Safari Battery Killer

[Confuzzeled23]

Hi Everyone,

I have a Macbook Pro 15 Inch Late-2013. When I first got this computer I used to get 9+ hours of battery life just browsing using Safari. Within the last 2 months my activity monitor always lists Safari as using significant battery. Upgrading to El Capitan has not seemed to fix this issue.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this issue and my battery life?

Thanks!

 

[Kissmyne]

It is relatively hard to assist with the limited information you have provided, but here are some questions/steps I would try..

What types of sites are typically involved(don't need specific sites, mainly categorization, ex- News, Research, Communication, Video streaming, databases etc..)?

Have you installed any new applications over the last two months?

Do you have any apps start up with your Mac? Do you have an AV running?

Is your model iGPU only? or dual graphics?

Does Safari have any extensions installed? Do you use Adobe Flash Player?

Does safe boot have an impact on this issue for you?

Have you done an SMC reset?(only do if all other steps implied in my questions do not resolve)

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Install click to flash and ad block (safari plugins) it will lower the amount of random advertising nonsense causing the CPU to be overburdened.

 

[Confuzzeled23]

It is relatively hard to assist with the limited information you have provided, but here are some questions/steps I would try..

What types of sites are typically involved(don't need specific sites, mainly categorization, ex- News, Research, Communication, Video streaming, databases etc..)? Facebook, email, news sites (for some reason MacRumors cause Flash Player it cut in according to Activity Monitor)

Have you installed any new applications over the last two months? I have installed bootcamp

Do you have any apps start up with your Mac? Do you have an AV running? Shazam, clean my drive, mousepro

Is your model iGPU only? or dual graphics? Dual, set to switch automatically

Does Safari have any extensions installed? Do you use Adobe Flash Player? Only Flash Player is installed

Does safe boot have an impact on this issue for you? Haven't tried this

Have you done an SMC reset?(only do if all other steps implied in my questions do not resolve) I reset SMC maybe 2 weeks ago

 

[Kissmyne]

As far as Flash Player goes, I would suggest setting safari to block the plugin.. and then only enable it on sites where you "need" it. Both of these functions are completed via Preferences>Security>Plugin Settings(Click to flash will also help with this endeavor. The reasoning behind this is that Flash Player makes "High Performance GPU" calls to the operating system which then auto switches to your dGPU which WILL consume more power(This switching behavior can also be managed by gfxCardStatus). The difference in battery life by making these adjustments can be substantial(With my Macbook Pro I went from 4-6 hours of battery, to 8-10 hours). An ad blocker will also assist with this..

I do not use nor have I run into a Mac with the apps you have chosen to auto start, thus I do not know the general behavior of these apps on battery, or conflicts created as a result of running them together. If you can deal with it, disable them for a few days and see if the situation changes(assuming steps above do not help)

Safe Boot prevents most third party items from loading and certain functions will not work in Safe Boot, therefore I would use this to isolate the issue if it is still occurring(If the issue goes away in Safe Boot, then it is an app installed on the computer creating the issue most likely, if the issue continues to occur in Safe Boot, I recommend backup, erase and reinstall.)