complain online.

Do whichever you think will make you happiest.

 

[ilikewhey]

A majority of the people complaining about poor battery life are using Chrome and won't even entertain using Safari.

thats cause safari is crap just like IE

 

[dominiongamma]

Is anyone else beginning to strongly dislike Phil Schiller?

I never really liked him after he defended the iCloud 5 gb storage space

 

[quietstormSD]

I never had up to 10 hours of battery life on any MacBook Pro. Someone maybe could get it if they just left the computer on and did nothing to it.

 

[arggg14]

For what it's worth, I'm getting 7 hrs with medium brightness running safari, outlook, and mail. When I open up Photoshop or FCPX. I'll get around 4.

 

[KPOM]

This video conveys an overall poor user experience despite a number of positives. An experience that's in no way befitting the ultra-premium price that Apple is asking.

Someone should have killed the touch bar idea dead in the water early on in development but evidently there was a lack of good strong leadership. It's a waste of time and resources in order to have something gimmicky to market and distract from all the other downgrades in this machine, many of which were unnecessary.

The trackpad is too big. There was room to make it bigger than the previous model but not to such a ridiculous extent. Up to 50% larger would've been enough, not 100%. This might've allowed more room for a bigger battery (in addition to lack of touch bar circuitry).

I would've liked to see physical function and escape keys with only the physical power button replaced by Touch ID. Add to that a thinner MagSafe 3 on both sides, faster SDXC card slot and retain optical audio.

What exactly is a downgrade? Skylake is an upgrade. Thunderbolt 3 is twice as fast as Thunderbolt 2. USB 3.1 Gen 2 is twice as fast as USB 3.0. Having to buy adapters and/or new cables is annoying, but it was going to happen sooner or later. In a year or two we'll probably all wonder what the fuss was all about.

I think the Touch Bar is a good idea. It's limited now, but it establishes how Apple will incorporate touch into the Mac without adding a touch interface to the main display. The FN keys have long been deprecated.

Touch ID is a great addition (no more entering in passwords every time I install an application or do something that requires administrative rights). I have not had any issues with the trackpad. USB-C was designed to deliver power to a notebook. I see it as a stopgap until wireless chargers are viable for the amount of power necessary. While MagSafe was convenient, it's also nice to be able to use an industry standard charger and cable. Griffin makes a MagSafe-like USB-C cable and I think we'll see more (I am surprised Apple didn't develop one).

 

[Xi Xone]

I hope Apple still build the 2015 model and sell them as refurbs (they will sell a lot of them...)