Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

kwandrews

macrumors 6502
Mar 7, 2012
327
118
Colorado, USA
My battery is improving since I stopped looking at the estimate. LOL. I only look at % and, as mentioned before, use Mr Stopwatch to gauge REAL use and make my own estimates. I've been getting about 6-8 hours with moderate use (Safari, Opera, Spark, Skype for Business, a few YouTube videos, etc.). MUCH better than I was getting before. I'm also on cycle 11 now.

Today, I've been on battery for the past 2:33, the 2:03 of the time with an active WebEx screen sharing meeting running too. This along with Spark, Fantastical 2, Skype for Business and Safari with a few uses of Preview for PDFs and MS Word to review a few documents. I'm at 62% left. so, about 1/3 down and 2:33 used. I estimate, at this rate, I'll still see about 6-7 hours WITH WebEx a good portion of the time. Without it, I'm sure it would be 7-8.

This is so much better than the 2-3 I was getting on the 15". This 13" initially was getting 3-5 at best. I did a complete reinstall (wipe drive, install 10.12.1 from USB-drive, etc.) and that's it. No crappy migration assistant ever. I can't fully explain WHY this has helped or IF it will remain working well, but we'll see.

I was on the verge of another return and going to a 2015, but I LOVE the touchbar and use it a lot. It has increased productivity for me. Especially with Spark mail, I'm able to blow through >300 emails using it so much faster than I ever did in Outlook '16. So far, I'm keeping this one :)
 

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
not saying there's definitely a fix but since 10.12.2 this evening, coconut battery is indicating the machine is discharging with around 8-12 watts. Not sure if that's still high but in comparison with beta 6, that was discharging around 17+
 

Prothis

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2015
23
22
not saying there's definitely a fix but since 10.12.2 this evening, coconut battery is indicating the machine is discharging with around 8-12 watts. Not sure if that's still high but in comparison with beta 6, that was discharging around 17+
Please let me know about actual usage, My battery seems to be one of the good ones but I am scared to update after all I heard about battery being worse in the beta of 10.12.2.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mahcus36

STB747400

macrumors newbie
Oct 19, 2016
9
1
Here my experience: first a new installation of 10.12. Everything works fine. Electricity consumption between 6 to 25 watts. Update to 10.12.2 electricity consumption rises to 12 to 30 (more > 15). After studying this forum I have done a pram reset ........ everything is good! Power consumption goes down again to 6 to 25 watts (more < 15). I hope it helps someone... OH! MacBook Pro 15" 2016 i7 2.9 GHz
 

FrozenDarkness

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2009
1,826
1,124
"Apple tells us that according to all its testing and user data, the batteries in the new MacBook Pros are performing normally—there’s no bug that’s sapping your battery, and your real-world battery life is still going to be influenced strongly by your workload. The only battery life-related fix in 10.12.2 is the removal of the “time remaining” estimate from the operating system. Apple says this is because modern components switch power states so frequently and quickly that it’s hard to correctly estimate remaining battery life based on current activity."

according to arstechnica so doesn't seem like anything at all was done. that's infuriating.
 

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
Here my experience: first a new installation of 10.12. Everything works fine. Electricity consumption between 6 to 25 watts. Update to 10.12.2 electricity consumption rises to 12 to 30 (more > 15). After studying this forum I have done a pram reset ........ everything is good! Power consumption goes down again to 6 to 25 watts (more < 15). I hope it helps someone... OH! MacBook Pro 15" 2016 i7 2.9 GHz
Did you mean PRAM or SMC reset?
 

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
Interesting, all the advice says to reset the SMC not the PRAM, so I'll give that a go.

I have to say that since putting on the final release of 10.12.2, battery life seems to have improved. I have been using it for 1.5 hours or so, started at 88%, now at 70%. That equates to just over 8 hours I think. I would say that's not bad, in the acceptable range for me. Need to keep testing though
 

STB747400

macrumors newbie
Oct 19, 2016
9
1
better than ever > web surfing
 

Attachments

  • screen.jpg
    screen.jpg
    643.2 KB · Views: 318

mahcus36

macrumors regular
Sep 22, 2016
179
146
Please let me know about actual usage, My battery seems to be one of the good ones but I am scared to update after all I heard about battery being worse in the beta of 10.12.2.
yep same. my battery life has been pretty solid for the most part, getting around 6-8 hours most of the time. I also read the claims that the battery life was getting worse on the final beta for 10.12.2, and I'm also very hesitant to update right now, at least until we get more consistent data.
 

Time Less

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2010
511
293
Planet Earth
after today's 10.12.2 update (upgraded from public beta) coconut battery is reporting a lot less watts being used. 13" tb: safari is now hovering between 5-8w down from 10-15w and indesign with GPU preview under 10w down from +15w.

edit: current battery time is 2 hours with 75% left, brightness two ticks past 50%, bluetooth on, wifi on. I am really happy so far. The past 2 weeks or so I was only getting 3-4 with a one time high of 6 hours (a fluke).
 
Last edited:

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
after today's 10.12.2 update (upgraded from public beta) coconut battery is reporting a lot less watts being used. 13" tb safari is now hovering between 5-8w down from 10-15w and indesign with GPU preview under 10w down from +15w.
Im seeing the same now, in fact as I write I'm discharging with 2.49w! that's vastly different from Beta 6
 

badlydrawnboy

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2003
1,531
418
Seems very unlikely there will be a fix. Apple is saying "This is normal given how much we reduced the size of the battery in these machines."

I unfortunately will have to return mine. I'm at the office working today. I've been on battery for 2:20, and have only 50% remaining. That's horrible. I've been on this thread since page 2 or 3 and have done every "fix".
 

