Battery life for 13" and 15" Macbook Pro

[yillbs]

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.

Battery health two doesn't take into account sleep patterns with on time. Also, you can compare CPU logging to the 1.99 program in relation to the remaining %. Battery life 2 is good, but it's logging capabilities are not that great. I also find the % rate to be a bit off on battery health 2.
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Hit us up with some screenshots of your results.

Will do. as of now, my estimated usage time is actually right on with what apple claims, and has been for the last hour. This is the only time I've not seen the estimated time jump around all crazy.

 

[skids929]

Battery health two doesn't take into account sleep patterns with on time. Also, you can compare CPU logging to the 1.99 program in relation to the remaining %. Battery life 2 is good, but it's logging capabilities are not that great. I also find the % rate to be a bit off on battery health 2.
[doublepost=1479433383][/doublepost]

Will do. as of now, my estimated usage time is actually right on with what apple claims, and has been for the last hour. This is the only time I've not seen the estimated time jump around all crazy.

Let me ask you something..Which processor are you configured with? I am putting an order in for a 13 and I am going to put the $$ into a 1TB SSD and 16GB and stay at the standard i5 2.9. I've read a lot about upgrading the processor to higher speeds or i7 hogs up the battery quicker? Curious to know what you are running. So this 13 I am on (that I plan to return) is faring much better than the the 15 I have in side by side tests. So far I have 3.75 hours of use and I am at 80% on the 13! strictly web surfing. Kind of makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the i7 in the configuration.


PS - I should mention the 15 I am testing does have Flash installed (I mean how do you no install it) and the 13 does not. Not sure if that is a culprit but worth mentioning I guess

 

[kokhoong0624]

Let me ask you something..Which processor are you configured with? I am putting an order in for a 13 and I am going to put the $$ into a 1TB SSD and 16GB and stay at the standard i5 2.9. I've read a lot about upgrading the processor to higher speeds or i7 hogs up the battery quicker? Curious to know what you are running. So this 13 I am on (that I plan to return) is faring much better than the the 15 I have in side by side tests. So far I have 3.75 hours of use and I am at 80% on the 13! strictly web surfing. Kind of makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the i7 in the configuration.


PS - I should mention the 15 I am testing does have Flash installed (I mean how do you no install it) and the 13 does not. Not sure if that is a culprit but worth mentioning I guess

Someone in another post said that the battery life in an upgraded 2.9 processor is garbage and average around 4 hours.. May I know the specs for your 15?

 

[skids929]

Someone in another post said that the battery life in an upgraded 2.9 processor is garbage and average around 4 hours.. May I know the specs for your 15?

The 15 is the stock second tier 15 you can get on the apple website. 16gb, i7, 512, AMD 455.

 

[tivoboy]

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?

spotlight, the search engine on the machine will index everything that is on the drive - so if you migrated over from another mac, it's going to re-index everything. That can take a lot of time, cycles and power

 

[yillbs]

Let me ask you something..Which processor are you configured with? I am putting an order in for a 13 and I am going to put the $$ into a 1TB SSD and 16GB and stay at the standard i5 2.9. I've read a lot about upgrading the processor to higher speeds or i7 hogs up the battery quicker? Curious to know what you are running. So this 13 I am on (that I plan to return) is faring much better than the the 15 I have in side by side tests. So far I have 3.75 hours of use and I am at 80% on the 13! strictly web surfing. Kind of makes me wonder if it has anything to do with the i7 in the configuration.


PS - I should mention the 15 I am testing does have Flash installed (I mean how do you no install it) and the 13 does not. Not sure if that is a culprit but worth mentioning I guess

I have the I7 3.3 , highest available cpu on the 13 TB. The wattage of each CPU is the same, and if anything, higher clock speeds will save battery compared to other CPUS in the same family. What takes you 50% cpu, might only take me 40% cpu.. less heat, less fans, etc. So far, I'm doing a test now, and i'mnot drained just yet. based on my most recent results, and if the estimated time stays on par, I should get anywhere from 7 - 8 hours, I started at 4 hours, then got 6, now might get 8.. I'm convinced, I can get 9 out of this. When I'm in ultra portable mode, I can kill everything and get what I want.

