Battery life for 13" and 15" Macbook Pro

[Bobthemonkey]

I had enough in the end and returned mine.

Will give it till the new year to see if any software releases improve the situation or if this is what it is.

While waiting for the return, the store had a 2015, a 2016 nTB and a 2016 TB side by side. Unplugged all three and the 2015 model showed 11hrs, the nTB 8 and the TB 6.5hrs. I know this is only a single point sample but it is awfully frustrating.

 

[dgdosen]

Are you all running OS version 10.12.1? anybody see a difference on 10.12.2's latest beta?

I've got an non-new laptop running the beta, and this last update has dialed down the cpu usage when idle. I'm thinking the track bar macs need features in 10.12.2 to work (at least they do in xcode)

 

[kwandrews]

My 15" is getting worse by the day. Yes, some of it is apps using too much power (ex. MS Office 2016 is horrible), but even with that closed out and in a profile that doesn't use it, I'm still only getting 1.75-3.0 hours. Today, in my work profile, I dropped to 35% in about 1 hour. If I were getting 4-5 hours I may be able to stick it out and see if it gets fixed, bit at this low rate, I just can't do it....at least I don't think. I've gone back to some stuttering multitasking on the m5 MacBook vs. the 15" so at least I can get work done away from the power cord. This is nuts.

On a good note for 2016 Macs, my little m5 MacBook is at 71.3%, 4.2w usage estimate 7:19 running Safari and Spark mail. Screen at 12 ticks. Backlight off. It also scrolls through web pages in Safari super-smooth, etc. and has never given me an issue other than the lower power to multi-task. It's a trade off and maybe I'll stick with it vs. selling like I had planned a while longer.

Now, just so I'm clear...ALL touchbar MBP's seem to be prone to bad battery life at this time. Correct? Yes, there are exceptions I'm sure. And the general consensus, and my experience, states that the non-touch 13" has great battery life.
[doublepost=1480638959][/doublepost]

Are you all running OS version 10.12.1? anybody see a difference on 10.12.2's latest beta?

I've got an non-new laptop running the beta, and this last update has dialed down the cpu usage when idle. I'm thinking the track bar macs need features in 10.12.2 to work (at least they do in xcode)

I'm on the beta, it's just as bad....they just removed the estimate time from the battery in the menu bar. LOL

 

[drvelocity]

So I have a working theory on this. I've been getting kernel panics with an "unresponsive CPU" error. After restarting from one of these kernel panics, the CPU seems to be locked in a higher power usage state and power usage is much higher than it should be. It takes an NvRAM reset to bring the power usage back down to normal.

Can everyone with bad battery life here try to remember if you've had any kernel panics (system crashes)?

 

[kwandrews]

none

So I have a working theory on this. I've been getting kernel panics with an "unresponsive CPU" error. After restarting from one of these kernel panics, the CPU seems to be locked in a higher power usage state and power usage is much higher than it should be. It takes an NvRAM reset to bring the power usage back down to normal.

Can everyone with bad battery life here try to remember if you've had any kernel panics (system crashes)?

None for me. I also reset NVRAM and it helped for a while.

 

[marcel500]

Are you all running OS version 10.12.1? anybody see a difference on 10.12.2's latest beta?

I've got an non-new laptop running the beta, and this last update has dialed down the cpu usage when idle. I'm thinking the track bar macs need features in 10.12.2 to work (at least they do in xcode)

No changes really, Safari slightly better.

 

[Prothis]

This is good info... but how do you know what the average wattage was? Just from observing on your own? The battery health app from Coconut that I have only gives me realtime wattage, I don't see a feature to see average.

I have coconut battery up and anchored on top of my windows to the right so that I can monitor it throughout the day, every minute or two i'd look over and make sure it was still around there. Like I said, other than the typical fluctuations between switching apps that make the watts/mAh jump it was all under 10 doing what I was doing all day.

 

[PyBeck]

I've got the 15" with the 460 and get ~4 hours, which is really disappointing. I've just noticed, that the 460 seems to be always on and that might account for the high battery drain.

