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why is my battery so terrible??

shenan1982 said:
Drink the kool-aid dude.
Click to expand...

What cool aid?

You said Apple does their battery testing at one click of brightness, which corresponds to around a brightness 6.25%, you said that is one of the reasons the person was not getting the same battery life as Apples claims

Apple does their testing at 12 click 75% brightness, not sure why you are spreading misinformation. Since you claim you use your display at 2/3(67%) I see no reason why you could not at least get the claimed battery life. Most of the reviews I have seen have come pretty close to what Apple also claims.

Anyways The OP thinks he found out what was causing the drain and it had nothing to do with your inaccurate claims off Apple fixing the battery life numbers. So ahead and spread more misinformation and tell people they drink cool aid.
 
Dropbox is known to use A LOT of battery. It should get much better when the initial sync is done.

Also be aware of torrents, or at least lower the maximum amount of peers if you need that extra hour of battery.
 
poobear said:
Dropbox is known to use A LOT of battery. It should get much better when the initial sync is done.

Also be aware of torrents, or at least lower the maximum amount of peers if you need that extra hour of battery.
Click to expand...

it's kind weird tho. because my old rMBP or MBA doesn't effect it as much when the same apps. with rMP, losing 2 hours (out of 9) is huge. :(
 
kingofwale said:
Another issue, my battery cycle is at 21 when I got it (Brand new from Bestbuy).
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Do you mean that you managed to put 21 cycles on the battery already, or do you mean that the battery cycle count was already showing 21 after you booted it up for the first time? If the latter, that is not normal.

-- Nathan
 
NathanA said:
Do you mean that you managed to put 21 cycles on the battery already, or do you mean that the battery cycle count was already showing 21 after you booted it up for the first time? If the latter, that is not normal.
Click to expand...
It is quite common for Mac notebooks to have some cycles on the battery when purchased. While most have only a few cycles, even 21 isn't anything to be concerned about.
 
I had better battery life the second day I owned mine after restoring my Time machine backup and dropbox and such. I assume it was also doing its Indexing thing as well that first day. Since then I am getting 8+ hours with no issues. Just give it a little time.

I do run iStat Menus (can't recommend it enough, honestly) and click-to-flash on Safari. Chrome really heats up the new MacBook and kills battery. Not sure on Firefox but maybe I'll do some testing. Also, Parallels 10 VMs (running Windows 10 tech preview and Ubuntu) will also definitely impact battery, though not too bad for what little I do in the VMs.

Good Luck
 
GGJstudios said:
It is quite common for Mac notebooks to have some cycles on the battery when purchased. While most have only a few cycles, even 21 isn't anything to be concerned about.
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It may or may not be a red herring re: the OP's complaint about his own battery life experiences and expectations, but it did stick out at me. Short of a refurb unit, I have never heard of a Mac laptop with a built-in battery showing a double-digit cycle count straight out of the factory. It occurred to me that, since OP said he bought @ Best Buy, perhaps he was unwittingly sold an open box unit.

-- Nathan
 
GGJstudios said:
That is certainly a possibility.
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nope. it's sealed and everything, I used to work at bestbuy, so it's not hard to spot an open boxed item.

21 cycle on the computer the second i got it

last time i bought a refurbished mba, only 7 cycles
 
kingofwale said:
nope. it's sealed and everything, I used to work at bestbuy, so it's not hard to spot an open boxed item.

21 cycle on the computer the second i got it

last time i bought a refurbished mba, only 7 cycles
Click to expand...
It is still no cause for concern. Relax and enjoy your Mac.
 
kingofwale said:
nope. it's sealed and everything, I used to work at bestbuy, so it's not hard to spot an open boxed item.

21 cycle on the computer the second i got it

last time i bought a refurbished mba, only 7 cycles
Click to expand...

21 is certainly uncommon for new out of the box. However no cause for concern if imagine. Lowest I've gotten brand new was 1! Woo-hoo lol.
 
kingofwale said:
looks like dropbox, uploading/downloading drains battery.

now I'm using VLC/tabs but no downloads. now it's 83% and 8 hours left
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Anything using the wifi or Bluetooth radios will drain battery.

Dude, be patient. I was freaking out the first day when it looked like I wouldn't get six hours. But lots of stuff is getting settled in the first few days of use. Now I get 8 hours easy, with brightness turned up the way I like it.
 
so I downloaded "istat" as recommended by someone here (Thank you btw)

interested observation:

1... at 100% unplugged, it shows 7 hours with 3 taps and video playing and downloading. I can accept that.

