Battery life for 13" and 15" Macbook Pro

[WB94]

You literally had one full rundown test at 9+ hours and another at 2+ hours? Were you doing calculations for NASA? Any other details you could provide?

Yes and the strange thing is that I had more applications running on the 9 hours run. (steam, messages, and 2-3 hours of video playback in safari)

For the 2 hour cycle I was only running Safari with 4-6 tabs at 50% brightness as I said in my original post. About 1 hour of video playback. rest of the tabs were forums and sports/news websites.

Now on my 5th cycle I have gone from 100% to 92% in just 11 minutes. Only safari open with 3 tabs open under 50% brightness. Estimated remaining time is 2 hours 6 minutes and seems on course for that at this rate.

EDIT: 100% to 80% in 29 minutes with 1 tab open (this one) between 92% and 80% (now 1:59 estimated remaining). I am now testing 80% to 60% with Google Chrome to see if it makes a difference.

EDIT 2: 80% to 76% in 29 minutes. Switching to Chrome has made a massive difference and the estimated time remaining is 6:43. Doesn't really make much sense at all. Will try installing adblock on chrome now, as I had that on safari.

 

[thesaint024]

Yes and the strange thing is that I had more applications running on the 9 hours run. (steam, messages, and 2-3 hours of video playback in safari)

For the 2 hour cycle I was only running Safari with 4-6 tabs at 50% brightness as I said in my original post. About 1 hour of video playback. rest of the tabs were forums and sports/news websites.

Now on my 5th cycle I have gone from 100% to 92% in just 11 minutes. Only safari open with 3 tabs open under 50% brightness. Estimated remaining time is 2 hours 6 minutes and seems on course for that at this rate.

EDIT: 100% to 80% in 29 minutes with 1 tab open (this one) between 92% and 80% (now 1:59 estimated remaining). I am now testing 80% to 60% with Google Chrome to see if it makes a difference.

Don't know what to say to that. You can go through the steps outlined in this thread, i.e. reinstall Sierra, brightness, monitor battery, etc. But I really don't know how you can vary 9 hours and 2 hours in real rundown. The variance between you most and least runtime, as well as a 2 hour runtime? Not going to call you a liar or anything, but there's got to be some missing information here. That just doesn't make sense.

 

[WB94]

Don't know what to say to that. You can go through the steps outlined in this thread, i.e. reinstall Sierra, brightness, monitor battery, etc. But I really don't know how you can vary 9 hours and 2 hours in real rundown. The variance between you most and least runtime, as well as a 2 hour runtime? Not going to call you a liar or anything, but there's got to be some missing information here. That just doesn't make sense.

It seems safari was the issue for me (see my edit). I would be tempted to say the touch bar is the problem, however I was using safari during my 9 hour run so it must be something I did? Only extension I have installed is adblock which never affected my macbook air's battery. Very strange...

 

[SRTM]

So off a full charge, my 15" gives me 3 hours of battery life every time.
All I'm doing right now is web browsing with safari. Keyboard and screen brightness don't seem to be making a difference.
Is it worth taking to the Genius Bar to get replaced?

 

[WB94]

So off a full charge, my 15" gives me 3 hours of battery life every time.
All I'm doing right now is web browsing with safari. Keyboard and screen brightness don't seem to be making a difference.
Is it worth taking to the Genius Bar to get replaced?

Try switching to another browser. Switching from Safari to Chrome has made a huge difference for me.

 

[SRTM]

Try switching to another browser. Switching from Safari to Chrome has made a huge difference for me.

I just switched from chrome to safari haha. Both are affecting the battery equally.

 

[WB94]

I just switched from chrome to safari haha. Both are affecting the battery equally.

It's all very odd, there doesn't seem to be a particular pattern to the poor battery life. Is there anything eating up your CPU when you look at Activity Monitor?

 

[SRTM]

It looks like its flicking between Chrome, chrome helper, activity monitor and WindowServer. Chrome sometimes hits 20%.
I just tried a SMC reset, and will see if that helps.

Edit: 3:45 after a smc reset. Yea something is wrong, im gonna chat with Apple.

 

[dgdosen]

Do you all "Send diagnostics to Apple" via Security & Privacy / Privacy?

Just wondering...

 

[skids929]

It just got here actually. I'm charging it to 100% then I'll set a timer and do actual normal day stuff, I'm going to the office tonight so I'll bring it with me and use it instead of my 2013. Hoping for at least 8 hours

Curious to know if you're battery life improved with your i7 configuration? Did you get a rhythm in your set up that got you a good 8-9 hours yet? When I came into the market I was convinced I'd get the i7 in mine until I experienced the battery life issues on the i5 I tested out. Since it has leveled out to a consistent 8-9 for me wondering if the i7 would do the same.

 

[thesaint024]

@WB94 and @SRTM - did you guys reinstall Sierra? It works wonders for those who tried it. I never needed to with my clean install, but apparently it helps even those with clean installs and battery issues. Supposedly painless and keeps all settings.

