Battery life for 13" and 15" Macbook Pro

[yillbs]

Checked out all three units (15'" TB, 13" TB, 13" Esc) at the Union Square store today. Off the record, one Apple Store employee said that if majority of users are reporting less than advertised battery life, there would likely be a class action lawsuit. They said a possible software/firmware update would address the issue. But this is obviously not coming from Apple Corporate.

Anecdotally, I unplugged all three computers and waited for computed remaining battery life.
Results:
15" TB - 10 hours
13" TB - 6.5 hours
13" Esc - 9.5 hours

I did this test twice, and then got:
15" TB - 3.5 hours
13" TB - 9.5 hours
13" Esc - 6 hours

Seems like the battery/power management on these are currently wonky.

I really hope they resolve this - the 13" TB really hits the sweet spot.

I certainly think if enough people bombard them over the next few months about battery limitations they will do something to fix it... just don't know what yet.

 

[skids929]

I certainly think if enough people bombard them over the next few months about battery limitations they will do something to fix it... just don't know what yet.

Agreed..I really think the differences people are seeing can be resolve in a firmware update. Is there a recommended way to (or app) to check system usage? I have it in my old my MacBook not sure that one is still current.

 

[bizack]

you do realize that is a terrible way to test battery. You cannot just unplug a laptop and go with the projection when you are not actually using it. I have seen over 15 hours in the projection. Based on what actual users are getting it seems like this:

15" - 6.5 - 8 hours - although some have said close to 10. It makes sense since this is the only model with a dGPU.
13" TB - 6-7 (at best)
13" No TB - 9-11.5 hours

I did launch the same five apps on each computer. I'm not saying it's a good way to gauge battery life, but it's not an unreasonable way to test estimated battery life when idle. Seeing that the results are all over the place, I still suspect that something is up with the power management (I can unplug my MacBook and pretty much get the same number +/- 30 minutes).

 

[skids929]

I am using Battery Health 2 to track. On current charge, I've been on battery for 3:53, and both Apple and Battery Health 2's prediction is 3:05 remaining.

On my first charge I got about 6.5 hours, it looks like this one is on track for 7 hours. That's a slight improvement (if it actually happens; so far the estimates have fluctuated a lot which is normal early in a battery's cycle).

I have a 13".

If the 15" consistently gets 8 hours, I'd consider returning this and going with that instead. 8 hours is just enough for a cross-country flight, including using it before the flight in the waiting lounge. I am often able to plug in and charge either in the lounge or on the flight, but it still happens that I can't, so I want the 8 hours.

I suspect they may address the power mgmt/battery issues in a software update in the future if enough people are clamoring over it.

 

[justinf77]

I've been using my tMBP 13" 3.3GHz for about half an hour now doing some browsing for work, brightness over 50%, with Skype chats in the background, and my battery percentage still reads 100% and it shows 9:45 remaining.

While I'm still concerned about battery life, I don't seem to be suffering as much as I've heard in some of the stories on this forum. Maybe my work load is just lighter. Note that Apple's battery life estimate on their website says "wireless web browsing", so that's pretty much all that you should be doing if you're looking to hit the claim stated by Apple.

OK, while writing this post, the estimate moved down to 99% and 8:25 remaining. The estimates fluctuate a lot more than they did on my old MBA, so I'm wondering if that also has something to do with the perception of awful battery life.

I'm going to continue working on this thing and see how long it lasts me. I took it off power at 2:45 and so far it's been over 30 minutes and I'm at 99%.

 

[RobinInOR]

Not sure if this is a good data point, but thought I'd add it.
13" w/ touchbar, 16G, i7, 1T, brightness 50%
Running Safari tab with an auto loading GOES weather map
Streaming local music from iTunes to Bluetooth headphones. Expect this would drain.

Started at 86%, showing 9.9 hours left
1 hour later, 69%, 3:39 hours left
1 hour later, 51%, 2:40 hours left. Now that looks like normal usage.
1 hour later, 33%, 1:41 hours left. Still looks reasonable.

Percentage size losing 17% in an hour is a bit high, but constantly streaming music could do that. What I don't get is it lost 6.6 hours of estimated time. So that tells me not to trust the remaining time, I don't think this has settled down to a pattern of usage where it could calculate a reasonable average.
These numbers don't make sense to me. Looks like they get mucked up just after coming off of a charge

 

[badlydrawnboy]

I suspect they may address the power mgmt/battery issues in a software update in the future if enough people are clamoring over it.

