Battery life gone to crap, M1 base pro, Big Sur 11.2.3

[nieks]

You do realize that shutting down and restarting the Macbook every single time uses more power than just closing the lid and letting it sleep?

Edit: I'm not saying you are wrong or anything, it could still very much be a problem with the OS update. I'm just stating that battery life might improve if you don't shut everything down every time.

 

[LFC2020]

I am also having this issue since upgrading to 11.2.3. I haven't changed my use case and I'm getting roughly similar battery times as you LFC2020.

Very frustrating and at a loss as to what is causing it.

Same here mate, started happening during the last couple of Big Sur releases. ?‍♂️?‍♂️?

 

[LFC2020]

You do realize that shutting down and restarting the Macbook every single time uses more power than just closing the lid and letting it sleep?

Edit: I'm not saying you are wrong or anything, it could still very much be a problem with the OS update. I'm just stating that battery life might improve if you don't shut everything down every time.

Have been shutting it down since I purchased the machine, was getting awesome battery previously, guess I’ll see what happens with the next Big Sur release.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[nice2cu]

You do realize that shutting down and restarting the Macbook every single time uses more power than just closing the lid and letting it sleep?

I do a restart when something weird is happening. Like when my battery life halves overnight after I install the latest MacOS update 11.2.3.

This is officially an issue that needs to be addressed. @LFC2020 and @Petlar, I urge you to call Apple customer support and make a formal report so that this is taken seriously. The Apple rep I spoke with took my report seriously, but we're going to need a few more of us to get the OS dev team to take notice, methinks.

 

[Petlar]

I do a restart when something weird is happening. Like when my battery life halves overnight after I install the latest MacOS update 11.2.3.

This is officially an issue that needs to be addressed. @LFC2020 and @Petlar, I urge you to call Apple customer support and make a formal report so that this is taken seriously. The Apple rep I spoke with took my report seriously, but we're going to need a few more of us to get the OS dev team to take notice, methinks.

i haven't called them but I have spoken with apple support via live chat, I've reset my SMC chip and if this doesn't fix it i will reverse back to factory settings and see if that changes things.

I will be calling apple support if nothing changes.

 

[nice2cu]

i haven't called them but I have spoken with apple support via live chat, I've reset my SMC chip and if this doesn't fix it i will reverse back to factory settings and see if that changes things.

I will be calling apple support if nothing changes.

Wait, you have an Intel Mac? There's no SMC to reset on an M1 Mac.

If you're using an M1 Mac, just call Apple Support and lodge a report.

 

[Petlar]

Wait, you have an Intel Mac? There's no SMC to reset on an M1 Mac.

If you're using an M1 Mac, just call Apple Support and lodge a report.

Oh nope, I'm using an M1 mac, that's just what support told me to do.... Good to know that they're well informed.

Although interestingly when I started up my computer I was informed that it had a Kernel panic, have you guys experienced this after restarting following 11.2.3?

 

[nice2cu]

Oh nope, I'm using an M1 mac, that's just what support told me to do.... Good to know that they're well informed.

Although interestingly when I started up my computer I was informed that it had a Kernel panic, have you guys experienced this after restarting following 11.2.3?

Did not see any message like that, but perhaps I missed it. I am seeing the WindowServer and kernel_task processes taking plenty of CPU time, but perhaps that's normal. Though I suspect something is amiss and it would be weird for the battery to be showing such poor performance after an update without one or two processes taking up inordinate computing resources.

 

[Petlar]

Did not see any message like that, but perhaps I missed it. I am seeing the WindowServer and kernel_task processes taking plenty of CPU time, but perhaps that's normal.

View attachment 1752041

I think that's normal, it's just background tasks I presume. What's more important is the CPU load data at the bottom. Anywhere around 5% usage is probably fine, if it's consistently showing high load on the CPU then that would explain the battery drain.

However mine isn't showing consistently high CPU usage, so I don't think it's a runaway software issue so to speak.

 

[nice2cu]

I think that's normal, it's just background tasks I presume. What's more important is the CPU load data at the bottom. Anywhere around 5% usage is probably fine, if it's consistently showing high load on the CPU then that would explain the battery drain.