 

[RobinInOR]

I've got the i7 - yesterday I was on battery 9 hours before I plugged it back in - battery reported 5% left.Normally I get 6 hours before I plug it back in, with the battery reporting 10-12% remaining. I've just started cycle 8. This morning I had to reboot - I was dumb when I plugged it in to my LG monitor - it was as 5%, and I left twitter and safari open. After a couple of hours on charge I put it to sleep, and this morning it wouldn't wake. Usually it comes back when I unplug the monitor, but this time I had to restart.

Right now largest impact in activity monitor is Battery Health 2 lol.

 

[Bobthemonkey]

I've got the i7 - yesterday I was on battery 9 hours before I plugged it back in - battery reported 5% left.Normally I get 6 hours before I plug it back in, with the battery reporting 10-12% remaining. I've just started cycle 8. This morning I had to reboot - I was dumb when I plugged it in to my LG monitor - it was as 5%, and I left twitter and safari open. After a couple of hours on charge I put it to sleep, and this morning it wouldn't wake. Usually it comes back when I unplug the monitor, but this time I had to restart.

Right now largest impact in activity monitor is Battery Health 2 lol.

So, not too sure whats happening, - earlier in the week I was lucky to get 6 hours. Somehow now I'm getting numbers in coconut battery which sum up to in excess of the stated 10hrs. Light browsing in Safari, bit of Excel, Slack and some java programme. Only notable exception is any kind of email programme. Machine is 13" i7/512gb/16gb.

I have done the PRAM and SMC reset; haven't reinstalled Sierra, but did it as a new setup with only a few GB of iCloud files and gmail to sync.

Long may it continue (I think). I had psyched myself up to return it in the week and look at a refurb 2015, if I could fine a 16gb model. The cash saving would be nice, but if I can get this to behave the way it should then I suspect I will keep with it.

 

[skids929]

I've got the i7 - yesterday I was on battery 9 hours before I plugged it back in - battery reported 5% left.Normally I get 6 hours before I plug it back in, with the battery reporting 10-12% remaining. I've just started cycle 8. This morning I had to reboot - I was dumb when I plugged it in to my LG monitor - it was as 5%, and I left twitter and safari open. After a couple of hours on charge I put it to sleep, and this morning it wouldn't wake. Usually it comes back when I unplug the monitor, but this time I had to restart.

Right now largest impact in activity monitor is Battery Health 2 lol.

So you are getting 9 hours or you got 9 hours once? When you got the 9 hours what were you doing, just light surfing?
[doublepost=1480286141][/doublepost]

So, not too sure whats happening, - earlier in the week I was lucky to get 6 hours. Somehow now I'm getting numbers in coconut battery which sum up to in excess of the stated 10hrs. Light browsing in Safari, bit of Excel, Slack and some java programme. Only notable exception is any kind of email programme. Machine is 13" i7/512gb/16gb.

I have done the PRAM and SMC reset; haven't reinstalled Sierra, but did it as a new setup with only a few GB of iCloud files and gmail to sync.

Long may it continue (I think). I had psyched myself up to return it in the week and look at a refurb 2015, if I could fine a 16gb model. The cash saving would be nice, but if I can get this to behave the way it should then I suspect I will keep with it.

What do you have dialed down? So you are getting basically all day off and on usage with those numbers. 9-10 hours consistently?

 

[RobinInOR]

So you are getting 9 hours or you got 9 hours once? When you got the 9 hours what were you doing, just light surfing?

I've gotten 9 hours 2ce, but mostly 6-7 hours with 10% remaining, so those may have gone 7-8 hours. When I got 9 hours yesterday I was on macrumors (with Adguard), twitter was up and auto refreshing, and I downloaded 2 apps (gimp and Luminar), and I was moving 2K photos from an external drive hooked up to my old iMac (so a shared connection through finder) to my internal SSD.

I keep my screen pretty dim (7 ticks up from the bottom), and my keyboard light at 2 ticks.

 

[skids929]

I've gotten 9 hours 2ce, but mostly 6-7 hours with 10% remaining, so those may have gone 7-8 hours. When I got 9 hours yesterday I was on macrumors (with Adguard), twitter was up and auto refreshing, and I downloaded 2 apps (gimp and Luminar), and I was moving 2K photos from an external drive hooked up to my old iMac (so a shared connection through finder) to my internal SSD.

I keep my screen pretty dim (7 ticks up from the bottom), and my keyboard light at 2 ticks.

so your 9 hour usage is what I do daily for the most part, any heavy usage I am plugged in. So let me ask, when you get 6-7 hours what are you doing? And how long have you had yours?

 

[RobinInOR]

About the same thing, actually. The shorter times are when I have it at work - I still have twitter updating all the time - one thing different is I use the 'spy' page on macrumors to keep updating all the posts. That I would expect would use more battery since Safari would be working harder. At work I keep the display brighter as well, so just that could account for the difference.