That would be nice, but is it realistic? Is there any precedent? I could see battery life improving by maybe 30-60 min with some kind of update, but not 2-3 hours.

 

[Mannnyyy]

Well, just speculating and wondering : what can we do to improve battery life ?

1/ Flash : do not install

2/ Spotlight indexing : let macOS do the job until it's finished

3/ iCloud Drive Sync : like Spotlight, maybe it's needed to let it sync everything before using the mac on battery

4/ I've read that users with 2015 Retinas could improve drastically the battery life by turning off Turbo boost : https://marco.org/2015/06/07/disabling-turbo-boost

5/ I've also read that FileVault with very fast SSD is now asking for more CPU usage. So it should have an impact on battery as well : http://macbidouille.com/news/2015/0...-rapides-filevault-consomme-enormement-de-cpu (sorry it's in french).

6/ Let macOS know from your real use to adjust correctly the time remaining. It could take a few days ? a week ?

7/ Maybe good brightness level is now 50% with 500 nits, than 75% on 200 nits with older macs ? (don't stop on the figures, but you get my point...).

I already know that we shouldn't have to adjust our MBP so much, just to use it on battery, but anyway...

Last but not least, I've ordered 13" MBP Touch (delivery 8-14/12) and it will be my first mac, I grew up with DOS and Windows, so be kind with my speculations

By the way, is their any macOS app that can automatically fine tune the computer when it's unplugged : ie. shutting down Turbo boost, spotlight indexing, iCloud sync, Filevault, etc. I've just seen the macOS power management on screenshots, but it seems that this one is only allowing very simple actions (brightness, time before stand by, etc.).

 

[skids929]

Well, just speculating and wondering : what can we do to improve battery life ?

1/ Flash : do not install

2/ Spotlight indexing : let macOS do the job until it's finished

3/ iCloud Drive Sync : like Spotlight, maybe it's needed to let it sync everything before using the mac on battery

4/ I've read that users with 2015 Retinas could improve drastically the battery life by turning off Turbo boost : https://marco.org/2015/06/07/disabling-turbo-boost

5/ I've also read that FileVault with very fast SSD is now asking for more CPU usage. So it should have an impact on battery as well : http://macbidouille.com/news/2015/0...-rapides-filevault-consomme-enormement-de-cpu (sorry it's in french).

6/ Let macOS know from your real use to adjust correctly the time remaining. It could take a few days ? a week ?

7/ Maybe good brightness level is now 50% with 500 nits, than 75% on 200 nits with older macs ? (don't stop on the figures, but you get my point...).

I already know that we shouldn't have to adjust our MBP so much, just to use it on battery, but anyway...

Last but not least, I've ordered 13" MBP Touch (delivery 8-14/12) and it will be my first mac, I grew up with DOS and Windows, so be kind with my speculations

By the way, is their any macOS app that can automatically fine tune the computer when it's unplugged : ie. shutting down Turbo boost, spotlight indexing, iCloud sync, Filevault, etc. I've just seen the macOS power management on screenshots, but it seems that this one is only allowing very simple actions (brightness, time before stand by, etc.).

sorry for the dumb question but what is spotlight indexing? Is this something is does when you boot it up for the first time? Or is this something it does as you configure it to your own specs?

 

[Chad Brostorm]

Are DropBox and Google Drive still battery-unfriendly?

 

[fokmik]

Checked out all three units (15'" TB, 13" TB, 13" Esc) at the Union Square store today. Off the record, one Apple Store employee said that if majority of users are reporting less than advertised battery life, there would likely be a class action lawsuit. They said a possible software/firmware update would address the issue. But this is obviously not coming from Apple Corporate.

Anecdotally, I unplugged all three computers and waited for computed remaining battery life.
Results:
15" TB - 10 hours
13" TB - 6.5 hours
13" Esc - 9.5 hours

I did this test twice, and then got:
15" TB - 3.5 hours
13" TB - 9.5 hours
13" Esc - 6 hours

Seems like the battery/power management on these are currently wonky.

I really hope they resolve this - the 13" TB really hits the sweet spot.

what the hell?? 15" first test 10 hours from 100% and second time only 3.5h ??

 

[bizack]

what the hell?? 15" first test 10 hours from 100% and second time only 3.5h ??

It was just unplugging, opening a set of apps and letting the computer sit idle for a bit. Not really a test of battery life, but a test to see what the system calculated as remaining battery life. The fluctuations are probably due the CPU throttling/boosting and on the 15'" the dGPU switching on/off. Just a guess.

