Battery life for 13" and 15" Macbook Pro

[JohnnyGo]

And the conclusion is? 7hrs?

For now I don't see the point upgrading from my 2015 model. Worse battery, I lose magsafe, usb ports, the SD card reader, have to bring dongles with me (and buy them). Will buy the Cannonlake with DP1.3 so I can power a 27" 5k external monitor for my photography. Hopefully they will also bump up resolution as the 1440X displayed resolution is a fudge since the screen resolution is the the same as 2015

No reason to upgrade from any 2015 model (or 2013/14 for that matter). The target audience for this new release is:
A) pre retina MBP owners (before 2012) that were waiting for a new form factor
B) MBA owners that wanted to upgrade to retina but wanted something lighter
C) 2012 MBP owners that paid a premium to go retina 1st gen and would be willing to pay a premium again or would like to upgrade after 4 years (early but understandable)

Any upgrades from more recent machines will be above and beyond Apple expectations. IT departments rarely upgrade machines with less than 3 years of use. Individuals spending their own money should follow the same rules. But if you have the extra $$$, go for it.

 

[SamVilde]

The target audience for this new release is:
A) pre retina MBP owners (before 2012) that were waiting for a new form factor

I have been watching this thread with such frustration. I am the target audience. I have gotten so much life and work out of this 2008 macbook (added RAM along the way, replaced battery, swapped out HD for SSD) that - while I'm unhappy about the price - I'm willing to pay for little extras in hopes of having another long-lasting machine.

But these battery stories, tho. I'm trying to wait until they get resolved or Apple offers a fix. I keep reading hoping someone will find the answer. Hopefully before this computer grinds to an actual halt.

 

[JohnnyGo]

I have been watching this thread with such frustration. I am the target audience. I have gotten so much life and work out of this 2008 macbook (added RAM along the way, replaced battery, swapped out HD for SSD) that - while I'm unhappy about the price - I'm willing to pay for little extras in hopes of having another long-lasting machine.

But these battery stories, tho. I'm trying to wait until they get resolved or Apple offers a fix. I keep reading hoping someone will find the answer. Hopefully before this computer grinds to an actual halt.

Don't worry Sam.

By all accounts, I was also worried but, apart from some lemons here and there, battery life is a software issue with MacOs Sierra and that is why everyone keeps getting different results (a hardware issue would be more constant).

However, because of smaller batteries, if one would really push this machines (encoding movies, compiling software) NONSTOP that will result in lower battery life than 2015 MBP. But that does not mean bad battery life. Is just below Apple normal/light use prediction of 10hrs and under the previous generation battery life under the same load.

For average users life me, I'm now certain that I can get 8-9 hrs when my tbMBP arrives and with a software fix and some minor modifications (lower brightness) I will get even more battery life. With my current MBA, I never use more than 50% brightness so I will try out the new MBP at 40% because the screen is so much brighter anyway.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Don't worry Sam.

By all accounts, I was also worried but, apart from some lemons here and there, battery life is a software issue with MacOs Sierra and that is why everyone keeps getting different results (a hardware issue would be more constant).

However, because of smaller batteries, if one would really push this machines (encoding movies, compiling software) NONSTOP that will result in lower battery life than 2015 MBP. But that does not mean bad battery life. Is just below Apple normal/light use prediction of 10hrs and under the previous generation battery life under the same load.

For average users life me, I'm now certain that I can get 8-9 hrs when my tbMBP arrives and with a software fix and some minor modifications (lower brightness) I will get even more battery life. With my current MBA, I never use more than 50% brightness so I will try out the new MBP at 40% because the screen is so much brighter anyway.

Well, yesterday I reported that I was satisfied because I got 8.5 hours of charge in normal usage at work.

This morning I woke up, unplugged, and started using. I was surprised to see it go from 100% to 95% relatively quickly, especially because I was using the same software at the same brightness.

