Battery life after 10.8.1 update: Any better?

[virginiaplain0]

Has anyone noticed a positive change in battery life after updating to 10.8.1? I haven't. My battery life is still 85%, down from 88% with Lion. My computer lasts for 2 hours, max. 3 hours, one one charge. It used to last for 4 hours.

So no, I don't notice a positive change in battery life.

 

[GGJstudios]

Has anyone noticed a positive change in battery life after updating to 10.8.1? I haven't. My battery life is still 85%, down from 88% with Lion.

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. Upgrading to a new OS doesn't change your battery health. For further details, read the CHECKING STATUS AND HEALTH section of the following link.

My computer lasts for 2 hours, max. 3 hours, one one charge. It used to last for 4 hours.

So no, I don't notice a positive change in battery life.

There are many factors that impact your battery life, many of which have more impact on battery life than which OS version you're running. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[TexasChemE]

I've noticed a slight difference, but not a huge one.

 

[tcphoto]

I have lost about an hour on my battery after installing 10.8.1 from 10.7.4. Apple Tech called me and had me run a utility and send them the results a month ago but I think that the update was premature. Perhaps they will actually test it more and come up with a solution.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

My battery life has gotten worse from 10.8 to 10.8.1

Previously, it was about 4 hours. Now, it's 2:30 to 3 hours. Safari is suddenly hogging CPU terribly.

13" MBP 2010

 

[50548]

My battery life has gotten worse from 10.8 to 10.8.1

Previously, it was about 4 hours. Now, it's 2:30 to 3 hours. Safari is suddenly hogging CPU terribly.

13" MBP 2010

Try resetting your SMC.

 

[twintin]

No battery issues with my MBA 2012 running 10.8.1. With 54% battery left and 50% screen brightness my MBA reports close to 5h emaining time with light use (safari + mail + VPN).

 

[Krazy Bill]

With 54% battery left and 50% screen brightness my MBA reports close to 5h emaining time with light use (safari + mail + VPN).

I dare you to actually time that remaining time. Mine often starts out just fine but the time calculation dwindles rapidly after awhile.

 

[odraude]

7 hrs clamed by apple

:d

 

[GGJstudios]

:d

From the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the Battery FAQ:

• Your "time remaining" indication is an ever-changing estimate, based on the current workload of your system. It will fluctuate up and down from minute to minute as your power demands change. It is not perfectly accurate, but only an estimate.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

Try resetting your SMC.

Already tried that... multiple times. Still not working.

In fact, it seems to be getting worse. (Though Safari's crashing seems to have improved some.)

 

[GGJstudios]

Already tried that... multiple times. Still not working.

In fact, it seems to be getting worse.

Resetting the SMC won't help if you have processes running that consume system resources and increase power demands.

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

Resetting the SMC won't help if you have processes running that consume system resources and increase power demands.

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

Here it is. Battery life and CPU usage improves vastly when Safari isn't running. Safari CPU usage was never this bad 10.8.1

.

 

[GGJstudios]

Here it is. Battery life and CPU usage improves vastly when Safari isn't running. Safari CPU usage was never this bad 10.8.1

View attachment 354927.

I see you have Flash installed. For Flash-related issues:

• Find your Flash version and make sure it's the latest version available. Never install or update Flash from a pop-up on a website. Always go to Adobe's site to get Flash or updates.
• Install ClickToFlash (Safari), Flashblock (Firefox) or FlashBlock (Chrome) to control which Flash content plays on websites.
• Try using the YouTube HTML5 Video Player to watch YouTube videos, when available. (May impact fullscreen viewing. See link for details.) Some have reported better performance with HTML5, while some have reported worse. Try it and find out what works best for you.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

I see you have Flash installed. For Flash-related issues:

• Find your Flash version and make sure it's the latest version available. Never install or update Flash from a pop-up on a website. Always go to Adobe's site to get Flash or updates.
• Install ClickToFlash (Safari), Flashblock (Firefox) or FlashBlock (Chrome) to control which Flash content plays on websites.
• Try using the YouTube HTML5 Video Player to watch YouTube videos, when available. (May impact fullscreen viewing. See link for details.) Some have reported better performance with HTML5, while some have reported worse. Try it and find out what works best for you.

