rMBP 13" Batter Performance.

[AdamA9]

The specs say up to 9 hours battery life for the 13" rMBP, however, I've just fully charged mine with nothing but chrome running and it's saying I have 2:27 of battery life remaining.

Is this right?

 

[niteflyr]

In about an hour and 1/2, you will have your answer.

 

[Paapaa]

The specs say up to 9 hours battery life for the 13" rMBP, however, I've just fully charged mine with nothing but chrome running and it's saying I have 2:27 of battery life remaining.

Is this right?

This should be a sticky.

1. That is an ESTIMATE. In order to measure, you really have to use the computer until the battery is empty.
2. It all depends what you do. Different apps cause different consumption.
3. Use Apple apps. Safari consumes less than Chrome. QuickTime consumes less than some 3rd party movie player etc.
4. Display brightness has a huge impact. You'll get a LOT more battery life using 50% brightness as opposed to 100% level.

 

[AdamA9]

This should be a sticky.

1. That is an ESTIMATE. In order to measure, you really have to use the computer until the battery is empty.
2. It all depends what you do. Different apps cause different consumption.
3. Use Apple apps. Safari consumes less than Chrome. QuickTime consumes less than some 3rd party movie player etc.
4. Display brightness has a huge impact. You'll get a LOT more battery life using 50% brightness as opposed to 100% level.

Thanks. I will run it flat then and recharge it. Is this standard for laptops then? This is my first one, I've been an iMac user up until now.

 

[AlecMyrddyn]

Thanks. I will run it flat then and recharge it. Is this standard for laptops then? This is my first one, I've been an iMac user up until now.

Yes.

Apple estimates battery life for their marketing materials in very specific ways, not by running the system at 100% brightness and CPU. The harder you push the computer, the faster the battery drain, and you won't get anywhere near the 9 advertised hours.

Apple advertises:

Up to 9 hours wireless web
Up to 9 hours iTunes movie playback

That's running Safari with the screen brightness set somewhere below maximum.

Chrome is an energy hog. So is Flash. Activity Monitor and the battery menu will tell you if any applications are currently using a lot of energy and causing things to drain faster.

I've been able to get 10+ hours out of my new 13" rMBP running Safari and iPhoto with the brightness around 5-6 bars.

 

[TwoFive3]

The specs say up to 9 hours battery life for the 13" rMBP, however, I've just fully charged mine with nothing but chrome running and it's saying I have 2:27 of battery life remaining.

Is this right?

Use Safari not Chrome. Chrome is a battery killer.

 

[T-Bob]

Not tried battering mine yet. Good idea though, mac and chips.

 

[Agent-P]

I've found my estimate jumps around as I switch between apps and various apps go in/out of app nap. I just ignore the estimate and go by looking at the battery icon alone (I've turned off percentages too). I haven't actually timed it, but I seem to be getting the full 9 hours (maybe even more) when I'm just browsing the web (FireFox) and have a Twitter app open (Osfoora).

EDIT: this is with brightness about halfway, bluetooth off, wifi enabled

 

[PervySteve]

Chrome is just horrible on the mac. Coming from Windows where Chrome is well streamlined and hums along nicely I'm shocked to see the Mac version. It's a slow, battery draining, hog of a browser. I looked at the energy usage and it sucks down juice like it's addicted to it.

 

[daudi81]

I was new to Mac as well and the battery estimate weirded me out. It was never even close to accurate for me. I got 9-10 hours of good use on the 13, and about 8 on the 15".... The battery estimate would always say like 6 hours after a full charge. Total BS.

 

[Tears Apart]

My maxxed out 13'' rMBP is also giving me poor battery performance.

Even if one uses it intensively, it feels wrong to get less than 2 hours when it is advertised for 9.

 

[AdamA9]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I will switch over to Safari then. Hopefully that will improve things. I've also changed the brightness to 50% as noticed it was 'auto' so was quite high during the day yesterday when it was going down quick.

I ran the mac down to empty last night and then gave it a full charge. Will run it down flat again a couple of times.

Is there anything else I can do to preserve the battery life, like not leaving it charging when full etc.

Thanks.

 

[EatingApples]

My maxxed out 13'' rMBP is also giving me poor battery performance.

Even if one uses it intensively, it feels wrong to get less than 2 hours when it is advertised for 9.

I am really disappointed to hear that you experience such rubbish battery life on the maxed out 13-inch. I have never used a mac, but tell me, is there any power management options like on PC. On my current HP I can switch between "optimal" and "battery saving" mode. It's more than 3 years old, but I can still squeeze 6 hours of juice out of it.

 

[Tears Apart]

I am really disappointed to hear that you experience such rubbish battery life on the maxed out 13-inch. I have never used a mac, but tell me, is there any power management options like on PC. On my current HP I can switch between "optimal" and "battery saving" mode. It's more than 3 years old, but I can still squeeze 6 hours of juice out of it.

You can dim brightness and avoid using max resolution. But then why buy a MBP if you can't enjoy its best features?

 

[vpro]

Tweak it don't twerk it!

I can't wait till kids come up with those cleave OS X Tweaks, which aids in performance efficiencies and battery saving features, like you found with LION or Mt.LION tweaks. My Lion machines are running still the quickest, coolest and most stable. The Mt. Lion machines are sure benefiting from the tweaks. Just google OS X Tweaks and see if it helps. I'm always looking to optimize more. My 17" MBP late 2011 maxed out, gets estimates of 9.2 hours, in reality I get up to 7.4 hours browsing and movie streaming on the road.

This is the thing too, nothing is updating in the back ground for me, no email notifications, NOTHING, I turn everything like that off and it really helps. They focus so much on that right now with the new OS X's - too much "social media" based apps and not enough pro-efficiency apps.

 

[EatingApples]

You can dim brightness and avoid using max resolution. But then why buy a MBP if you can't enjoy its best features?

When you say "max resolution" do you mean the setting called "Best for Retina" or scaled "More Space"?.

Personally I would probably have resolution settings (while using battery power) on default, also disabled bluetooth while using the battery.