Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MBP 14 battery sucks. Why?
- Thread starter Xolp
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Many moons ago, my G4-based Titanium PowerBook was lucky to get 4 hours, so 11 to 17 is just phenomenal.
That's true but the 13" M1 MBP doesn't need fast charging. I can go on for hours with my MBP and the battery stays at 100%. I get 20 hours battery life for common tasks, with many Safari tabs open. I really want to get the 14" and I have one on order, but I do worry that the battery life will be worse. I don't need the extra power of the 14" but I want the better display. Apart from that, I don't see a reason to upgrade..
@petvas Just curious... how often do you find yourself in a situation where you actually *need* 20 hours of battery life? Your situation might be different from mine. In my case, it's very rare that I need to go that long without charging. Even when traveling, my flights are rarely longer than 5 hours, and many airplanes have power outlets now—especially on international or long-haul flights.
I've found that 9-10 hours of battery life is sufficient for my needs >95% of the time. I have an M1 Macbook Air and I probably get a bit more than that, but I've never needed it.
I'm upgrading to the MBP not for the additional CPU/GPU power (though it will be nice for Lightroom, Photoshop, and some video editing that I do), but for the much better display, better speakers (the Air is terrible here), 1080p webcam, and SD and HDMI ports.
I've found that 9-10 hours of battery life is sufficient for my needs >95% of the time. I have an M1 Macbook Air and I probably get a bit more than that, but I've never needed it.
I'm upgrading to the MBP not for the additional CPU/GPU power (though it will be nice for Lightroom, Photoshop, and some video editing that I do), but for the much better display, better speakers (the Air is terrible here), 1080p webcam, and SD and HDMI ports.
I never find myself in a situation where I need more battery life than 9-10 hours. The problem though is how many times I will have to charge my MacBook every week. Now, with my M1 13" MBP I charge it one or maybe twice a week. I guess this would double with the new MBP. After 6 months of usage I have my MBP battery has 25 cycles and 100% health. Increased battery life is not only important for long usage scenarios through a day, but it plays a huge role in overall battery health and longevity of a laptop. This is my biggest worry with the new MBP, along with its increased weight and dimensions. I don't think that the new MBP is really mobile anymore..
Right. That's not really a concern for me because I upgrade every 2 years or so.
As for the size and weight, at least in my opinion, it's not a huge difference. Here are the specs for the 13" MBP:
And here are the specs for the 14" MBP:
We're talking about a 0.34" difference in width, a 0.35" difference in depth, the same height, and a 0.5 lb difference in weight.
For me, the benefits of a better display, audio system, webcam, and ports are greater than a very slight difference in width and depth and a slightly heavier weight. I suspect I will notice the half-pound difference initially, but get used to it quickly.
You are making a good point.
But keep in mind that apple’s battery test is the bare minimum usage. Browsing 25 popular websites in safari is very, very lightweight.
That gets 15h on the MBA. In real life people seem to get 8-10h with real world workloads where they use slack, browser, office apps and keep them all running at the same time.
So for real-life scenarios the battery time is reduced by approximately 35-50%.
At 11h advertised battery life, you would get 5.5 to 7h real usage with the new MBP.
If you use more than 50% brightness, it will go down even more.
It’s not horrible, but I think battery anxiety will be a real thing again.
But what’s important to consider is the trade off.
You are trading up to 3h battery life for CPU and GPU performance.
But most people don’t need it. 95% of people don’t need more power than what the current M1 MBA provides.
And I think apple knows it. These MBPs are optimized for CPU ans GPU heavy workflows like animation and professional video editing.
Next year they will release an M2 MBA that is optimized for battery life, but brings many of the new benefits, such as improved display, thinner bezels, mag safe.
That computer will be for the 95% of people and this one for the 5% that need it.
I think it would even be possible that they could release a bigger screen MBA next year.
Great point.
If the real-life battery time is truly 5.5 to 7 hours with the 14" MBP I just bought, I will definitely return mine.