Right now though, I'm just doing normal stuff, videos, writing, streaming music, and all is well. I'll give you a more refined understanding of my battery once I finish this cycle, and get the actual numbers on paper.

 

[skids929]

I have the I7 3.3 , highest available cpu on the 13 TB. The wattage of each CPU is the same, and if anything, higher clock speeds will save battery compared to other CPUS in the same family. What takes you 50% cpu, might only take me 40% cpu.. less heat, less fans, etc. So far, I'm doing a test now, and i'mnot drained just yet. based on my most recent results, and if the estimated time stays on par, I should get anywhere from 7 - 8 hours, I started at 4 hours, then got 6, now might get 8.. I'm convinced, I can get 9 out of this. When I'm in ultra portable mode, I can kill everything and get what I want.

Right now though, I'm just doing normal stuff, videos, writing, streaming music, and all is well. I'll give you a more refined understanding of my battery once I finish this cycle, and get the actual numbers on paper.

What is ultra portable mode...I am not completely sure I agree with your logic on the processor. The more it's able to clock the more its going to ask from the battery to get those speeds. Unless we're talking m processors, which we aren't These cpus, i5 and i7 will behave differently under load, and the one with the higher clock will ramp up to get the task done faster. It's like anything else that demands more speed...Take a car for example, more horsepower and torque = more gasoline no matter how you slice it up. All of this is really only relevant under medium to heavy workloads which you may not be doing, but just because the wattage is the same doesn't mean the faster process won't require more battery. In a smaller machine this could be where the discrepancy is, or maybe not. all I can say is this i5 TB machine could go allllllllll night, right now 6.5 hours (web surf and some light video here and there) and I have 43% left.

 

[bizack]

I have the I7 3.3 , highest available cpu on the 13 TB. The wattage of each CPU is the same, and if anything, higher clock speeds will save battery compared to other CPUS in the same family. What takes you 50% cpu, might only take me 40% cpu.. less heat, less fans, etc. So far, I'm doing a test now, and i'mnot drained just yet. based on my most recent results, and if the estimated time stays on par, I should get anywhere from 7 - 8 hours, I started at 4 hours, then got 6, now might get 8.. I'm convinced, I can get 9 out of this. When I'm in ultra portable mode, I can kill everything and get what I want.

Right now though, I'm just doing normal stuff, videos, writing, streaming music, and all is well. I'll give you a more refined understanding of my battery once I finish this cycle, and get the actual numbers on paper.

This is incorrect. You can read both a description why, along with associated battery metrics from AnandTech, if this helps.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u/4

 

[badlydrawnboy]

What is ultra portable mode...I am not completely sure I agree with your logic on the processor. The more it's able to clock the more its going to ask from the battery to get those speeds. Unless we're talking m processors, which we aren't These cpus, i5 and i7 will behave differently under load, and the one with the higher clock will ramp up to get the task done faster. It's like anything else that demands more speed...Take a car for example, more horsepower and torque = more gasoline no matter how you slice it up. All of this is really only relevant under medium to heavy workloads which you may not be doing, but just because the wattage is the same doesn't mean the faster process won't require more battery. In a smaller machine this could be where the discrepancy is, or maybe not. all I can say is this i5 TB machine could go allllllllll night, right now 6.5 hours (web surf and some light video here and there) and I have 43% left.

I do not understand these huge differences in battery life. Do you have the 15"? I'm on my 3rd battery cycle now, almost finished. I have been on battery for 5 hours and there is 20% charge left. That suggests I'll get about 6:12 on this charge.

I am just doing normal activities: web browsing, email, and I watched one 55 minute video on Netflix. No processor heavy activities.

I could have maybe lived with 7.5 hours. 6 is a no go.

I'm not willing to cut my completely normal activities in order to get decent battery life. I have a 2013 MBA that I do all of the same stuff on and get 10-11 hours on a 3-year old battery.