It's not Flash (which is on the latest version, btw). After a force quit of that process:



EDIT: I have also tried temporarily disabling Java, Plugins, and Extensions. Makes little-to-no difference (like 0:30 to battery life w/ both disabled, which is not enough).

 

[GGJstudios]

It's not Flash (which is on the latest version, btw). After a force quit of that process:

View attachment 354928

That's not the right way to disable Flash. Did you restart Safari after disabling everything?

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

That's not the right way to disable Flash. Did you restart Safari after disabling everything?

Yes, I restarted Safari after disabling each of those. That was was several days ago, actually.

The picture where I force quit Flash was just now, but I'm fairly certain that's not the problem. I could try restarting Safari again with all that disabled and posting the screen shot?

(Possibly irrelevant, but Safari has failed to block popup windows since upgrading to ML, even though I keep that box checked.)

 

[GGJstudios]

I could try restarting Safari again with all that disabled and posting the screen shot?

Try that.

(Possibly irrelevant, but Safari has failed to block popup windows since upgrading to ML, even though I keep that box checked.)

That may or may not be relevant, but it should certainly work. However, there are some types of popups that it may not block.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

Try that.

That may or may not be relevant, but it should certainly work. However, there are some types of popups that it may not block.

Wadya know!

After quitting Safari:


Safari active, but with Java, Extensions, Plugins, and *Javascript* disabled:
(Javascript was not disabled when I tried this before)


Safari active, with only Javascript disabled:


So the problem is clearly with Javascript! In order to post these screenshots, I had to reenable Javascript and restart Safari, and sure enough, the CPU ramps back up...

Now, what could that mean?

 

[GGJstudios]

So the problem is clearly with the way Safari is running Javascript! In order to post these screenshots, I had to reenable Javascript and restart Safari, and sure enough, the CPU ramps back up...

Now, what could that mean?

Simply having JavaScript enabled shouldn't drive up CPU usage. However, some scripts may. I use JavaScript Blocker to control what scripts run on sites.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

Simply having JavaScript enabled shouldn't drive up CPU usage. However, some scripts may. I use JavaScript Blocker to control what scripts run on sites.

Maybe it "shouldn't," but disabling Javascript is the only thing I have found so far that appears to solve my problem.

Here is an earlier issue that appeared out of nowhere about three days after installing ML, if that explains anything:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15356059#post15356059

Everything was working fine, and then out of nowhere, Safari starts eating up RAM and CPU, until my computer becomes unusable. I found that disabling Adblock fixed this, but then Safari's popup blocker stopped working. (It had been ages since I had seen a popup.) Then, with 10.8.1, Safari starts acting up again, but this time with CPU only, and the problem appears to be with enabling Javascript.

 

[GGJstudios]

Then, with 10.8.1, Safari starts acting up again, but this time with CPU only and the problem is with Javascript.

Unfortunately, too many sites rely on JavaScript, so disabling it isn't a practical solution for most people. You may want to try JavaScript Blocker to see if it helps. This is the first report I've read about anyone having problems with JavaScript, so it's possible that there's something unique about your configuration that's causing the problem.

 

[ObeseSquirrel]

Unfortunately, too many sites rely on JavaScript, so disabling it isn't a practical solution for most people. You may want to try JavaScript Blocker to see if it helps. This is the first report I've read about anyone having problems with JavaScript, so it's possible that there's something unique about your configuration that's causing the problem.

Well... with Javascript Blocker, battery life is marginally better. And Safari is only hogging about half the memory it was before, and WebContent's CPU usage does seem lower. So, an Adblock without the memory leak, which actually works!

But it seems like only a temporary solution, that really just masks my problem. I'll take this issue to the Apple Support forums and see if any of them any answers. If you have any ideas, I'm certainly listening. I'm all out. Thank you for your help.

 

[MacApple21]

I've been using my MBP Retina (top spec model) since the midle of August, with both 10.8 and 10.8.1 and I haven't had any battery problems whatsoever. I'm currently running Safari, iCal, iTunes, Numbers and Word, and I'm at 81% and 30-35% screen light, and my Mac reports to have 7 hours left of battery.

I think it has improved a bit..

 

[32KFJ]

since i upgraded to ML my macbook pro late 2011 has only a batterylife of 4:30 h... on Lion it was about 5:30-6:30 hours... and the update didn't change anything...