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

ascender

macrumors 603
Dec 8, 2005
5,019
2,896
can anyone please report their battery life after the sierra 10.12.3 update? I am wondering whether to get a 2016 macbook pro. Thank you.

If you have a look through the last few pages of this thread you'll see posts from users who have updated to 10.12.3.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sanpete

Fluxvol

macrumors newbie
Jan 4, 2017
20
5
can anyone please report their battery life after the sierra 10.12.3 update? I am wondering whether to get a 2016 macbook pro. Thank you.
I have posted on here many times as a critic of the battery life, I didn't want to give up and return the laptop so I joined the beta program. The battery has gotten a great deal better, however, this latest beta version is not as good as the previous version (release 3). I am only getting about 7 hours of moderate usage with brightness set to 75%. I would love to get closer to 10 but I have accepted the fact that won't happen.

I am using the base model 15in tbMBP.
 

Fluxvol

macrumors newbie
Jan 4, 2017
20
5
A bit confused 10.12.3 is out of beta. I am actually at 10.12.4 beta 1. Good batter life 10+ hours of light usage.
Did you have issues with battery when you first got your laptop? If so, have you downloaded each release and seen improvements? I apologize about the version, yes, I am in fact on 10.12.4. Which is not performing as well as release 3 or 4 of 10.12.3. What is your brightness and what is your activity level to get 10 hours?
 
  • Like
Reactions: macintoshmac

matram

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2011
781
416
Sweden
I have never had any major problems, got 10+ hours from the start with 10.12.2 as delivered before moving over on the beta track.

My impression is that there has been some tuning between releases so that instantenous CPU peaks are now lower. I have run minute by minute comparison of current draw when playing the same video sequence to my 2014 13". it was clear that the 2016 was peaking more on 10.12.2 compared to the 2014.

I typically run 50% brightness. I have done test of sensitivity to brightness. If I remember correctly 100% will cost you 4 hours. 75% 1 hour.
 

Fluxvol

macrumors newbie
Jan 4, 2017
20
5
I have never had any major problems, got 10+ hours from the start with 10.12.2 as delivered before moving over on the beta track.

My impression is that there has been some tuning between releases so that instantenous CPU peaks are now lower. I have run minute by minute comparison of current draw when playing the same video sequence to my 2014 13". it was clear that the 2016 was peaking more on 10.12.2 compared to the 2014.

I typically run 50% brightness. I have done test of sensitivity to brightness. If I remember correctly 100% will cost you 4 hours. 75% 1 hour.
Thank you for the response. I have seen enough comments like yours to make me certain that not all batteries were created equal with the new tbMBPs. If I didn't mind the hassle, I would still be tempted to exchange for another one at Best Buy.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2017-01-31 at 3.15.10 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2017-01-31 at 3.15.10 PM.png
    446 KB · Views: 173
  • Like
Reactions: im_ashley

Sanpete

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2016
3,695
1,665
Utah
Thank you for the response. I have seen enough comments like yours to make me certain that not all batteries were created equal with the new tbMBPs. If I didn't mind the hassle, I would still be tempted to exchange for another one at Best Buy.

Your battery may be normal. 10 hours is for light use, you mention moderate use, for which 5-8 is normal. 75% is right on the line of where the screen becomes a battery hog, so you're pushing the limit there. You've been involved in these discussion enough to know better than I do whether your use is more than light, of course.
 

matram

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2011
781
416
Sweden
I have seen enough comments like yours to make me certain that not all batteries were created equal with the new tbMBPs.

I think the situation is the opposite.

You can query the battery built in microcontroller directly with pmset -g rawlog. Not very many have shown these data but what I have seen shows that batteries exceed design capacity with a few percent and that battery life time matches current consumed.

Hence we/you should be looking at sources for high current draw, the battery meets specs.
[doublepost=1485894878][/doublepost]With regard to activity monitor be a bit careful.

Energy impact is a synthetic measure based on cpu%, idlew and network traffic. It is not the actual energy consumed.

A very easy way to troll (not saying you are) would be to plug in some load on the usb port. That will bring down battery remaining with no visible effect on energy impact.
 

BenTrovato

macrumors 68040
Jun 29, 2012
3,043
2,208
Canada
On the 15" I finally get about 10 hours now when doing emails/browsing with brightness at 75%.

I get about 7.5-8 hours when doing my regular work using a bunch of various apps, speakers in use. I find the screen brightness impacts my battery more than what I'm doing. When I press the brightness icon on the touchbar, I keep the square slider centred over the 8 key, directly centered with the * on top of the 8 key. If I align the square slider to the left side of the 8 key, my battery will easily get 10 hours. When I slide it to line up with the right side of the 8 key, I'm around the 8 hour mark.
 

matram

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2011
781
416
Sweden
This is my results from video in iTunes test (SD video)

8 clicks - 12,4 h - 50%
10 clicks - 11,9 h
12 clicks - 10,5 h - 75%
14 clicks - 8,7 h
16 clicks - 6,5 h - 100%

There was very little effect of going below 50% (8 clicks) but for very bright screens battery life degrades quickly.
 

