rMB: ridiculous behaviour

[sunilc]

I am surprised that nobody else has mentioned this yet, or at least not that I could find.

I think Apple has gone too far this time, with the 'iPadification' of the MacBook.

With all my previous Apple notebooks, if the battery was depleted, I would simply have to plug in the power and the machine would instantly power on.

With the new rMB however, we get the iPhone/iPad style behaviour of an image of a charging battery displayed for the first few minutes (from what I can see it has to hit 3% charge) before it will actually switch back on. This is the most ridiculous behaviour I have ever seen in a notebook!

Am I the only one who is shocked by this!?

Aside from this one thing, I do love my rMB 1.3.

 

[Hankster]

I am surprised that nobody else has mentioned this yet, or at least not that I could find.

I think Apple has gone too far this time, with the 'iPadification' of the MacBook.

With all my previous Apple notebooks, if the battery was depleted, I would simply have to plug in the power and the machine would instantly power on.

With the new rMB however, we get the iPhone/iPad style behaviour of an image of a charging battery displayed for the first few minutes (from what I can see it has to hit 3% charge) before it will actually switch back on. This is the most ridiculous behaviour I have ever seen in a notebook!

Am I the only one who is shocked by this!?

Aside from this one thing, I do love my rMB 1.3.

This is 100% incorrect. I've owned three MBAs and all three if the battery was 100% drained it would still take the laptop 1-2 minutes while plugged in to actually start. To complain about this, you're really stretching...big time.

Also, why are you running your laptops to dead? I never - ever - do this and it's not difficult to avoid. Often times if my laptops run 100% dead it's due to forgetting to charge it over the weekend or something odd. It's a rare occurrence.

 

[sunilc]

This is 100% incorrect. I've owned three MBAs and all three if the battery was 100% drained it would still take the laptop 1-2 minutes while plugged in to actually start. To complain about this, you're really stretching...big time.

Also, why are you running your laptops to dead? I never - ever - do this and it's not difficult to avoid. Often times if my laptops run 100% dead it's due to forgetting to charge it over the weekend or something odd. It's a rare occurrence.

With all due respect, it is 100% correct. As someone who does actually regularly run my laptops until they are dead, I think I am in a better position to comment on what happens in this scenario, compared to someone who "never - ever - do[es] this".

I still have my MBA sitting next to me and can 100% confirm that it does indeed start up again within a few seconds of being plugged in. I have also had other MBAs, MBs and PBs and not once have I ever experienced this behaviour.

 

[paulopadopa]

I received my MB yesterday. Today I ran the battery down until it turned off. Once I plugged it in it came back on in about 5 seconds (if that). It didn't even require a power on boot it just woke from sleep. The same as when you close the lid and open it again. Very impressive. This is different to how IOS devices work. They need to boot up from off which can take a few minutes.

 

[sunilc]

I received my MB yesterday. Today I ran the battery down until it turned off. Once I plugged it in it came back on in about 5 seconds (if that). It didn't even require a power on boot it just woke from sleep. The same as when you close the lid and open it again. Very impressive. This is different to how IOS devices work. They need to boot up from off which can take a few minutes.

Interesting. Perhaps I'll let it run down again and once more see how long it takes before it allows me to switch on. I have noticed it on more than one occasion though.

It would be good to see what others are experiencing (I'm assuming from Hankster's response that his also takes a few minutes, though he doesn't explicitly state that about his rMB, only his MBAs).

 

[bcaslis]

I never, ever run down an Apple laptop so it shuts off. By doing this you are shorting the long-term battery life. It's much better for Lithium Ion batteries to be recharged before being fully drained.

 

[Laserducky]

Interesting. Perhaps I'll let it run down again and once more see how long it takes before it allows me to switch on. I have noticed it on more than one occasion though.

It would be good to see what others are experiencing (I'm assuming from Hankster's response that his also takes a few minutes, though he doesn't explicitly state that about his rMB, only his MBAs).