One of my 6-7 hour sessions was installing homebrew, building apache and installing that and php, rebuilding a local website I have. The homebrew builds I would expect would keep this a bit busy. I also had Duet installed but not used, but I uninstalled it when I heard it might be causing some of my crashes.

That seems in line with less time, when the processor was busy for longer periods of time. I wasn't looking at the activity monitor though, and didn't have the battery watcher installed so I couldn't track power changes.

Right now I'm at 3 hours on battery, with 82% remaining. But only light usage, Safari and twitter watching. No video or photo activity. It says 14 hours remaining but we know how accurate that is - not.

I got it Tues Nov 15.

Right now I'm going to start a Handbrake DVD rip - usually I do that plugged in but I'm curious to see what it does.

 

[skids929]

About the same thing, actually. The shorter times are when I have it at work - I still have twitter updating all the time - one thing different is I use the 'spy' page on macrumors to keep updating all the posts. That I would expect would use more battery since Safari would be working harder. At work I keep the display brighter as well, so just that could account for the difference.

One of my 6-7 hour sessions was installing homebrew, building apache and installing that and php, rebuilding a local website I have. The homebrew builds I would expect would keep this a bit busy. I also had Duet installed but not used, but I uninstalled it when I heard it might be causing some of my crashes.

That seems in line with less time, when the processor was busy for longer periods of time. I wasn't looking at the activity monitor though, and didn't have the battery watcher installed so I couldn't track power changes.

Right now I'm at 3 hours on battery, with 82% remaining. But only light usage, Safari and twitter watching. No video or photo activity. It says 14 hours remaining but we know how accurate that is - not.

I got it Tues Nov 15.

Interesting, I am at 3 hours of usage (light internet some youtube etc.) myself and my % is 83 with 11 hours 52 minutes left. I am on an i5 13 inch.

Thanks for answering my questions reason I ask is because I was on the fence about the i7 upgrade. Money is not the issue, I just wanted to max out the machine so I can get more years out of it. The stories of battery life made me order an i5 since I thought maybe the i7 was the culprit. You've proven otherwise.

 

[kwandrews]

You are the second poster that mentions brightness @30-35%. I think that matters.

From all the posts I read, my best guess is that:
- SMC reset is more gimmick than solution
- Sierra reinstall is a must
- Screen brightness (30-40% vs 60-70%) adds 1-2 hours in battery life

Let us know how your new run ended (standby+usage time) and run it again.

Can't wait for my tMBP to arrive !!!

I can't imagine running at brightness 30-35%. How can you see anythi8ng like that? I've alway run mine in the 65-75% range on battery. The 13" non-touch base and 12" MBr m5 get around 10 hours like.

 

[RobinInOR]

That's why I maxed it out - I tend to keep my hardware as long as possible (why I have a 2009 iMac and a 2005 PowerBook lol) - I hate upgrading. The DVD rip I'm doing right now will be done in 18 minutes, so we'll see how that hits the battery.

 

[kwandrews]

Do you all "Send diagnostics to Apple" via Security & Privacy / Privacy?

Just wondering...

I've just turned it off, we'll see if that helps. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[RobinInOR]

I can't imagine running at brightness 30-35%. How can you see anythi8ng like that? I've alway run mine in the 65-75% range on battery. The 13" non-touch base and 12" MBr m5 get around 10 hours like.

At home we don't have lots of lights on, only light from the windows and some task lighting. We tend to keep our house darker than most people, so even now, 30% brightness is very glaring. At work I have it up to 75% or so, my office is brightly lit.

 

[skids929]

That's why I maxed it out - I tend to keep my hardware as long as possible (why I have a 2009 iMac and a 2005 PowerBook lol) - I hate upgrading. The DVD rip I'm doing right now will be done in 18 minutes, so we'll see how that hits the battery.

Agreed, not a fan of upgrading! This is replacing a 2006 white MB!

So you are happy with your i7 choice then?

 

[RobinInOR]

Very happy indeed. I'm getting odd problems here and there - most annoying is the wake on sleep crashes, but that's going to be software so I'll be patient until 10.12.2 gets here.

OK, Handbrake rip done (a 720p movie, nothing terribly high quality), took 20 minutes since my last post and battery went from 83% to 66%. So that was an obvious hit. Still reports 9 hours left which means nothing of course so 83% "14 hrs" remaining down to 66% "9.5 hrs" remaining for a 20 minutes rip. Fans didn't even come on.

Oh, and others have mentioned whether diagnostics are turned on - all of that kind of stuff is turned off. We're on satellite with a small data cap, so I don't allow outside transmissions unless I start it. I even keep mail off and manually update that.

 

[SRTM]

@WB94 and @SRTM - did you guys reinstall Sierra? It works wonders for those who tried it. I never needed to with my clean install, but apparently it helps even those with clean installs and battery issues. Supposedly painless and keeps all settings.

I dont see how a reinstall will help really. I just got this on Friday. But maybe i'll try it as a last resort.

I spoke with Apple and they made me reset my keychain and reset the SMC, it helped a little, but not much. Gonna have to follow up with them.