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Senior Apple Advisor admits that MBPs have battery issues

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badlydrawnboy

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 20, 2003
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I have a TB 13" MBP. As reported in other threads I am getting about 6-6.5 hours per charge. I called Apple Support and after getting the typical runaround was transferred to a Senior Advisor. On the phone she didn't admit to any problem and even suggested that I return the unit.

However, about 30 minutes later she emailed me back with this:

Hello Chris,
I was able to do a little more research on your issue. There seems to be an issue with the battery life on these MacBook Pro.
I wanted to know if you have the time later today lets capture some information about your MacBook Pro for our Engineers to investigate the issue.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Click to expand...

I will call her and report back if I learn anything.
 
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badlydrawnboy said:
I have a TB 13" MBP. As reported in other threads I am getting about 6-6.5 hours per charge. I called Apple Support and after getting the typical runaround was transferred to a Senior Advisor. On the phone she didn't admit to any problem and even suggested that I return the unit.

However, about 30 minutes later she emailed me back with this:



I will call her and report back if I learn anything.
Click to expand...
Given the spelling mistake it can either read "There seems to be an issue with the battery life on this MacBook Pro." OR "There seems to be an issue with the battery life on these MacBook Pro(S)."

"Senior Advisor" is call center speak for "not level one help desk". Don't take this as anything other than a support person stating your one machine might have an issue.
 
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Keep us posted what they say. Would like to know if this can be fixed with a firmware update or something. I'd like to still give it a few days but curious as to what they tell you.
 
NT1440 said:
T

Given the spelling mistake it can either read "There seems to be an issue with the battery life on this MacBook Pro." OR "There seems to be an issue with the battery life on these MacBook Pro(S)."

"Senior Advisor" is call center speak for "not level one help desk". Don't take this as anything other than a support person stating your one machine might have an issue.
Click to expand...
I concur.

OP, I don't believe the lady was speaking about all MBP, just yours.
 
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MrRugged said:
Keep us posted what they say. Would like to know if this can be fixed with a firmware update or something. I'd like to still give it a few days but curious as to what they tell you.
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How can a firmware update fixes a hardware issue?

At best, there can only be workarounds.
 
It is currently less than 24 hours but my 13" MBP w/TB is significantly worse than the 13" no TB one I returned last night to get it. Like horribly worse- I would be at over 60% left by 3pm and this new one is currently at 19%... 18%.
 
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Apple won't be able to recover from this one properly. They can't squeeze extra battery life into the machine, it's jam packed because it's too thin.

Would love to see the update on their website: "Up to 6.5 hours battery".

Yikes.

Let's say they don't update their battery rating. Class action lawsuit 1-2 years later with users reporting max 4 hours battery life, and battery replacement offerings not bringing them up to 10 hour rated life.
 
PaulWog said:
Apple won't be able to recover from this one properly.
Click to expand...

Can we all remember that this is the first model, initial release, of a totally new generation, which launched just a week ago. New body, new circuit layout, new chips, new battery design, new everything pretty much. In my memory, Apple has never gotten it 100% right on a new model. Every single new generation or new design has had some issues. Indeed, issues with the battery have occurred with Macbook Pro redesigns (remember the first unibody Macbook Pro had battery issues too).

People who want the latest and greatest at all costs can deal with these issues. Folks who want a refined and reliable model should wait one or two "spec-bump" revisions for the kinks to be worked out, which is good advice for pretty much every consumer product.
 
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oneMadRssn said:
Can we all remember that this is the first model, initial release, of a totally new generation, which launched just a week ago. New body, new circuit layout, new chips, new battery design, new everything pretty much. In my memory, Apple has never gotten it 100% right on a new model. Every single new generation or new design has had some issues. Indeed, issues with the battery have occurred with Macbook Pro redesigns (remember the first unibody Macbook Pro had battery issues too).