 

[kwandrews]

I have coconut battery up and anchored on top of my windows to the right so that I can monitor it throughout the day, every minute or two i'd look over and make sure it was still around there. Like I said, other than the typical fluctuations between switching apps that make the watts/mAh jump it was all under 10 doing what I was doing all day.

you don't need to anchor it at all. in preferences, choose start at login and it will load in your menu bar. you can customize what it shows there. i have mine to %, watts and est time. It's entered like this based on the parameters list: %p %ww t:%r

Then it reads like this for me: "72.8% 4.4w t:6:39" all right in the menu bar I'm on my m5 MBr right now. On my 15", my menu bar reads as follows, and yes you can customize it like this:

"this horrible battery's stats: 23% 24.7w t:0:32"

 

[Prothis]

I've got the 15" with the 460 and get ~4 hours, which is really disappointing. I've just noticed, that the 460 seems to be always on and that might account for the high battery drain.

I see what you're looking at but where it says 'Graphics card: Integrated' on activity monitor means that you are NOT using your 460 GPU or it would say 'Graphics card: High Perf.' which is very strange if Istat menu's is detecting the GPU is drawing power. Could this be it? The computer thinks its off but its sucking from the battery anyways?
[doublepost=1480641116][/doublepost]

you don't need to anchor it at all. in preferences, choose start at login and it will load in your menu bar. you can customize what it shows there. i have mine to %, watts and est time. It's entered like this based on the parameters list: %p %ww t:%r

Then it reads like this for me: "72.8% 4.4w t:6:39" all right in the menu bar I'm on my m5 MBr right now. On my 15", my menu bar reads as follows, and yes you can customize it like this:

"this horrible battery's stats: 23% 24.7w t:0:32"

Well that would be wicked cool if I could modify that but I am not sure where you put in those parameters as mine only has 2 options and no place to type in what I want. Do we have different versions of coconut battery?

 

[kwandrews]

I see what you're looking at but where it says 'Graphics card: Integrated' on activity monitor means that you are NOT using your 460 GPU or it would say 'Graphics card: High Perf.' which is very strange if Istat menu's is detecting the GPU is drawing power. Could this be it? The computer thinks its off but its sucking from the battery anyways?
[doublepost=1480641116][/doublepost]


Well that would be wicked cool if I could modify that but I am not sure where you put in those parameters as mine only has 2 options and no place to type in what I want. Do we have different versions of coconut battery?

View attachment 675689

Coconut Battery 3.4, i'll get a screenshot for you in a minute

 

[PyBeck]

I see what you're looking at but where it says 'Graphics card: Integrated' on activity monitor means that you are NOT using your 460 GPU or it would say 'Graphics card: High Perf.' which is very strange if Istat menu's is detecting the GPU is drawing power. Could this be it? The computer thinks its off but its sucking from the battery anyways?

That's what i thought too! It makes absolutely no sense. iStats and gfxCardStatus also reported the integrated in use, though they most probably use the same APIs

As a few pages back, some guys talked about NVRAM reset, it just did that and power consumption is now down. I already had to reset SMC a few days back, as i had audio stuttering in iTunes and the Mac arrived with SIP off.

Let's see if it was the reset or just the reboot.

The screenshot is the AMD power consumption. Total is now ~10W.

BTW: I'm running beta 4, in case this is beta related. It may be also restore related, as i cloned my old SSD onto the drive, and already caused some hiccups with TouchID too, which is not available in System Preferences, but i can launch it from Spotlight.

 

[Prothis]

Coconut Battery 3.4, i'll get a screenshot for you in a minute

Thats why, I downloaded from the company's website and its version 5.4 (different than the one on the app store).

PS: If anybody is using Alfred from the app store, it will activate your GPU and leave it on until you quit alfred. The newer version updated on company website does NOT turn on the GPU. Could be a problem for a lot of people.

 

[thesaint024]

Coconut Battery 3.4, i'll get a screenshot for you in a minute

You seriously just made my life better. I also kept that stupid app docked in the corner like Prothis to keep an eye on it. I wish I could give you a prize. There really should be a sticky on these things. I can't imagine being new and having to go through these pages to figure anything out. On another note, your watts are insane. I've never seen that, 15" is a different monster.

 

[kwandrews]

Thats why, I downloaded from the company's website and its version 5.4 (different than the one on the app store).

PS: If anybody is using Alfred from the app store, it will activate your GPU and leave it on until you quit alfred. The newer version updated on company website does NOT turn on the GPU. Could be a problem for a lot of people.

I downloaded it from their site too,...not the app store. http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/
[doublepost=1480642716][/doublepost]

You seriously just made my life better. I also kept that stupid app docked in the corner like Prothis to keep an eye on it. I wish I could give you a prize. There really should be a sticky on these things. I can't imagine being new and having to go through these pages to figure anything out. On another note, your watts are insane. I've never seen that, 15" is a different monster.

