macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Removes 'Time Remaining' Battery Life Indicator

[Attirex]

You know, I don't like everything APPL is doing these days, but for once I agree with removing this indicator. It's like a download progress bar that indicates OMGWTFFF ONLY 2 MINS LEFT 4 DOWNLOAD HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE! but of course the time remaining is WTF RELATIVE to HOW FAST THE DOWNLOAD IS.

If download speed slows down, the time remaining jumps back up OMGWTFFF NOOO. But most people understand this and don't call for the resignation of CEOs, post 23 pages of forum flames, etc.

So apply this SAME PRINCIPLE to the percentage-of-battery-power-remaining indicator, and you can understand why Apple removed it.

Science!

 

[grennis]

The users complaining in this thread don't get it.

Since it was so adaptive, it was highly inaccurate. People can complain Apple is hiding the issue or whatever, but to me, percentage will tell you more about the actual battery life that the machine is expected to get.

So it's just a coincidence that this was removed right after the revelations of 2016 model poor battery life? This "adaptive" indicator never seemed to be a problem in previous models...

 

[EmperorJoel]

Still available in activity monitor.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Here is what is going on with Apple. Consumers have become an pain in the ass.

You know what... you are so right. Get rid of those consumers. THEY clearly are the problem.

 

[coolfactor]

Firefox + Silverlight gives me about 2 hours on a 2014 MBPr. Need it for work. It sucks.

Otherwise, I easily get 12 hours.

Firefox is a heavy browser, despite starting out as a "lean" browser that separated from its big brother, the full Mozilla Suite. If you're looking to maximize battery performance, Firefox is not the browser to be using. You may want to check out Chrome instead. Firefox may not consume a lot of CPU in idle does consume a lot of memory, and memory management is expensive. Google Chrome is the winner on that front. I use those two browsers, and then have Safari as my primary, preferred browser, even though the current public version is problematic and also a massive memory hog. I still prefer its feel.

 

[MacWanker]

Mental. No OS upgrade this time for me, as this is one feature I DO use. I think I can live without the new or upgraded emojis as a consequence

An estimate was better than nothing...similar to my car telling me approx how many miles I have left and my current MPG - I know they are both estimates based on current usage at that time


What next? 'We have removed the ability to display track time remaining when playing music...'

 

[thadoggfather]

Not familiar with /s. Thanks for explaining.

No problem sorry for coming out strong too.

With take a joke or smoke, I meant that as if you had bulldozed past the concept of sarcasm

<3

 

[coolfactor]

Siri should be taken out of macOS, no one uses it.

I actually agree with you. I thought Siri would be awesome on the Mac, but the lag of her responding means that I never user her.

If only Apple wised up, build in the V-series chip for on-board voice-to-text conversion, and reduced the dependency on the cloud, then Siri may be a good contender for my attention.

 

[ipride362]

Oh, come on!
I've been using that for years.
Just admit your battery life sucks and try not to be so anorexic.
I've been loyal since the iBook G4 and you're killing me this year.

 

[Spectrum]

On all the Macs i've owned I never relied on that time remaining count. It has never been accurate.

I strongly disagree. Yes the time remains fluctuates a lot - but in direct response to what you are working on. On a 2011 MBPro I can get as much as 10-12 hours with light use down to as little as 2 hours when all the processor cores kick in. This is an entirely acceptable ( and useful!) feature.

I am literally gobsmacked by the response of Apple.

 

[mkeeley]

Firefox is a heavy browser, despite starting out as a "lean" browser that separated from its big brother, the full Mozilla Suite. If you're looking to maximize battery performance, Firefox is not the browser to be using. You may want to check out Chrome instead. Firefox may not consume a lot of CPU in idle does consume a lot of memory, and memory management is expensive. Google Chrome is the winner on that front. I use those two browsers, and then have Safari as my primary, preferred browser, even though the current public version is problematic and also a massive memory hog. I still prefer its feel.

What did I just read?

 

[nofear1az]

Hey Tim here.

I want you to know that our customers are just loving the new Macs. They're great. This battery life isn't important. If you run out of battery, you should buy a new mac anyway.

Here's Phil to talk more about the new emoji bar. Phil come on up.

Next year Apple will remove the battery entirely so they can make the Macbooks the thinnest ever possible. That way you just add on your own USB-C battery dongle. Want it to last longer, add another battery dongle. Four battery dongles....Done!

 

[jmgregory1]

Exactly, perception become reality. They do seem to be oblivious and out of touch, only reacting when it's picked up by the mainstream press (i.e. bendgate).
Are the execs really that drunk on their own kool-aid?
Surely it can't get any better once they're further silo-ed in their new spaceship.

The thing is, taking away something that provides limited and often incorrect or variable data isn't going to change actual battery life, but it will stop people from saying there is something wrong when my computer says it has 9 hours of battery one minute, then shows 7 hours 15 minutes later (mostly because they've been streaming a video or up/downloading something that's effecting battery life at that particular point in time.

Just like with the iPhone, if Apple provided estimated battery life (in time), people would be totally freaking out all the time, because battery life will go down when there is poor cellular or wifi reception, or when screen brightness is adjusted high, or, or, or. What really matters is whether you can get through the day on battery power, be it on a MacBook, iPhone or iPad.

The best way to solve the worry about battery life, is to buy an iMac.

 

[Waffen]

So they've kept the estimated time it takes to charge the battery, but removed the estimated time of how much battery is left?

