Experiencing 1% battery drop every 2 mins. Threads in other places seem to say the cause is switching to the more powerful (and energy consuming GPU). I can still return this computer, so maybe there is a version available that won't have this problem. This unit has AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB and Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB.
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MBP 16" Battery Life severely impacted when connected to external monitor
- Thread starter n1xf
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Every Mac laptop that has a discrete GPU uses the dGPU when an external display is attached. The only way to prevent this is to stay with something like a 13" MacBook Pro or Air which has only integrated graphics. This isn't a malfunction of your computer.
Welcome to that problem. It has been like this since they introduced dual GPU machines in 2011. If that is a problem for you and you have the chance to return it, just do it.
We can hope that at some time Apple launch a 15/16 with only iGPU. But as it stands it's just hopes anyway...
I think that ship has sailed. The market is about putting faster and faster GPUs into laptops. The 15/16 firm factor is such that Apple is going to put the fastest hardware into it
Send it back if that is an issue. Get a 13" with only and iGPU.
Or just plug it in since you likely have power for the monitor.
Or just plug it in since you likely have power for the monitor.
Do people often need to plug into external monitors while on battery? Seriously asking
I have done it a few times when working in an open office setup without assigned spaces.
But, I try to avoid that type of work environment.Why are you on battery though? If you’re plugging into a monitor then there’s probably a power outlet you can plug the computer into as well. Battery power is for portable use.
A lot of us like to take advantage of the fact we have laptops by not bringing the power adapter with us
A lot of us like to take advantage of the fact we have laptops by not bringing the power adapter with us
In that case, at least with the dGPU Macbooks, you'll then have to use it as a laptop and forgo the external monitor. External monitor usage (rightly) assumes you're using it in a desktop scenario with access to power.
Plus why add extra cycles to your battery unnecessarily?
I have the same issue. My Macbook Pro 16' 2019, gives for my casual browsing gives me almost 7 to 9 hours of battery backup. I don't keep the power plug all the time. I charge 100%, use it and when the battery is around 30% I plug the charger again. So MBP won't be plugged in all the time.
I recently brought external Benq 24' External monitor connected with an HDMI cable with a USB C adapter. Now it's like 100% charged MBP doesn't give me 3 hours battery backup. every two minutes it drops 1%.
External monitor get power separately. What I have noticed is in Activity Monitor -> Energy ( where you see all energy used applications) -> at the bottom there is a graph -> Graphics Card changes to High performance and I could see Energy Impact is very high. So is this the reason for high battery utilization?
So does this mean, we have to plugged into power socket all the time when using an external monitor?
I recently brought external Benq 24' External monitor connected with an HDMI cable with a USB C adapter. Now it's like 100% charged MBP doesn't give me 3 hours battery backup. every two minutes it drops 1%.
External monitor get power separately. What I have noticed is in Activity Monitor -> Energy ( where you see all energy used applications) -> at the bottom there is a graph -> Graphics Card changes to High performance and I could see Energy Impact is very high. So is this the reason for high battery utilization?
So does this mean, we have to plugged into power socket all the time when using an external monitor?
Yes, as has been discussed above, connecting an external monitor will always use the discrete (high performance) GPU and batter life will go down from 10 to 3 - 4 hours.
If you do not need a high performance GPU buy the 13”. If you need high graphics performance connect your machine to power as you would your monitor.
If you do not need a high performance GPU buy the 13”. If you need high graphics performance connect your machine to power as you would your monitor.
Thank you. I guess I need to live with the issue or plugging to power socket always.
Presentations. Use in the conference room. Do it all the time. Absolutely I could bring in a power adapter, mess around to find the right length power cord etc so I don't trip over it, or, I just don't worry about it. Not taking away from your point just presenting my use case. I have no problem accepting the increased loss in battery time and it gets me through 2 hours fine. Then I carry it back to my office and plug it into the dock. No problemo.
I have the same issue, but more like 1% per minute. It also drains to 0% within 1.5 hours even when plugged into power and the screen is off and in power save. For example, I was away from my MBP 16" for about 1.5 hours while Time Machine was backing up to a USB drive. The power adapter was plugged in and the battery was at 100% when I left. There was an external monitor plugged in but both it and the laptop screen were off. 1.5 hours later I came back and the battery was at 4%. I unplugged the monitor and the USB drive a minute later when the battery had dropped to 2%. Only with everything unplugged did it begin charging the battery again. I maxed out the specs on this thing because I'm an app developer and need to run XCode and iPhone Simulators but the power system isn't capable of powering the laptop without borrowing from the battery--even when it's just running a Time Machine backup. I'm going to try to return it and replace it with a comparably spec'd iMac. The battery life on this MBP is only 1-1.5 hours anyway so it's not very useful as a portable computer. Other issues with the 16" MBP include speaker popping and the system freezing up periodically and crashing with a screen of static.
I was searching all day today, and have searched many times before on this same subject.
MY MBP 16” had the same issue.
I’m a Graphic Designer and I’m always using InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Xd, and email program and Asana.
I have my laptop connected to my 32” BenQ monitor and I was wondering why it drained the battery even with the monitor having its own power source. I was perplexed as to why people were saying that the monitor did not drain the battery on the MacBook Pro, when my experiments showed that it did.
Today for example, I did nothing on the computer and left it alone with no tabs open, no apps or anything running except for what runs in the background, which is not a significant power usage. My computer stayed at 95 or 97% for 5 1/2 hours...on battery life and UNPLUGGED from the monitor, which was amazing to me Because leaving my laptop on battery power, with nothing open, and connected to the monitor means that my battery will drain roughly 1% every minute, just like you mentioned.
my question is this: while working and having the laptop plugged in to the monitor, what is the best practice for leaving the laptop plugged in? Do I let it drop to 30% and then charge it to almost 100, or do I keep the laptop plugged in all day until I finish work, after which I will unplug the monitor from the Mac Book Pro, close all the programs and unplug the power cord?