2... after 14 minutes on the throne with this... battery still showing 100% (what?)

3... batter health according to iStat now at 95% (down fom 98% 2 days ago), 50xx/52xx. That is a bit alarming


Conclusion, buggy software around the new macbook, I hope future update can help solve this
 
kingofwale said:
so I downloaded "istat" as recommended by someone here (Thank you btw)

interested observation:

1... at 100% unplugged, it shows 7 hours with 3 taps and video playing and downloading. I can accept that.

2... after 14 minutes on the throne with this... battery still showing 100% (what?)

3... batter health according to iStat now at 95% (down fom 98% 2 days ago), 50xx/52xx. That is a bit alarming


Conclusion, buggy software around the new macbook, I hope future update can help solve this
Click to expand...


My base model is exactly the same. After using it for a week battery is at 95% from 98% when I first got it. I am also a little concerned the battery is a dud but I am hoping with an update it will fix it. There is a warranty so if the battery keeps degrading then Apple can just replace it.
 
kingofwale said:
don't care much for cycle, but I am concern about 6 hours battery life I'm getting with minimal usage.
Click to expand...
There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.
kingofwale said:
1... at 100% unplugged, it shows 7 hours with 3 taps and video playing and downloading. I can accept that.

2... after 14 minutes on the throne with this... battery still showing 100% (what?)

3... batter health according to iStat now at 95% (down fom 98% 2 days ago), 50xx/52xx. That is a bit alarming
Click to expand...
Battery stats are not entirely accurate. You're putting too much emphasis on the displayed battery condition, rather than simply using your Mac. Your battery is fine. It is perfectly normal if your battery health (maximum capacity) is more or less than 100%, even when brand new, or if it fluctuates up or down over time. The gradual decline is not in a straight line downward, and it may decline more rapidly at some times and slower at others. For further details, read the CHECKING STATUS AND HEALTH section of the following link.
​
The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
 
GGJstudios said:
There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.
​
The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.
Click to expand...

Are you a robot? :) It's like any mention of batteries light your bat-signal. :)
 
PBG4 Dude said:
Are you a robot? :) It's like any mention of batteries light your bat-signal. :)
Click to expand...
There's only so many ways to respond to the same question. I can't control the fact that people keep asking the same questions over and over again, rather than searching threads to find where it's been answered before.
 
battery cycle is now at 23 (up from 21)
battery health down to 94% (down from 98%)

I'm starting to suspect there is some issue with the battery health
 
kingofwale said:
battery cycle is now at 23 (up from 21)
battery health down to 94% (down from 98%)

I'm starting to suspect there is some issue with the battery health
Click to expand...

I wouldn't obsess over it. It could drop down to 92% and then stay there for the next year.
 
kingofwale said:
looks like dropbox, uploading/downloading drains battery.

now I'm using VLC/tabs but no downloads. now it's 83% and 8 hours left
Click to expand...

If possible, use QuickTime Player on battery power rather than VLC. I flew for about 5 hours on Saturday (Cancun - Washington, Washington - Toronto) watching videos the whole time at about mid brightness or higher and arrived home at about 50% charge.

If some of your videos are MKV, the app Mp4 tools ( http://www.emmgunn.com/mp4tools/mp4toolshome.html ) will quickly convert the audio without touching the video and place them in a QuickTime-compatible file format.
 
NewbieCanada said:
If possible, use QuickTime Player on battery power rather than VLC. I flew for about 5 hours on Saturday (Cancun - Washington, Washington - Toronto) watching videos the whole time at about mid brightness or higher and arrived home at about 50% charge.

If some of your videos are MKV, the app Mp4 tools ( http://www.emmgunn.com/mp4tools/mp4toolshome.html ) will quickly convert the audio without touching the video and place them in a QuickTime-compatible file format.
Click to expand...

Or Subler works fine, if just transcoding the video and audio from an MKV to MP4 container. I use it all the time.
 
headcase said:
Or Subler works fine, if just transcoding the video and audio from an MKV to MP4 container. I use it all the time.
Click to expand...

It didn't work well for me in my first days with a Mac, so I tried MP4 Tools and haven't looked back. I rarely transcode since I normally use KODI for Mac playback and Beamer for Apple TV playback.
 
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