Running your battery down all the way is not a very good way to extend your battery life : all batteries die / have their health depleted but nearly everyone agrees that going down to 0-1 % battery is unadvisable.

Cheers !

 

[sunilc]

Thanks for the advice, bcaslis and Laserducky. Perhaps I'll try and change my ways!

I still thing it's unacceptable for it to not power back on straight away though...

 

[tecnho]

I still thing it's unacceptable for it to not power back on straight away though...

Even if this is true. Don't you think "unacceptable" is a little bit of an overreaction? I don't know the specifics of this power feature, but it is not a stretch to assume that these types of modifications were necessary to engineer this product. It doesn't even sound like a flaw; why are people so scared of any kind change, and unwilling to accept the fact that this product is creating a niche between notebook and ipad?

 

[sunilc]

Even if this is true. Don't you think "unacceptable" is a little bit of an overreaction? I don't know the specifics of this power feature, but it is not a stretch to assume that these types of modifications were necessary to engineer this product. It doesn't even sound like a flaw; why are people so scared of any kind change, and unwilling to accept the fact that this product is creating a niche between notebook and ipad?

No, I honestly don't think it is an overreaction. Let me give you a realistic scenario:

I'm on a flight on my way to a business meeting. I'm using my MacBook on the flight for last minute preparation. The aeroplane has no power sockets (most inter-Europe flights do not). The MacBook battery runs out during the flight.

I land at my destination and take a taxi straight to my client. I arrive and I have a few minutes spare before the meeting, in which I engage in small talk with the clients. We then go into the meeting, in which I'm presenting. I plug my laptop into the projector and into the power, and then we sit for five minutes for it to allow me to power it on, listening to the the tumbleweed in the wind. Not a great situation.

Could I have avoided this by asking my client to let my plug my MacBook into a power socket the moment I arrived? Sure. Do I want to have to think about that, or do I just want it to work as soon as I plug it in, just like every other notebook I have every owned? Hmmm...!

 

[tecnho]

No, I honestly don't think it is an overreaction. Let me give you a realistic scenario:

I'm on a flight on my way to a business meeting. I'm using my MacBook on the flight for last minute preparation. The aeroplane has no power sockets (most inter-Europe flights do not). The MacBook battery runs out during the flight.

I land at my destination and take a taxi straight to my client. I arrive and I have a few minutes spare before the meeting, in which I engage in small talk with the clients. We then go into the meeting, in which I'm presenting. I plug my laptop into the projector and into the power, and then we sit for five minutes for it to allow me to power it on, listening to the the tumbleweed in the wind. Not a great situation.

Could I have avoided this by asking my client to let my plug my MacBook into a power socket the moment I arrived? Sure. Do I want to have to think about that, or do I just want it to work as soon as I plug it in, just like every other notebook I have every owned? Hmmm...!

What about connecting it to a portable battery for a few minutes to get some juice prior to the presentation? Bet you couldn't do that with your other notebooks...

 

[matt2053]

All the Apple laptops have the same behavior:

1. They shut down at some threshold before they reach **true** 0% battery.
2. They won't turn on until the battery is charged back up past that threshold.

If a laptop dies and you plug it in immediately, it will turn right back on.

If a laptop dies and you turn on the screen and you see the plug symbol, and/or wait a long time before you plug it back in, and the battery drains just a bit more, and then you plug it in, it might have to charge for a few minutes before it turns back on.

iPhone and iPad are the same way. It's meant to protect the battery.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

All the Apple laptops have the same behavior:

1. They shut down at some threshold before they reach **true** 0% battery.
2. They won't turn on until the battery is charged back up past that threshold.

If a laptop dies and you plug it in immediately, it will turn right back on.

If a laptop dies and you turn on the screen and you see the plug symbol, and/or wait a long time before you plug it back in, and the battery drains just a bit more, and then you plug it in, it might have to charge for a few minutes before it turns back on.

iPhone and iPad are the same way. It's meant to protect the battery.