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
Seems very unlikely there will be a fix. Apple is saying "This is normal given how much we reduced the size of the battery in these machines."

I unfortunately will have to return mine. I'm at the office working today. I've been on battery for 2:20, and have only 50% remaining. That's horrible. I've been on this thread since page 2 or 3 and have done every "fix".
Im cautiously optimistic so far... I've been very vocal about how bad it's been and was almost certain to return mine. Since the latest release today, it's seemingly much much better. Touch wood. I don't want to speak too soon but so far, I am getting happier!
 

Salaryman Ryan

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2015
116
92
"Apple tells us that according to all its testing and user data, the batteries in the new MacBook Pros are performing normally—there’s no bug that’s sapping your battery, and your real-world battery life is still going to be influenced strongly by your workload. The only battery life-related fix in 10.12.2 is the removal of the “time remaining” estimate from the operating system. Apple says this is because modern components switch power states so frequently and quickly that it’s hard to correctly estimate remaining battery life based on current activity."

according to arstechnica so doesn't seem like anything at all was done. that's infuriating.
So basically by removing the time remaining Apple is basically implying that what you guys are experiencing is purely psychological?
 
  • Like
Reactions: mahcus36

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
That's also noting that every single build I installed on this since I received it had battery issues, even the shipping build
 

FrozenDarkness

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2009
1,826
1,124
So basically by removing the time remaining Apple is basically implying that what you guys are experiencing is purely psychological?
it could be. i'm curious how many people in this topic is actually not looking at the battery generator, but just doing normal work through the day and drain the battery down to like 3%. That's the actual test right?
 

oktane

macrumors newbie
Dec 9, 2016
24
6
So basically by removing the time remaining Apple is basically implying that what you guys are experiencing is purely psychological?

Infuriating to me is that they are getting rid of the battery life time estimate (one of the most useful features) in order to cover up the fact that there is indeed a problem with poor battery life on these machines. This sounds like a good way to cover up the evidence and "make the problem go away."

Now in order to prove your laptop is not working according to the claimed spec, you have to physically sit at the Genius Bar for 3-4 hours instead of showing the battery estimate, which per my testing is still perfectly accurate.

What is so unique about the late 2016 MacBook Pro that a feature that worked so well on every other laptop they have released now "is not accurate because modern components switch power states so frequently."

We all know that is total non-sense and a flawed logical argument.
 

technoholic

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2016
626
301
Update: On my machine that was previously getting 4-6 hours totally on a battery, I've just hit exactly 3 hours use since installing 10.12.2 final, I'm at 56%, down from 88% so that's 32% in 3 hours, roughly 10% an hour. I can live with that quite comfortably.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mahcus36

marcel500

macrumors regular
Nov 18, 2006
213
42
Infuriating to me is that they are getting rid of the battery life time estimate (one of the most useful features) in order to cover up the fact that there is indeed a problem with poor battery life on these machines. This sounds like a good way to cover up the evidence and "make the problem go away."

Now in order to prove your laptop is not working according to the claimed spec, you have to physically sit at the Genius Bar for 3-4 hours instead of showing the battery estimate, which per my testing is still perfectly accurate.

What is so unique about the late 2016 MacBook Pro that a feature that worked so well on every other laptop they have released now "is not accurate because modern components switch power states so frequently."

We all know that is total non-sense and a flawed logical argument.


This is ridiculous, removing the battery indicator and telling their loyal customers that they don't know how to read it. I spoke with Apple on sunday and they admit that the battery is dropping faster than normal. I believe they just don't want noise during christmas shopping time and will address the problem in January.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: mahcus36

xmonkey

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2016
687
932
CA
Infuriating to me is that they are getting rid of the battery life time estimate (one of the most useful features) in order to cover up the fact that there is indeed a problem with poor battery life on these machines. This sounds like a good way to cover up the evidence and "make the problem go away."

Now in order to prove your laptop is not working according to the claimed spec, you have to physically sit at the Genius Bar for 3-4 hours instead of showing the battery estimate, which per my testing is still perfectly accurate.

What is so unique about the late 2016 MacBook Pro that a feature that worked so well on every other laptop they have released now "is not accurate because modern components switch power states so frequently."

We all know that is total non-sense and a flawed logical argument.
https://9to5mac.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/time-remaining-battery.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1000

Take a deep breath...
 

oktane

macrumors newbie
Dec 9, 2016
24
6

Smart people like you will no doubt still have easy access to this information, but "regular" users like me rely on the indicator at the top by the battery icon. This move is meant to keep the average user in the dark. No doubt advanced users will download 3rd party apps or look in other built-in locations for this data. Ignorance is bliss!
 

xmonkey

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2016
687
932
CA
Smart people like you will no doubt still have easy access to this information, but "regular" users like me rely on the indicator at the top by the battery icon. This move is meant to keep the average user in the dark. No doubt advanced users will download 3rd party apps or look in other built-in locations for this data. Ignorance is bliss!
No, it's meant to make the average user not flip out when they see it showing 10 hours one time, and then 4 hours a few minutes later because they opened up some other program. You were relying on something that was proving to be wildly inaccurate.

It's not like Activity Monitor is some deeply hidden tool anyways.
 

marcel500

macrumors regular
Nov 18, 2006
213
42
No, it's meant to make the average user not flip out when they see it showing 10 hours one time, and then 4 hours a few minutes later because they opened up some other program. You were relying on something that was proving to be wildly inaccurate.

It's not like Activity Monitor is some deeply hidden tool anyways.


It was never like this... since 10 years the battery indicator did a solid job but suddenly they are telling us it is inaccurate? How is this suddenly possible?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.