System Efficiency

[tomegun]

When the new OS came out I was looking forward to extended battery life. I just haven't seen much of an improvement leading me to believe I may have too much junk loaded on my system. Is there any software (I know more of what may be the problem) that can analyze system performance and make recommendations to remove/reconfigure some things? I know one possible answer is to install a fresh OS and only install what I absolutely need, as I need it, but I am wondering if there is something else I can do.

My system is:

2011 MBP
Matte, high resolution screen
2Ghz quad-core i7
500GB SSD (samsung 840)
16GB Ram

Oh, I normally get under 4 hours with a fully charged battery. That is using Safari, Aperture, Mail, Messages, Word, Excel and Calendar mostly. I don't watch movies on my laptop and I don't do much video editing. My brightness setting is about halfway.

 

[Watabou]

Leaving junk files do absolutely nothing to lower battery life.

However, running processes that you are not aware are running in the background, do.

Try opening Activity Monitor, showing all processes and sorting it by CPU percentage. Look at what is using up the most CPU.

Also, avoid any software that claim to "clean" your mac. OS X does this by itself by running daily, weekly and monthly script to keep your mac running efficiently.

 

[kwokaaron]

In addition to what Watabou said, check your login items in system preferences to make sure you don't start any software you don't need. Also, a good indication as to whether you have any other apps running in the background is the menu bar. If you've got a lot of icons there, you might want to consider disabling them if you don't need them.

 

[thundersteele]

are you using gfxcardstatus to keep the dGPU from turning on? Some of the software you are running might trigger the dGPU, and with that active 4 hours is all you can get.

 

[tomegun]

are you using gfxcardstatus to keep the dGPU from turning on? Some of the software you are running might trigger the dGPU, and with that active 4 hours is all you can get.

No I am not using that.

Something I just noticed when I clicked the battery icon: it is telling me to service my battery. I am assuming that means I need to make an appointment to get it looked at right?

 

[thundersteele]

No I am not using that.

Something I just noticed when I clicked the battery icon: it is telling me to service my battery. I am assuming that means I need to make an appointment to get it looked at right?

Yes.

Also I would give gfxcardstatus a try

 

[tomegun]

I made an appointment for Wednesday - I do have Applecare.

I also downloaded and installed gfxcardstatus.

 

[tomegun]

I got my battery replaced and everything is much better. I was originally told the battery failed and it would be replaced for free. When I went to pick it up they told me it would be $135. Long story short - I didn't pay for it.