Then I did a FaceTime with my wife and daughter. I could literally see the battery draining in terms of the estimated time remaining, so I opened Battery Health 2 and saw that mAH was >1,000 the entire time FaceTime was open. I checked the energy tab in Activity Monitor and FaceTime wasn't even listed, but when I went to the CPU tab there was a process with "av" or "video" in the name (don't recall it exactly) that seemed related to FaceTime that was using 75-80% CPU.

Will be interesting to see what I end up with on this cycle. I am down to 88% charge remaining and I've been on battery for 65 minutes. That would still suggest 9 hours, but the drain was much faster during the first 10% this time.

 

[SRTM]

What was Apple saying?

They told me to reset the keychain, SMC, and do a diagnostic test.
[doublepost=1480435006][/doublepost]Wow wtf. So this morning I unplugged my USB C adapter and monitor/mouse, and now im getting readings of 9 hours.
Maybe the adapter or monitor was draining all my battery down to 2:45... wth. Need to test this.
edit: Back down to 3 hours...this is really erratic

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Here's something to consider: I wonder if battery performance will decline further as more apps start to make use of the TB?

For example, Fantastical 2 just released an update with TB support. When that application is active, the TB is now lit up in the application area where it was not before. I can't imagine this won't use more power.

What happens when most of the apps we use have added TB support? How much will battery life decline as a result of that "second screen" being fully utilized?

 

[tc47]

My first post here. I'm so frustrated by the battery life on my tMBP 13", because I really love everything else about the laptop. Really considering returning it and getting the non TB version, 10-12 hours of battery life is a really big deal for me compared to to the 5-6 I'm getting now. That's around half of what I expected when I placed the order basically... sucks. But I really want touch ID for example, and love being able to charge the laptop on both sides. Not a 100% sure, but the non TB has both the USB C ports on one side, right?

 

[badlydrawnboy]

My first post here. I'm so frustrated by the battery life on my tMBP 13", because I really love everything else about the laptop. Really considering returning it and getting the non TB version, 10-12 hours of battery life is a really big deal for me compared to to the 5-6 I'm getting now. That's around half of what I expected when I placed the order basically... sucks. But I really want touch ID for example, and love being able to charge the laptop on both sides. Not a 100% sure, but the non TB has both the USB C ports on one side, right?

Have you tried reinstalling Sierra yet? That has helped a lot of people including me. I was getting 5-6.5 hours and now I'm getting 8.5.

If you really need 10-12 you should get the non-TB version (though I think that's closer to 10 than 12).

 

[kwandrews]

My first post here. I'm so frustrated by the battery life on my tMBP 13", because I really love everything else about the laptop. Really considering returning it and getting the non TB version, 10-12 hours of battery life is a really big deal for me compared to to the 5-6 I'm getting now. That's around half of what I expected when I placed the order basically... sucks. But I really want touch ID for example, and love being able to charge the laptop on both sides. Not a 100% sure, but the non TB has both the USB C ports on one side, right?

Yes, non-touch has both USB C on the left side, only the headphone jack is on the right. I had that one (moved to 15" now for processing power) and was getting around an avg of 10 hours. Sometimes more

 

[zedsdead]

I am most likely returning my tMBP 13" today also....the battery life is worse than my 2013 rMBP and that is just unacceptable. I have tried to make the most out the machine, and there are certainly many things I enjoy about it, but to pay several thousand dollars for a downgrade in battery life just isn't smart.

 

[thesaint024]

What I don't understand:

Coconut Battery shows 7000 mah max charge capacity on my 15'. iFixIt revealed the MacBook Pro battery has a rating of 11.40 V, which means my battery actually has 79.80 WH, compared to the 76.00 WH on paper and shown by Apple. It shows roughly the same 105% every time in Coconut.

How is this possible? Do others have similar ratings?

