Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Terrible Battery Life on Late 2013 rMBP 15"

U

unitethenations

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 8, 2007
99
0
I did do a search but did not find a thread with answers, so forgive me/please point me in the right direction if this has already been solved.

I just set up my rMBP and the battery life is 2 hours. I understand that intensive use can decrease these numbers so here are the running applications:

-Google chrome
-Postbox (mail app)
-System profiler
-Spotlight indexing (<1 hour left)
50% screen brightness

Battery info from system profiler:
Firmware Version: 702
Hardware Revision: 1
Cell Revision: 1206
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 7611
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8657
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 2
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -4644
 Voltage (mV): 12047

Is this normal for other rMBP owners? What can I do to get 8 hours as advertised?
 
from what I´ve read, chrome is the problem.

it seems that is not yet optimized and chews all of your battery, try using safari and see if you can get more hours
 
unitethenations said:
I did do a search but did not find a thread with answers, so forgive me/please point me in the right direction if this has already been solved.

I just set up my rMBP and the battery life is 2 hours. I understand that intensive use can decrease these numbers so here are the running applications:

-Google chrome
-Postbox (mail app)
-System profiler
-Spotlight indexing (<1 hour left)
50% screen brightness

Battery info from system profiler:
Firmware Version: 702
Hardware Revision: 1
Cell Revision: 1206
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 7611
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8657
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 2
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -4644
 Voltage (mV): 12047

Is this normal for other rMBP owners? What can I do to get 8 hours as advertised?
Click to expand...
That indexing will burn through battery pretty fast. Same with your internet browser if you're doing video or something.
 
unitethenations said:
I did do a search but did not find a thread with answers, so forgive me/please point me in the right direction if this has already been solved.

I just set up my rMBP and the battery life is 2 hours. I understand that intensive use can decrease these numbers so here are the running applications:

-Google chrome
-Postbox (mail app)
-System profiler
-Spotlight indexing (<1 hour left)
50% screen brightness

Battery info from system profiler:
Firmware Version: 702
Hardware Revision: 1
Cell Revision: 1206
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 7611
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8657
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 2
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -4644
 Voltage (mV): 12047

Is this normal for other rMBP owners? What can I do to get 8 hours as advertised?
Click to expand...

Use safari. On mine, I get way more than you did.
 
Nostalgia said:
from what I´ve read, chrome is the problem.

it seems that is not yet optimized and chews all of your battery, try using safari and see if you can get more hours
Click to expand...

Turned chrome off and time remaining (on battery) went from 1:11 --> 1:53.

Hrududu said:
That indexing will burn through battery pretty fast. Same with your internet browser if you're doing video or something.
Click to expand...

Indexing is apparently fininshed now (quicker than the estimate) and I'm still getting <2 hours. I'm not watching/editing videos. I just have those few applications open.
 
Can you close everything, restart your macbook, turn brightness to 50%, turn off wifi, and report your idle battery time estimates after 1 minute idle. (Also, tell us your battery % along with the time estimate. If your battery has only 25% charge left... 2 hours is expected)
 
aiyaaabatt said:
Can you close everything, restart your macbook, turn brightness to 50%, turn off wifi, and report your idle battery time estimates after 1 minute idle. (Also, tell us your battery % along with the time estimate. If your battery has only 25% charge left... 2 hours is expected)
Click to expand...

Ok. With a restart, no applications running (this is from my phone) and 50% brightness I'm showing 4 hours for a 91% charged battery.

How was an 8 hour estimate achieved if while not using my mac at all I'm getting half of that?
 
unitethenations said:
Ok. With a restart, no applications running (this is from my phone) and 50% brightness I'm showing 4 hours for a 91% charged battery.

How was an 8 hour estimate achieved if while not using my mac at all I'm getting half of that?
Click to expand...

Are you actually getting 2 hours of battery life or is the estimate 2 hours?
 
unitethenations said:
How was an 8 hour estimate achieved if while not using my mac at all I'm getting half of that?
Click to expand...
If you're asking how Apple got that estimate, it's in the small print at the bottom of the MBP spec page.

The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The HD movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 720p content with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%.
Click to expand...

Probably worth mentioning that they don't have Flash installed when they do their tests. IMO, computer manufacturers battery life tests are like car manufactures fuel efficiency tests. Most consumers will never get either of those numbers. :eek:
 
What apps are using significant energy when you click to get the estimated time remaining?
 
Try using it for a couple of days to see if this continues, brand new batteries might not give accurate estimates or the best performance on the first use.

Also, check Activity Monitor for your CPU usage. Sometimes, kernel_task takes up 100% CPU on my rMBP, draining my battery really quickly. Sleeping it for 5 seconds may fix this, if you see that happening.
 