 

[lobo1978]

For me anything less than 8-9 hrs of light use is a deal breaker. I really like new design, I want to switch to new USB-C etc. but I am returning if it fails in battery life.
I have now no Touchbar version for disposal - will see this will deliver tomorrow (now transferring last backup with time machine)

 

[skids929]

That would be nice, but is it realistic? Is there any precedent? I could see battery life improving by maybe 30-60 min with some kind of update, but not 2-3 hours.

Well the precedent would be lots of customer complaints stating the same thing. I can't speak to what a firm ware update will yield as far as extra battery life.

 

[justinf77]

OK, I've been doing more battery testing. The test I'm doing right now is starting a timer and then waiting for the battery percentage to drop by 10%, and seeing how long it lasts on that 10%.

Right now I'm doing work and have the following apps open and being used: Safari (5 tabs on average), Chrome (5 tabs on average), Notes, Messages, Skype, TextWrangler, Terminal, and Transmit. Just doing some web development work making changes to the sales flow of my business website.

The computer went from 90% to 80% in a total time of 52 minutes. That would adjust to nearly 9 hours of battery life, which I would be OK with. Going to run some more of these 10% tests to get a sense of what type of real world battery life I can expect for the work I do. If I can regularly hit 8+ hours, I'm totally fine with that.

 

[fokmik]

Nice, keep us posted

 

[Impatientmac]

Right now the battery was saying 2.5 hrs at 100%. Macbook pro 13 in with touchbar. I'm hoping this is just the indexing etc

 

[justinf77]

Right now the battery was saying 2.5 hrs at 100%. Macbook pro 13 in with touchbar. I'm hoping this is just the indexing etc

When I took my computer off power today, the estimated time remaining was 20 hours. Don't take that time seriously at all, it fluctuates wildly.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

When I took my computer off power today, the estimated time remaining was 20 hours. Don't take that time seriously at all, it fluctuates wildly.

tMBP 13". On my third charge. I've used it for a little under 3.5 hours, and battery is at 52% and says 3:10 remaining. So on track for just under 7 hours, which is a little more than my previous two cycles but not by much—and also relatively consistent with the Verge review, which said they never broke 7 hours.

 

[JohnnyGo]

tMBP 13". On my third charge. I've used it for a little under 3.5 hours, and battery is at 52% and says 3:10 remaining. So on track for just under 7 hours, which is a little more than my previous two cycles but not by much—and also relatively consistent with the Verge review, which said they never broke 7 hours.

Thanks for the update. Sad that this MacBook can't break 8 hours in regular/light workload.

 

[Kimcha]

Instead of using the macOS estimate or making decisions based on partial usage, can some of you guys who are testing and reporting battery life install Battery Logger so we can see exactly how long your MBP lasts without guestimates?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battery-logger/id473673114?mt=12

 

[justinf77]

tMBP 13". On my third charge. I've used it for a little under 3.5 hours, and battery is at 52% and says 3:10 remaining. So on track for just under 7 hours, which is a little more than my previous two cycles but not by much—and also relatively consistent with the Verge review, which said they never broke 7 hours.

Can you try the 10% test that I've been doing? I think the battery percentage meter is more accurate than the time remaining. Basically just start a timer when the battery life percentage changes, wait for the battery to decrease by 10% while using the computer for light tasks, and then stop the timer. Multiply that time by 10 and see what you get. It's certainly not perfect but I think it will be a lot more accurate than anything based on the time remaining estimate.

I have to say that battery life for me hasn't really been a problem at all, and I've been using it for a couple days now. It's definitely not as good as my MBA was when I first got it, but I do think I can get a solid 8 hours on the machine with a CPU-light workload.

 

[yillbs]

Instead of using the macOS estimate or making decisions based on partial usage, can some of you guys who are testing and reporting battery life install Battery Logger so we can see exactly how long your MBP lasts without guestimates?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battery-logger/id473673114?mt=12

I just paid the 1.99 for it, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Instead of using the macOS estimate or making decisions based on partial usage, can some of you guys who are testing and reporting battery life install Battery Logger so we can see exactly how long your MBP lasts without guestimates?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/battery-logger/id473673114?mt=12

I am using Battery Health 2, which tracks history. It does what Battery Logger does and more. The most recent report I gave comes from the Battery Health report. Still on track for about 6.5-7 hours. I plan to run it all the way down this time so I'll report back once I've done that.

 

[skids929]

I just paid the 1.99 for it, I'll let you know how it goes.

Hit us up with some screenshots of your results.