 

[yillbs]

This is incorrect. You can read both a description why, along with associated battery metrics from AnandTech, if this helps.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u/4

What I said , is exactly as he's saying.
What takes your CPU 50% might only take mine 45%... this can only happen during light workload. The higher frequency is obviously going to take over and go up to make the process take less time. We're saying the same thing, you just took what I said very literally.
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What is ultra portable mode...I am not completely sure I agree with your logic on the processor. The more it's able to clock the more its going to ask from the battery to get those speeds. Unless we're talking m processors, which we aren't These cpus, i5 and i7 will behave differently under load, and the one with the higher clock will ramp up to get the task done faster. It's like anything else that demands more speed...Take a car for example, more horsepower and torque = more gasoline no matter how you slice it up. All of this is really only relevant under medium to heavy workloads which you may not be doing, but just because the wattage is the same doesn't mean the faster process won't require more battery. In a smaller machine this could be where the discrepancy is, or maybe not. all I can say is this i5 TB machine could go allllllllll night, right now 6.5 hours (web surf and some light video here and there) and I have 43% left.

Ehh, I just meant, screen brightness all the way down, no backlight keys, NOTHING running, other than maybe one safari tab. IT's just something I do when I want to squeeze every bit out of my MacBook, I do it on the air too, it helps. I'll even go airplane mode , kill bluetooth, and any apps that might be running.

 

[SpecG]

15 inch, 2.7 i7, 455 pro: The theory that battery life would be awful on dGPU seems to be true. I'm seeing 4.30 hours on battery with a monitor connected (only Safari running with a few tabs in use). While gaming with x-plane 10 it drops down to 2 - 2.30. That said, I did also see the magical 20.00 when on iGPU. Whether thats a real 20.00 remains to be seen...

Also a bit disappointed I can only hit 40+ fps on low settings in x-plane. Any decent settings are <30 fps. Would consider upgrading to the 460 but it seems that option has its own risks...

 

[skids929]

I do not understand these huge differences in battery life. Do you have the 15"? I'm on my 3rd battery cycle now, almost finished. I have been on battery for 5 hours and there is 20% charge left. That suggests I'll get about 6:12 on this charge.

I am just doing normal activities: web browsing, email, and I watched one 55 minute video on Netflix. No processor heavy activities.

I could have maybe lived with 7.5 hours. 6 is a no go.

I'm not willing to cut my completely normal activities in order to get decent battery life. I have a 2013 MBA that I do all of the same stuff on and get 10-11 hours on a 3-year old battery.

I have a 15 and a 13..I don't think I will use the 15 again after tonight (it's going back), I like the 13. The 15 definitely uses more battery and goes through it quicker. This 13 has lasted all evening with some left. Not sure why they are so different I can only surmise what I think may be going on. I have only been web surfing and some light video watching. I did turn the key back light off but that wasn't until I realized I could about an hour ago. Not sure what little that will do, but what the heck.

For sure there is a difference between these two machines I am testing. The 15 is going back, mainly because it's too large and heavy for my taste. I LOVE the form factor of the 13, I even type quieter on it for some reason. Just a better fit and better battery life too. Both are touch bar models btw.

 

[absofind]

Yea, after the first day my battery life has been lining up with what Apple said pretty much (with the 13" TB model). I'm getting about an hour per 10% with Firefox browsing, iTunes use, Mail and typical daily use. Good enough for me.

 

[kokhoong0624]

Why are the disparities of the battery life so huge ....
Many reported the 15 inch have better battery life... Is it possible the disparities are due to different manufacturers?

 

[NickPhamUK]

Maybe some models were running with the dGPU while others were running with the iGPU. It will differ a lot. Also, some people put maximum brightness, some people only used 25%... etc.

With light usage and screen set to 50% it should get 10-11h from the reviews I've read.

 

[dingclancy23]

I do not think a firmware update can solve this. They really put in a smaller battery to achieve thin-and-light. I know there are a lot of variables to account for, but I do not think this can be rated 10 hours. They should have rated it just like the previous 13' MBPs and even that had a 74.5wh whereas the 13" TB has a 48wh.

There is simple physics/math going on here.