The current drain of 4600mA is excessive. No wonder you get less than two hours. At your indicated battery charge of 7611mAh the battery will last for 1.8 hours. A normal discharge rate wouldn't be much more than 1500mA max, which would equate to five hours. There could be a partial short, or other hardware fault. I'm sure the batteries aren't designed for that kind of discharge rate, which could result in internal overheating, and shortened battery life.
 
Daniel L said:
What apps are using significant energy when you click to get the estimated time remaining?
Click to expand...

Chrome mostly. But when I turned it off the battery life did not significantly improve.

----------
thurgood said:
are you on the base config?
Click to expand...

No. 2.6/16GB/1TB.

----------
Daniel L said:
Check activity monitor too. Having an estimate that low isn't normal for sure.
Click to expand...

I did. It usually only mentions chrome, and sometimes no apps at all, but battery life will still be low or the estimate changes erratically.

----------
drambuie said:
The current drain of 4600mA is excessive. No wonder you get less than two hours. At your indicated battery charge of 7611mAh the battery will last for 1.8 hours. A normal discharge rate wouldn't be much more than 1500mA max, which would equate to five hours. There could be a partial short, or other hardware fault. I'm sure the batteries aren't designed for that kind of discharge rate, which could result in internal overheating, and shortened battery life.
Click to expand...

Hmm. This information is helpful but worrisome. I earlier had trouble getting it to recognize a disk, and it has shut off randomly 3 times since i set it up. I wonder if there is a problem with the power supply that is causing all of these issues.

----------
MacSumo said:
if you're in the 14 day purchase window, demand a refund or exchange.
Click to expand...

I'm going to take it in for the random shutdowns + erratic battery estimates. Due to the holiday I fortunately have until January to return it/ ask for a refund.

----------
jz- said:
Try using it for a couple of days to see if this continues, brand new batteries might not give accurate estimates or the best performance on the first use.

Also, check Activity Monitor for your CPU usage. Sometimes, kernel_task takes up 100% CPU on my rMBP, draining my battery really quickly. Sleeping it for 5 seconds may fix this, if you see that happening.
Click to expand...

This was actually really helpful. It's been ~ 1 week and now when I turn on the computer a get a more decent estimate (4-6 hours) but normal usage (web pages + mail) still brings it down to 2 hours or less. I will be taking i to the store as it is also randomly shutting down and restarting.

Thank you for all the advice everyone.
 
My first mid 2012 rMBP had a faulty battery with similar issues. It also wouldn't charge most of the time and other times system profiler said that a battery wasn't installed (even though it was running on battery power). Got the computer replaced by Apple and the new one has been fine for a year now.

I'd take it up with Apple to either get it fixed or get a replacement.
 
Usually it is very simple to track down excessive battery use. While display brightness, keyboard backlight and maybe connected peripherals can have some effect, there are usually only two things that can bring your battery life down that much:

CPU load
GPU switch (if a dGPU is available)

Step 1: Check the CPU load (i.e. using activity monitor). If it is above 10% permanently some process is running and sucking your battery power

Step 2: Check if the discrete GPU is activated, i.e. by going to "About this Mac" and "More Info..." Some software might be requesting this (e.g. Postbox), and it will immediately cut your battery life in half.

If the above steps don't reveal anything, i.e. if you system is mostly idle and the discrete GPU is not active, and the battery estimate is still low, then maybe a trip to the Apple store is in order.



PS: A list of some notorious battery suckers that look somewhat innocent:
Google Hangouts (+ it keeps the dGPU even after the hangout ends)
Skype (dGPU)
twitch.tv (the streams are badly coded, probably flash, and use a lot of CPU power)
 
For me, i used mine for 5-6 hours with pdfs, safari, study stuff 50% screen.


Playing games like dota 2 at 100% screen brightness will drain the battery in 1:20 hour. 50% is more at 2 hours or more. This is at 1920x1080 resolution.
 
unitethenations said:
I did do a search but did not find a thread with answers, so forgive me/please point me in the right direction if this has already been solved.

I just set up my rMBP and the battery life is 2 hours. I understand that intensive use can decrease these numbers so here are the running applications:

-Google chrome
-Postbox (mail app)
-System profiler
-Spotlight indexing (<1 hour left)
50% screen brightness

Battery info from system profiler:
Firmware Version: 702
Hardware Revision: 1
Cell Revision: 1206
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 7611
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8657
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 2
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -4644
 Voltage (mV): 12047

Is this normal for other rMBP owners? What can I do to get 8 hours as advertised?
Click to expand...
There's your problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back