Eduardboon

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2012
269
39
This is my results from video in iTunes test (SD video)

8 clicks - 12,4 h - 50%
10 clicks - 11,9 h
12 clicks - 10,5 h - 75%
14 clicks - 8,7 h
16 clicks - 6,5 h - 100%

There was very little effect of going below 50% (8 clicks) but for very bright screens battery life degrades quickly.

That seems quite good!

I have battery improvements on my mid-2012 rmb 15" as well since the last update of MacOS. My battery is at 80 percent after 430 cycles and can do 6-7 hours with the brightness around 50 percent. That's almost as good as when it was new in 2012!
 

mahcus36

macrumors regular
Sep 22, 2016
179
146
In Activity Monitor, Safari is constantly showing an average Energy Impact of over 20-25, and from what I've ready around here, it should not be anywhere near that high. Any tips? Flash is not on and I rarely, if ever, have to use it.
 

MrGuder

macrumors 68040
Nov 30, 2012
3,029
2,013
In Activity Monitor, Safari is constantly showing an average Energy Impact of over 20-25, and from what I've ready around here, it should not be anywhere near that high. Any tips? Flash is not on and I rarely, if ever, have to use it.

That seems pretty high, mine shows about 10-11
I don't have flash installed. I did download Chrome but I only use it when I need flash or flash that Safari won't play, for instance my tv cable subscription uses flash to watch my channels I paid for, tried using Safari but says I need the latest flash, didn't want to download flash so I just use Chrome when I want to watch Xfinity tv go on my laptop.
[doublepost=1485914802][/doublepost]
This is my results from video in iTunes test (SD video)

8 clicks - 12,4 h - 50%
10 clicks - 11,9 h
12 clicks - 10,5 h - 75%
14 clicks - 8,7 h
16 clicks - 6,5 h - 100%

There was very little effect of going below 50% (8 clicks) but for very bright screens battery life degrades quickly.

I usually keep mine at 12 clicks (75%) anything more is too bright unless there is some detail I need to see better I turn it up momentarily, at night I usually click it down 2 more bars about 10 clicks. For me I can't use the retina pro laptop at 50% or lower it's just too dim for me even in a dark room.

This chart above is really accurate for me, when I had the 2016 15" Pro I kept it at 75% and I easily got 10 hrs. I now have the 2015 15" and I'm getting about 8.5 hrs but I'm only on the 4th charge.
 

Sanpete

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2016
3,695
1,665
Utah
In Activity Monitor, Safari is constantly showing an average Energy Impact of over 20-25, and from what I've ready around here, it should not be anywhere near that high. Any tips? Flash is not on and I rarely, if ever, have to use it.

There's a triangle at the left of the Safari entry in the Activity Monitor Energy tab. Click on it to get additional info on what's using the power.
 

WRONG

macrumors 6502a
Oct 7, 2015
903
3,181
Principality of Sealand
Ok so this is what I got from Battery Health.

ferf.png


I have 16 tabs opened in Opera, but they're all light I think, just text and not some sort of fancy animation/flash/video battery draining.
Opera is already working with battery saving enabled.
In addition, I have iTuned running in background.
Half Display brightness.
I did also changed the display resolution, to improve battery life, as pointed out in this thread.

Even if the "current usage" show around 11 hours, Internet Browsing is 7 hours.
So I don't know if I have to feel satisfied or not...
Thoughts?
 

nincompoop

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2017
8
0
So did the 10.12.3 stable release fix everyone's battery issues? Or is there anyone still having issues with battery on that update?
 

jpma

macrumors 6502
May 31, 2009
254
3
I actually have pretty good life time for my 15" TMbp since the beginning I have it. Now I'm on 12.10.3
Still deciding should I move to 12.10.4 but afraid it might reduce my battery life. Any review?
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,409
19,492
I actually have pretty good life time for my 15" TMbp since the beginning I have it. Now I'm on 12.10.3
Still deciding should I move to 12.10.4 but afraid it might reduce my battery life. Any review?

Its 10.12.x ;)

I wouldn't recommend you to get the 10.12.4 beta yet — its a bit wobbly (at least for me). I get some Safari crashes, random issues with Airplay and sometimes my menu bar goes haywire. Also, logging in after restart is problematic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: macintoshmac

jpma

macrumors 6502
May 31, 2009
254
3
Its 10.12.x ;)

I wouldn't recommend you to get the 10.12.4 beta yet — its a bit wobbly (at least for me). I get some Safari crashes, random issues with Airplay and sometimes my menu bar goes haywire. Also, logging in after restart is problematic.

Ops~~

10.12.3 has been very stable for me so far.
thank you
 

Turpentine222

macrumors newbie
Dec 29, 2016
21
5
I wouldn't recommend you to get the 10.12.4 beta yet — its a bit wobbly (at least for me). I get some Safari crashes, random issues with Airplay and sometimes my menu bar goes haywire. Also, logging in after restart is problematic.

Same experience here. This is a stupid question but how do I go back to 10.12.3 from 10.12.4?? I can't find how to do this.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.