And @matt2053 for FTW - this is exactly the correct answer. I can confirm this behavior on both 2011 and 2013 11" MBA's as well as iPad 2, 3, 4, and Air 2, as well as iPhone 4S, 5 and 6. This because my wife NEVER plugs in her devices Apple never lets your battery drain to true dead, it always shuts down the machine first. If you then don't charge relatively quickly after that, they charge to battery to a minimum level before allowing the machine to turn on again. iOS and OS X devices behave exactly the same in this regard.

 

[zhenya]

I'm with the folks who say this is nothing new. I've seen this behavior on my wife's Macbooks for years.

 

[thedeske]

Running your battery down all the way is not a very good way to extend your battery life : all batteries die / have their health depleted but nearly everyone agrees that going down to 0-1 % battery is unadvisable.

Cheers !

This is not true. Every few months or charge cycles, it's healthy to run the battery to shut off level and recharge full. The chemistry in Lithium batteries will last longer with this simple "Dust Of" procedure - to keep it simple. Feel free to troll the battery section at candle power forum to confirm. Many engineers will confirm.

 

[bcaslis]

This is not true. Every few months or charge cycles, it's healthy to run the battery to shut off level and recharge full. The chemistry in Lithium batteries will last longer with this simple "Dust Of" procedure - to keep it simple. Feel free to troll the battery section at candle power forum to confirm. Many engineers will confirm.

That used to be true with older technologies but not with the current batteries lithium polymer batteries. Read some of the info in this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5514839?tstart=0

 

[Hankster]

With all due respect, it is 100% correct. As someone who does actually regularly run my laptops until they are dead, I think I am in a better position to comment on what happens in this scenario, compared to someone who "never - ever - do[es] this".

I still have my MBA sitting next to me and can 100% confirm that it does indeed start up again within a few seconds of being plugged in. I have also had other MBAs, MBs and PBs and not once have I ever experienced this behaviour.

I have all three MBAs in my office and they are all 100% DEAD (two have been dead for years.). You know what I just did? I plugged each one one. Guess what? None of them started up "right away". So, you can say "you do this all the time", but I've been using MacBooks since 2007 and I've seen slow starts if the laptop is dead. It's common. Read all the other responses.

Also, if you're doing this on a regular basis then perhaps you need to learn some organization. Most MBA and the rMB have a battery life of 6-10 hours. If you can't plan ahead for that long...well that's on you. Your "airplane scenario" is indicative of an unorganized person. I just went on a six hour flight and I had my laptop, iPad and iPhone 100% charged BEFORE hitting the airport. Also, who doesn't bring the proper charging items with them whenever they travel?

Come on. You want to complain because you have to wait a minute for your rMB to start up from a 100% dead battery. Fine. But, don't act like it's some horrible feature of the laptop. If that's the case (as you said) go back to your other laptops that "don't" do this.

PS: Also, I said "I never do this" because I don't do this on purpose. It's stupid. Do you drive your car until it runs out of gas? Do you run your smartphone until it's dead? No.

 

[Hankster]

This is not true. Every few months or charge cycles, it's healthy to run the battery to shut off level and recharge full. The chemistry in Lithium batteries will last longer with this simple "Dust Of" procedure - to keep it simple. Feel free to troll the battery section at candle power forum to confirm. Many engineers will confirm.

That was years ago. Not anymore. Google recent results.

 

[thedeske]

That was years ago. Not anymore. Google recent results.

Years ago? Perhaps I skipped a few in a coma
Whatever the poly wrapper and voltage are, it would still require a discharge limit circuit
to be safe in a laptop. We all know you can fire one up in the right set of circumstances, but .. I'll stick with the engineers on this. Google is a wonderful place, but needs an edit from time to time.

No disrespect intended sir