However mine isn't showing consistently high CPU usage, so I don't think it's a runaway software issue so to speak.

That's what I'm saying. It's weird to see the battery % remaining drop so fast while not seeing high CPU usage. Though I never paid attention before the update because there wasn't a problem. Those top two tasks often spike to maybe 20% CPU usage. Perhaps before the update that wasn't happening, hence the battery life reduction?

 

[bobcomer]

fwiw, I never get more than 7 hours work on a charge with my M1 MBA. (Unless I didn't use it at all and let it sleep!)

I never get more than 3 hours on any other laptop I've owned, so 7 is a big gain.

 

[LFC2020]

i haven't called them but I have spoken with apple support via live chat, I've reset my SMC chip and if this doesn't fix it i will reverse back to factory settings and see if that changes things.

I will be calling apple support if nothing changes.

there is something definitely wrong, shutdown my Mac with 25% left, rebooted this morning got 20% left. ?‍♂️

15 minutes into using the machine lost another 2% battery life. so much for these efficient chips, marketing crap.

 

[CheesePuff]

there is something definitely wrong, shutdown my Mac with 25% left, rebooted this morning got 20% left. ?‍♂️

15 minutes into using the machine lost another 2% battery life. so much for these efficient chips, marketing crap.

Obviously there is an issue with your machines hardware or software, as most other users report ~12-16 hours of use with their M1 Pro.

 

[LFC2020]

Obviously there is an issue with your machines hardware or software, as most other users report ~12-16 hours of use with their M1 Pro.

Any point taking it to a apple store? most likely run some test and say it's all fine.

 

[LFC2020]

Just hit 10% battery, just over 7 hours battery life, only been using safari. ?‍♂️So much for these efficient M1 chips.

 

[Petlar]

so after switching my browser to firefox, my problem has disappeared...

 

[LFC2020]

so after switching my browser to firefox, my problem has disappeared...

Really? What’s your battery usage like now?

Still getting garbage battery life, only using safari, nothing else open, 4-5 bars brightness, battery drops 10% for 1 hour usage. ?‍♂️

 

[aleni]

Did you open crypto/stock websites with real time charts? I feel my battery goes down a bit faster when I open those kind of websites.

 

[nice2cu]

Just hit 10% battery, just over 7 hours battery life, only been using safari. ?‍♂️So much for these efficient M1 chips.

View attachment 1752382

It's not the chips, it's something about 11.2.3. Report it to Apple!

 

[LFC2020]

It's not the chips, it's something about 11.2.3. Report it to Apple!

What's the point, they'll say restore your Mac or wait for 11.2.4 ? you still getting avg battery life?

 

[LFC2020]

Did you open crypto/stock websites with real time charts? I feel my battery goes down a bit faster when I open those kind of websites.

nah just regular web browsing and YouTube.

 

[CheesePuff]

What's the point, they'll say restore your Mac or wait for 11.2.4 ? you still getting avg battery life?

...how do you think they fix things in a future update then? You seem to have a very pessimistic outlook here blaming the "supposedly efficient M1 chips" when its clearly a bug

 

[LFC2020]

...how do you think they fix things in a future update then? You seem to have a very pessimistic outlook here blaming the "supposedly efficient M1 chips" when its clearly a bug

Guess I’ll wait for the next release then. ?

 

[Joelist]

Sorry but I am not seeing this "issue". I run Office, Slack, VSCode and depending on the scenario either Safari or Edge. I'm getting around 16 hours on a charge. MBA base model.

 

[LFC2020]

Sorry but I am not seeing this "issue". I run Office, Slack, VSCode and depending on the scenario either Safari or Edge. I'm getting around 16 hours on a charge. MBA base model.

Screen on time? Or actually battery usage?

No way someone can get 16 hours usage out of these machines, what brightness level is your screen on?

I’m only using safari nothing else open brightness level 4-5 bars, lucky to get 8 hours usage, that’s with the pro model that has a bigger battery. 🥺