 

[malikkamran]

I do not think a firmware update can solve this. They really put in a smaller battery to achieve thin-and-light. I know there are a lot of variables to account for, but I do not think this can be rated 10 hours. They should have rated it just like the previous 13' MBPs and even that had a 74.5wh whereas the 13" TB has a 48wh.

There is simple physics/math going on here.

You have no idea about apple

 

[mercedes27]

Well guys. I will wait for notebookcheck results.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-...without-Touch-Bar-Laptop-Review.182374.0.html Here is nonTB 13" and 13"TB/15"TB - reviews pending.
Found battery life of 13" non TB really good, based on that review.

I'm also wondering how much is battery influenced by 16GB RAM - i ordered BTO i5 2,9GHz 16GBRAM, 512GB SSD - so it should be worse than Apple claims as it has more RAM.

 

[PaulWog]

Why are the disparities of the battery life so huge ....
Many reported the 15 inch have better battery life... Is it possible the disparities are due to different manufacturers?

I'd like to find out.

I don't want a 2016 MBP 13" or 15" if the battery lasts 6 hours at 60% brightness.

I need 6 (slightly more if possible) at 100%
I need 10 (slightly more if possible) at 60%

I've been on this current MBP (2015 13") for 4 hours now and it's at 30%. Using at 100% brightness with chrome, word, and a few other things in the background.

 

[mercedes27]

Than go for non-TB version and you should have same battery life in smaller package.
To me the main problem of non-TB version is the absence of TB

 

[PaulWog]

Than go for non-TB version and you should have same battery life in smaller package.
To me the main problem of non-TB version is the absence of TB

To me the main problem of the non-TB version is the lack of 2 additional USB-C ports, and more-so the lack of power (worse GPU, worse CPU, worse RAM, just overall about 15% slower). I may need to compare exact benchmarks to see where the performance gap lies.

The resale market on Macbook Pros is likely going to be a little bit more difficult as well. Before, I could buy a Macbook Air, and resell 1-2 years later for a $100-$150 loss per year. Given the higher price of the MBP, I am guessing it will be more along the lines of a $250-$300 loss per year, even for the base model. Speaking in Canadian dollars.

This isn't a huge deal for business owners. The tax write-off with a 4-year depreciation on a Macbook means it's a lot cheaper already. And then resale of the Macbook off the books (which I'm guessing a small business owner might do) would basically recoup most losses. But as a personal asset, it's just all loss.

 

[David58117]

The resale market on Macbook Pros is likely going to be a little bit more difficult as well. Before, I could buy a Macbook Air, and resell 1-2 years later for a $100-$150 loss per year. Given the higher price of the MBP, I am guessing it will be more along the lines of a $250-$300 loss per year, even for the base model. Speaking in Canadian dollars.

Ah, where are people reselling these for that much?

I've sold a 2012 15", 2014 15", 2012 i7 quad core Macmini, 2013 11" air, 2014 11" air, and..that's all, actually.

The one I had the most luck with was the Mac mini, but everything else I took a loss way more than $150/year.

Although I prefer to sell locally, but that's been the trend for both states I've lived in - and that's in big cities.

 

[Lehis]

Got myself Base 13 non Touchbar version but as it is still indexing can't really comment battery life yet. What I noticed is that "About This mac -> System report -> Hardware -> Power" shows Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4959.

Could someone check from his/her Base 13 non TB what it shows for Full Charge Capacity? I wonder should Full charge capacity be higher like 5400 mAh on this model?

 

[mattopotamus]

Got myself Base 13 non Touchbar version but as it is still indexing can't really comment battery life yet. What I noticed is that "About This mac -> System report -> Hardware -> Power" shows Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4959.

Could someone check from his/her Base 13 non TB what it shows for Full Charge Capacity? I wonder should Full charge capacity be higher like 5400 mAh on this model?

My design capacity is 4790, but my full charge is 4843 :O

How that makes sense is beyond me.

 

[fokmik]

seems macOS sierra is a factor for the battery
i had el capitan on my late 2013 15" and i usually had 8 hours with web. i even test it yesterday to be sure.
i updated to macos sierra last knight, and after long hours i get only 5 hours and 40/45 min (100%) with the same tests...