If the new MBA rumors just posed are true (better display, thinner bezels, MagSafe, M2 optimized for battery life), it will be a near-perfect machine for me, with three possible exceptions: no SD port, hokey consumer design (off-white bezels?), and sub-par audio.
The lack of SD port isn't a deal-breaker; it just means yet another dongle/peripheral to carry. I could probably even learn to live with off-white bezels. The sub-par audio is a bummer, because it makes watching movies difficult with the MBA. I often have the volume turned up to full and it's just not a good experience.
Still, if my choice is between better audio, more ports, and a professional design, but with 6 hours of battery life, or worse audio, fewer ports, a consumer design, and 15 hours of real-world battery life, I'd take the latter. I have an iMac Pro for more intensive work, which I'm likely to replace with the rumored iMac 5k 27" M1 Pro/Max. So, I definitely don't need a ton of power in my laptop.
In one of the video reviews posted on the Macrumors page this morning, a reviewer did some intensive video encoding work, and the 14" M1 Max only dropped to 90% battery life, whereas the 13" M1 dropped to 80%. So, at least with that kind of work, the M1 Max is more efficient, not less, when it comes to battery life.
Since when is 11 hours considered bad battery life though?
Think of everything you want in a machine, and look for a machine that hits them all with little compromise.
enough battery life
enough performance
enough portability
enough aesthetics
enough screen resolution
enough connectivity
etc.
Thinking you need to maximize each of these categories is just silly; which is why everyone being excited about the M1P and M1M is weird to me, most machines on the market already have "enough performance" for you; focus on the other criteria that matters for your use case.
Think of everything you want in a machine, and look for a machine that hits them all with little compromise.
enough battery life
enough performance
enough portability
enough aesthetics
enough screen resolution
enough connectivity
etc.
Thinking you need to maximize each of these categories is just silly; which is why everyone being excited about the M1P and M1M is weird to me, most machines on the market already have "enough performance" for you; focus on the other criteria that matters for your use case.
Engadget's review said the battery life of the 14" is "great." It lasted 12 hours and 35 minutes in their benchmark test. That's good enough for me—especially considering how incredibly powerful these machines are!
From the Tom's Guide review, battery life comparison in light web-browsing:
So yeah, far from bad or awful battery life. Worse than the last year M1? Sure, but this thing is suited for better performance and better cooling.
So yeah, far from bad or awful battery life. Worse than the last year M1? Sure, but this thing is suited for better performance and better cooling.
Best news ever!!! >14 hours for regular web browsing. Good enough for me.
Tom's Guide results are different.
I think the 16" will have closer battery to the standard M1, and the 14" around 2-4h less depending on the task. Battery will be great whichever model you pick, and better than the Intel based Macs.
That's the important point here, only a few people buying the 14" come from the M1 13" model, the most still run Intel Macs from 2012-2019 and this new 14" beats all of them, while powering a way more impressive display.
Let's say in realtime it wont be as high as 14hrs and not as low as 8,5hrs but something in between - the claimed 11hrs by Apple. Perfectly fine for me! Enough for one day of medium-heavy work or two days of light browsing and movie stuff.
Tom’s guide is at 150 nits whereas the Dave2D is at the Apple tested 250 nits.
Battery life for 14 inch looks to be around Intel levels, maybe slightly better. Thinking of canceling my order and going for the 13 inch pro to be honest, as having all day battery life was something I really wanted. I do web development and the M1 is already more than enough for that.
Battery life for 14 inch looks to be around Intel levels, maybe slightly better. Thinking of canceling my order and going for the 13 inch pro to be honest, as having all day battery life was something I really wanted. I do web development and the M1 is already more than enough for that.
I am torn here too. I ordered a 14 in hopes that real life testing would show better results. I have a windows laptop that I am always looking at an monitoring the battery which I hate. The 13 has a battery you don't have to worry about. But that 120Hz screen...
Pick your poison! Haha. Seems like it’s the fantastic screen that’s causing the extra drain. I’ll have to get my eyes on one to see if it’s worth it.
The only way to really know will be for us to use it in our own workflows. Thankfully, Apple's return policy allows for that.