I've always had higher than rated numbers for battery at first on Apple products, iPhones, MB's, etc. That is smart to have a little buffer if anyone ever gets below a rated battery capacity. I'm currently at 104%. We all know over time, we'll end up below that capacity.
[doublepost=1480441582][/doublepost]

My first post here. I'm so frustrated by the battery life on my tMBP 13", because I really love everything else about the laptop. Really considering returning it and getting the non TB version, 10-12 hours of battery life is a really big deal for me compared to to the 5-6 I'm getting now. That's around half of what I expected when I placed the order basically... sucks. But I really want touch ID for example, and love being able to charge the laptop on both sides. Not a 100% sure, but the non TB has both the USB C ports on one side, right?

I feel you. I don't think battery life is so black and white. There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" battery performance these days. It's relative to what is claimed by the manufacturer and how you use it. These new chips seem to really create wild variances between light CPU usage and heavy. As before, there was not as high of a ceiling. You can't just do whatever you want on these and expect consistent battery life. Yeah it takes a little more effort to understand the battery profile, but I guess that's the price for progress. Progress = cpu's adjusting for load and balancing power consumption. I think the stated tests that Apple ran are totally reasonable. People have been openly stating that they are disappointed because they didn't deliver more. Different expectations. For me, this is the best battery life laptop I've owned (never had a MBA). Try some sh*tty windows laptops for awhile. You might think like I do that these kids here are spoiled!

 

[schmidti91]

I was reading a bit now in this thread. I was thinking about reinstalling Sierra what would just improve battery life for the moment. So my conclusion is not to reinstall Sierra but to wait for a software update.

Do you agree? Or is there any long term benefit in reinstalling Sierra I don't see?

 

[badlydrawnboy]

I was reading a bit now in this thread. I was thinking about reinstalling Sierra what would just improve battery life for the moment. So my conclusion is not to reinstall Sierra but to wait for a software update.

Do you agree? Or is there any long term benefit in reinstalling Sierra I don't see?

Reinstalling Sierra increased my battery life from 6-6.5 hours to 8.5 hours, so I think it's definitely worth it. Note that I did not migrate any data when I set up my MBP, and reinstalling Sierra still helped.

 

[BiteSizeThumb]

I have a 15" MBP 2016 model. Getting literally 3-4 hours max. Not sure what's going on... Can anyone give me insight? I'm almost certain my early 2013 15" MBP had a better battery life.

 

[aioriya]

I have a 15" MBP 2016 model. Getting literally 3-4 hours max. Not sure what's going on... Can anyone give me insight? I'm almost certain my early 2013 15" MBP had a better battery life.

Check your Time machine preferences and uncheck backup with battery power, that should help a good bit.

 

[jacob_w]

I have a 15" MBP 2016 model. Getting literally 3-4 hours max. Not sure what's going on... Can anyone give me insight? I'm almost certain my early 2013 15" MBP had a better battery life.

The dGPU is in use and that consumes significantly more power. What's interesting is that the Messages app requires the dGPU. I noticed the same on my base 15" and I think there's definitely bugs in Sierra.

 

[BiteSizeThumb]

Check your Time machine preferences and uncheck backup with battery power, that should help a good bit.

I had that off. I left my computer on overnight to backup to time machine. Maybe that's why it showed. Not sure.

The dGPU is in use and that consumes significantly more power. What's interesting is that the Messages app requires the dGPU. I noticed the same on my base 15" and I think there's definitely bugs in Sierra.

That's my exact thought. On top of that, iMessage is really slow at running. For instance, when I open it when the app is closed, it takes an extensive amount of time for it to actually open up.

I'm running Sierra 10.12.2 Beta though so that could be why. I wasn't really able to properly opt out of the Beta from my old 2013 15" MBP and just kind of kept it when I moved to this computer.