Yes, the watts on my 15" are nuts. Today, I had to a join a vendor's WebEx meeting using a Safari plugin,...I kid you not, Safari was using >40w by itself and >30 of it was WebEx. I was hitting system total of 75w, insane! With it just sitting there, nothing going on and all apps closed, it's about 14-20w.

I think I've wasted more time worrying about the damn battery and other things, that I'm about done. I may just stick with the m5 '16 Macbook with 512G and 8G RAM and the lone USB-C port for a while (Maybe next gen of MBP) OR go back to a BTO base 13". I had a base 13 and it was GREAT except I was hitting some processing walls. I'd go with the i7 and 16G on it if I go that route.

 

[thesaint024]

I think I've wasted more time worrying about the damn battery and other things, that I'm about done. I may just stick with the m5 '16 Macbook with 512G and 8G RAM and the lone USB-C port for a while (Maybe next gen of MBP) OR go back to a BTO base 13". I had a base 13 and it was GREAT except I was hitting some processing walls. I'd go with the i7 and 16G on it if I go that route.

I don't blame you. There are clearly a lot of updates that need to happen to make that usable. Curious what software combinations Apple tested before they released because that CPU is not playing nice.

 

[b_scott]

My coconut battery says "Discharging with 22.65 watts"

That seems high doing nothing.

 

[PyBeck]

My coconut battery says "Discharging with 22.65 watts"

That seems high doing nothing.

Can you try the NVRAM reset? Worked for me so far.

 

[b_scott]

Just did it again to see if it would help. Now at 18.7w.

 

[PyBeck]

Just did it again to see if it would help. Now at 18.7w.

Still too high, so just luck, that it dropped 4W. Though it takes a minute for the power consumption to settle after a reboot and make sure it's really on the Intel.

 

[kwandrews]

I don't blame you. There are clearly a lot of updates that need to happen to make that usable. Curious what software combinations Apple tested before they released because that CPU is not playing nice.

I just don't get it. Didn't they do any real-life internal testing? Like giving these things to hundreds of staff members and making them use them day in and day out for while and give feedback? I can't imagine they did OR the would have found most of these issues. When you look at it like that, this is inexcusable.

 

[PyBeck]

I just don't get it. Didn't they do any real-life internal testing? Like giving these things to hundreds of staff members and making them use them day in and day out for while and give feedback? I can't imagine they did OR the would have found most of these issues. When you look at it like that, this is inexcusable.

I can imagine, that this release was rushed due to the holiday season and shareholder expectations. I guess a later release could have brought us >16GB Memory as well, as the necessary CPUs could have been available.

 

[kwandrews]

I can imagine, that this release was rushed due to the holiday season and shareholder expectations. I guess a later release could have brought us >16GB Memory as well, as the necessary CPUs could have been available.

True, but then the moans would have been louder and more widespread I think for having to wait longer. 20/20 looking back, I'd prefer that now.
[doublepost=1480646698][/doublepost]Oddly, I just did another DVRAM reset and rebooted. It's been 8 minutes and I'm at 11.9w with just safari and showing 4:54 with 72% left....that's what I would be happy with and can live with easily. However, I suspect that within the hour it will be back at 20-30w and miserable battery life.

 

[PyBeck]

True, but then the moans would have been louder and more widespread I think for having to wait longer. 20/20 looking back, I'd prefer that now.

That's true, i've been waiting for a replacement for the late 2011 turbine long enough And it got even worse, after Google disabled GPU rendering in Chrome due to the Sierra driver ****ups.

 

[Nar1117]

That's what i thought too! It makes absolutely no sense. iStats and gfxCardStatus also reported the integrated in use, though they most probably use the same APIs

As a few pages back, some guys talked about NVRAM reset, it just did that and power consumption is now down. I already had to reset SMC a few days back, as i had audio stuttering in iTunes and the Mac arrived with SIP off.

Let's see if it was the reset or just the reboot.

The screenshot is the AMD power consumption. Total is now ~10W.

BTW: I'm running beta 4, in case this is beta related. It may be also restore related, as i cloned my old SSD onto the drive, and already caused some hiccups with TouchID too, which is not available in System Preferences, but i can launch it from Spotlight.

While running on battery only, I forced the use of the 460 GFX card, and iStat Menu reported a +4.5 watt increase in power to the GPU. So, at least for me, the average of ~10-12 watts without forcing the 460 doesn't include a significant power draw on accident to the GPU.