People who want the latest and greatest at all costs can deal with these issues. Folks who want a refined and reliable model should wait one or two "spec-bump" revisions for the kinds to be worked out, which is good advice for pretty much every consumer product.
Click to expand...

Were the battery problems with the early unibody Pros ever fixed, or only in the next revision of the hardware?
 
archimon said:
Were the battery problems with the early unibody Pros ever fixed, or only in the next revision of the hardware?
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I don't remember exactly to be honest. If I remember correctly, there may have been an SMC update to mitigate the issues somewhat. I may be mistaking it with another issue. Ultimately, the issue was fixed in the next annual spec-bumped versions of the MBP for sure. This was around the same time Apple was transitioning from removable batteries to integrated batteries.
 
oneMadRssn said:
I don't remember exactly to be honest. If I remember correctly, there may have been an SMC update to mitigate the issues somewhat. I may be mistaking it with another issue. Ultimately, the issue was fixed in the next annual spec-bumped versions of the MBP for sure. This was around the same time Apple was transitioning from removable batteries to integrated batteries.
Click to expand...

Ok - thanks. Hoping that I'll see an update that gets my 15" up to at least around 7-8 hours. If not, I have until January to decide to return it.
 
archimon said:
Ok - thanks. Hoping that I'll see an update that gets my 15" up to at least around 7-8 hours. If not, I have until January to decide to return it.
Click to expand...

I hope so too.

As with all things, buying the first version of a new design is always risky. Buying the last revision of a design is always boring. Gotta find the porridge that's not too hot and not too cold. :)
 
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oneMadRssn said:
Can we all remember that this is the first model, initial release, of a totally new generation, which launched just a week ago. New body, new circuit layout, new chips, new battery design, new everything pretty much. In my memory, Apple has never gotten it 100% right on a new model. Every single new generation or new design has had some issues. Indeed, issues with the battery have occurred with Macbook Pro redesigns (remember the first unibody Macbook Pro had battery issues too).

People who want the latest and greatest at all costs can deal with these issues. Folks who want a refined and reliable model should wait one or two "spec-bump" revisions for the kinks to be worked out, which is good advice for pretty much every consumer product.
Click to expand...

The 2015-2016 MacBook is/was a new product, with a completely new battery design and did quite well from the beginning. This is either a problem that's only effecting some small percentage of users (the vocal MRs community) or a complete f-up by Apple. I do have a 13" Touch Bar coming, so will be interesting to see...
 
bizack said:
The 2015-2016 MacBook is/was a new product, with a completely new battery design and did quite well from the beginning. This is either a problem that's only effecting some small percentage of users (the vocal MRs community) or a complete f-up by Apple. I do have a 13" Touch Bar coming, so will be interesting to see...
Click to expand...

Go check out the Macbook section of this forum. I agree it's been a good product and has done quite well, but it's not lacking in issues.

With the 2015 model: Lots of complaining about rapidly declining battery health percent at low cycle counts on the 2015 model, asking about warranty exchanges. Lots of complaining about the keyboard becoming less tactile over time, more spongy over time, to the extent that lots of people have asked Apple to replace the entire top case under warranty (some several times). Some complaints about keys popping off. Initially there were complaints about animation lag, though it seems this has been addressed with software patches. Some complaints about slow charging too. Some or most of these have been addressed in the 2016 revision.

I hold Apple to a high standard just like everyone else, but things have to be evaluated in context. I expect more stability and perfection in a 3rd or 4th revision of a design, and I cut a little bit of slack to entirely new designs.

If the 2014 Macbook Air had any of these issues, it would be inexcusable. When that was the newest design in 2010, we forgave the fact that it had some issues.
 
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jschu22 said:
Fair enough and Im willing to give it some time, but the non-TB one I bought 10 days ago was as good day 1 as it was day 9 so Im admittedly concerned.
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My MBP TB is just like yours, and I've given it 3-4 charge cycles already. I am lucky to get 5 hours doing the exact same work as my 2015 mbp that would get 9-11.
 
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