HAHAHAHAHA **** you.

 

[HopefulHumanist]

I don't see what the big deal is. The time remaining varied wildly and was never an accurate measure over the long term.

Battery life testing has to be based on the actual elapsed time and battery percentage remaining.

 

[Teugeus]

Just get Battery Health from the App Store and you'll get your timer back, problem solved.

 

[moonjelly]

So it's just a coincidence that this was removed right after the revelations of 2016 model poor battery life? This "adaptive" indicator never seemed to be a problem in previous models...

No. It has been an issue. It was moved from the tool bar into the drop down shortly after Mavericks for exactly this reason. "OMG MBA is supposed to get up to 8 hrs but sometimes it doesn't! [breathless panic]" Same schmidt 3 years later.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/os-x-mavericks-battery-life.1650493/

 

[luddx]

The users complaining in this thread don't get it.

That metric was so useless and inaccurate, just simply opening a new app would drastically change the "time remaining" for some time. So people would open up their favorite apps and then immediately check the "time remaining" and see that they're only expected to get 3 hours of battery life.

users *know* that certain apps drain more, they're not dumb
they know that insofar as they do the same task more or less, the reading will be more or less accurate
actually this has been SUPER userful to me in the past and quite accurate
if I am writing an important paper on battery i WANT to know what time I got
when I'm typing a paper i'm NOT jumping tasks / multi tasking like a mad man
i can read the reading in a useful way/meaningful way and it's not only because i'm geeky
people also learn to read these infos

this is just yet another awful, oniony move from apple

removing preferences, LOL

 

[G-News]

You know what... you are so right. Get rid of those consumers. THEY clearly are the problem.

Tbh they're doing a great job doing exactly that so far.

 

[jason_phillips]

I think they should have added "Time Remaining" to both iOS and Mac

 

[ngronau]

So every time a function doesn't work properly Apple will remove it? What kind of bullshXX is that? Extremely stupid.

 

[vinsalducci]

Just get Battery Health from the App Store and you'll get your timer back, problem solved.

Don't try to intimidate us by posting rational thought. /s

Or, install iStat Mini in your Notification Center and GET. ON. WITH. YOUR. LIFE. /s (a little)

 

[nordique]

You loved a completely wrong indicator of time remaining? Explain.

Before you respond, understand that the time remaining is in fact completely wrong. Always.

Always Completely wrong? Not really...my MacBook is still on el cap, towards the last hour or so of usage it is quite on mark with remaining time. Maybe right after a full charge it's not accurate but it's still a very useful feature for some people (just look at how many people on here are dismayed by the removal of it)

Further, if I look at an older MacBook pro 2010 it shows a pretty accurate time left number (3 hours 52 Mins) of a full charge vs my retina MacBook vs my sister's MacBook air. They are ball park representative in the sense that I definitely get 3ish hours on the old MacBook pro cause the battery has been used for 6 years now whereas I tend to get about a work day's worth out of my retina MacBook, or about 7-8 hours useage with my use.

Seriously some of you guys lol....like I get there is a love some people have for apple and their products but they aren't perfect and they've needlessly pissed off a lot of customers.

A lot of these customers are justified in their responses. Maybe some people will beat their unwavering apple support drums loud and defend any move they make but there that doesn't mean those of us who have been disappointed with the company as of late aren't allowed to voice our disappointments or to be vocal about what we feel are stupid moves. Even if they are small moves like this.

It is no coincidence apple has done this firmware "update" at this time with the battery life these new MacBook pros have been getting.

The number of people online with this many concerns isn't the fault of all these people being incompetent idiots when it comes to using their computers. A lot of these people voicing their concerns are professionals some who have used apple computers exclusively since before i was born and have come to expect a certain standard of product for the price they spend.

There are genuine concerns. I think people being critical of this is perfectly warrented.

Apple is really dropping the ball in the eyes of some people. My eyes included. It stings us because we prefer to use their products for certain reasons and these are not welcomed changes.

We all work our asses off and some of us are ok with what we pay for, others are not. Both parties should be allowed to voice their concerns, without some defense force storming in (not directed at you but the general defence force on these boards) telling us "ok bye-bye enjoy you new windows computers so long sionara" with some holier than thou flair.

And yes I still stand by my comments that it's stupid and a completely unnecessary removal of a feature that is clearly being done in a greater context.

 

[oliversl]

This is non sense, how can Apple remove that useful feature? I really need to know how minutes I have left of battery.

 

[julesme]

So when I am downloading an update through the app store, the indicator for how long it will take should also go away?
So when I am upgrading my OS, the time indicator for how long its going to take to fully update should also go away?

Because under Apple's rationale, the dynamic process of downloading and installing software is such that the time estimate fluctuates too much that it isnt accurate.

Yours is a semantic argument. I'm not sure what updates you are referring to, but when I update the OS, it says something like "45 minutes remaining," then "30 minutes remaining," then 10 minutes remaining," etc. See the pattern?

That's quite different from the battery estimator, which tells me I can use my laptop for 19 hours, then tells me I can use it for 3 hours, then again tells me I can use it for 19 hours. The problem with the battery estimator is that Apple does not know what I'm going to do next (am I going to browse Safari or encode video or use Photoshop or simply do nothing and let the laptop sit there for 15 minutes?).

Upgrading an OS is completely different because Apple is controlling the update process.