 

[Ma2k5]

I've always had higher than rated numbers for battery at first on Apple products, iPhones, MB's, etc. That is smart to have a little buffer if anyone ever gets below a rated battery capacity. I'm currently at 104%. We all know over time, we'll end up below that capacity.
[doublepost=1480441582][/doublepost]
I feel you. I don't think battery life is so black and white. There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" battery performance these days. It's relative to what is claimed by the manufacturer and how you use it. These new chips seem to really create wild variances between light CPU usage and heavy. As before, there was not as high of a ceiling. You can't just do whatever you want on these and expect consistent battery life. Yeah it takes a little more effort to understand the battery profile, but I guess that's the price for progress. Progress = cpu's adjusting for load and balancing power consumption. I think the stated tests that Apple ran are totally reasonable. People have been openly stating that they are disappointed because they didn't deliver more. Different expectations. For me, this is the best battery life laptop I've owned (never had a MBA). Try some sh*tty windows laptops for awhile. You might think like I do that these kids here are spoiled!

Shouldn't be comparing to a ****** windows laptop though. The premium Windows laptops have pretty good battery life.

The main reason why people will feel disappointed is, no matter how much efficiency improvement Apple believed they have made, it's not enough to cover the chop of a 99wh>76wh on the 15" and 75>49wh on the 13" touch bar.

People are used to the previous years battery life, I don't feel it's fair to call them spoiled as if anything, people expect to keep the same if no improvement is found, not a decrease.

I would bet that future iterations will increase the battery capacity one way or the other. If they could have kept the same battery in the new form factor, it might have killed off all Windows competition flat out! Here's hoping they manage to do that some how .

 

[titleistman18]

Just visited the Apple Store at Grand Central in NYC.

I spoke to a few employees who all effectively admitted that there's been a wave of complaints regarding the battery. They said that the differences in battery estimates vary so wildly that they believe it's likely a software issue, though have been requesting a confirmation from Apple that they still have not received.

I specifically asked if I should exchange mine for a different one (i.e. is it a lemon?) and their recommendation was — given the return policy through January — to hold onto it for a couple of weeks and that they expect/hope a Sierra update rectifies the issue.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Just visited the Apple Store at Grand Central in NYC.

I spoke to a few employees who all effectively admitted that there's been a wave of complaints regarding the battery. They said that the differences in battery estimates vary so wildly that they believe it's likely a software issue, though have been requesting a confirmation from Apple that they still have not received.

I specifically asked if I should exchange mine for a different one (i.e. is it a lemon?) and their recommendation was — given the return policy through January — to hold onto it for a couple of weeks and that they expect/hope a Sierra update rectifies the issue.

I heard a similar thing from a senior Apple advisor when I called support about this a week ago. We'll see...

 

[stephenvis]

The battery is so disappointing.. I'm debating now whether I should trade it in for the non touch bar version. I've payd 300 euros more for a smaller battery and a touchbar that doesn't really help me and drains my battery even more. We all now the batteries doesn't exactly get better over time so I don't like to think how this will be in 2 years. Really hope apple says something soon.

Do you guys think the other differences between non tb and touchbar justify the price difference? 2 vs 2.9 core, graphics card.

 

[Grolubao]

The battery is so disappointing.. I'm debating now whether I should trade it in for the non touch bar version. I've payd 300 euros more for a smaller battery and a touchbar that doesn't really help me and drains my battery even more. We all now the batteries doesn't exactly get better over time so I don't like to think how this will be in 2 years. Really hope apple says something soon.

Do you guys think the other differences between non tb and touchbar justify the price difference? 2 vs 2.9 core, graphics card.

I would trade it, specially because it's cheaper and you'll be getting a better deal

 

[dasb0t]

Problem solved. Apple removed time remaining information in the latest 10.12.2 beta. No more complains for that.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tfbw0953emjucfg/Screenshot 2016-11-29 23.20.20.png?dl=0

 

[Apple_Robert]

Problem solved. Apple removed time remaining information in the latest 10.12.2 beta. No more complains for that.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tfbw0953emjucfg/Screenshot 2016-11-29 23.20.20.png?dl=0

What does that solve?

 

[Grolubao]

Problem solved. Apple removed time remaining information in the latest 10.12.2 beta. No more complains for that.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tfbw0953emjucfg/Screenshot 2016-11-29 23.20.20.png?dl=0

Ahahahah fixed!