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yitwail

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2011
427
479
The basic M1pro has the most battery life. The more cores or even memory your add, the more these are a drag on energy usage, and the more battery life goes down. So says the people who have done the real world tests.
That’s probably true if you mean base 16” M1 pro because it has a bigger battery than base 14”.
 

Sanpete

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2016
3,695
1,665
Utah
Genuinely thinking of cancelling my 24-core M1 Max 14” order because of this. It’s frustrating this wasn’t picked up by order reviewers. Two datapoints - verge and gizmodo both report significantly shorter battery life.
The Verge "data point" isn't worth any frustration or worry for now, it's incredible and there appears to be no good basis for it. I don't know what the Gizmodo piece says, but by far the most likely reason this hasn't been covered is that it isn't real.

I have seen reviews that showed power usage for the M1 Pro and M1 Max under load, and there can be differences there, corresponding to differences in performance. But for tasks that they perform at the same level (including in driving the screen), there's not likely to be a significant difference.

I also find it frustrating that no reviewers seem to have tested the power modes with the M1 Pro/Max. Crucially, does leaving it on automatic vs. changing it to low power mode make a difference in battery life?
The high power mode has been tested for performance. It only lets the fans spin up more, so it doesn't increase performance much if any for most tasks. The power cost is that of the fans spinning more, not negligible but not large either.
 

adamk77

Suspended
Jan 6, 2008
566
211
Some bad news.

I shared a reviewer's video in a previous post here (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/battery-life-on-m1x-pro-vs-m1x-max.2317578/post-30543111) that said that there was not a significant drop in battery life on the 16" M1 Max.

It seems he has retracted that statement with a comment on his video, "UPDATE: On further tests - the M1 Max DOES significantly impact battery. I'm removing the battery part of this video, and will cover it in my review. Stay tuned!"

Bummer. I had my heart set on the 64GB with the 400GB/s memory bandwidth, but I'm unwilling to sacrifice this much battery life. I can live with 1-2 hrs of worse battery life, but any more than that will push me towards the M1 Pro. "Significant" makes me think it's more than a couple hours worse.

The longer I wait for the reviews, the longer I may have to wait for the delivery so I've gone ahead and ordered the M1 Pro to give myself an option to decide between the two. The delivery dates have already slipped into December.

?, hoping that it's not too bad. But I'm not holding my breath.
 
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7even

macrumors 65816
Jan 11, 2008
1,048
79
Some bad news.

I shared a reviewer's video in a previous post here (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/battery-life-on-m1x-pro-vs-m1x-max.2317578/post-30543111) that said that there was not a significant drop in battery life on the 16" M1 Max.

It seems he has retracted that statement with a comment on his video, "UPDATE: On further tests - the M1 Max DOES significantly impact battery. I'm removing the battery part of this video, and will cover it in my review. Stay tuned!"

Bummer. I had my heart set on the 64GB with the 400GB/s memory bandwidth, but I'm unwilling to sacrifice this much battery life. I can live with 1-2 hrs of worse battery life, but any more than that will push me towards the M1 Pro. "Significant" makes me think it's more than a couple hours worse.

The longer I wait for the reviews, the longer I may have to wait for the delivery so I've gone ahead and ordered the M1 Pro to give myself an option to decide between the two. The delivery dates have already slipped into December.

?, hoping that it's not too bad. But I'm not holding my breath.
Dang! I hope someone also compares to the 24 core version; if there’s no difference between 24 and 32 cores in terms of battery I might as well get the higher spec if I replace mine with a silver one as I’m considering now
 

adamk77

Suspended
Jan 6, 2008
566
211
Dang! I hope someone also compares to the 24 core version; if there’s no difference between 24 and 32 cores in terms of battery I might as well get the higher spec if I replace mine with a silver one as I’m considering now
Don't quote me on this, but I think other things in addition to the GPU can influence battery life. For example, I read somewhere today (I can't seem to find the link) that the faster memory on the Max can add at least another 3W-5W of continuous power drainage.
 

yitwail

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2011
427
479
Don't quote me on this, but I think other things in addition to the GPU can influence battery life. For example, I read somewhere today (I can't seem to find the link) that the faster memory on the Max can add at least another 3W-5W of continuous power drainage.
Unless the article you read was written by an electrical engineer, I would take that with a grain of salt. FYI, M1 Max memory I don’t think is faster, there’s just more of it, if you increase it to 64GB, the same way the Max gpu cores aren’t any faster individually. But M1 Max has greater bandwidth so I presume more bits can be accessed from ram in parallel in
M1 Max compared to M1 Pro.
 

gomakoto

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2021
27
11
Does the 24 core version completely disable the “binned” cores? Are the pay physically removed, drawing zero power? Since the 24 version starts out as a 32 version at factory.
 

applesed

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2012
533
340
I'm also curious about subjective temperature under light use between the pro, 24-gpu and 32-gpu max. one might infer that drawing more power would correlate with warmer base, but experiments are good, testimony and/or thermal sensor gun.
 

adamk77

Suspended
Jan 6, 2008
566
211
Unless the article you read was written by an electrical engineer, I would take that with a grain of salt. FYI, M1 Max memory I don’t think is faster, there’s just more of it, if you increase it to 64GB, the same way the Max gpu cores aren’t any faster individually. But M1 Max has greater bandwidth so I presume more bits can be accessed from ram in parallel in
M1 Max compared to M1 Pro.

Yeah, I'm not sure. Here is bit more info from someone who ran a short test: https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/qjc59f/_/hipdmh4
There's also the double speed memory interface. If you run powermetrics in a terminal on the M1 Max chip you'll see the DRAM power usage is quite high.

On the M1 pro base 16GB model I can reliably get 100mW less than the M1 max idle. In my short very unscientific tests the M1 pro at idle definitely has a noticeable improvement in battery life. Not sure if that’s because it’s 16GB vs 32GB (Ie 2x8GB chips vs 4x8GB) or the doubled memory interface.
 
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tdbrown75

macrumors 6502
Apr 28, 2015
297
247
Dallas, TX
Well I'm about 24 hours into using my 16" M1 Max. I can't compare the battery life to the 16" M1 Pro, but compared to my 2019 16" i9 leg warmer its night and day! After a couple hours of use I've consumed 10% of the battery, whereas I'd have burned off 30% or more doing the same things on my old machine.

So while maybe the 16" M1 Pro would be even better, this is such a huge improvement over my last machine that I don't at all care. This thing will easily go all day for me, so I'll take the extra performance over extra battery life (not yet proven). Super happy with my choice of the 16" Max 32/32/1TB.

Tim
 

pgreenx

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2021
2
11
I am not a computer wiz by any means but called Apple and they said there are "performance" cores that ONLY turn on if you need them and under daily light usage the max and pro battery life is exactly the same.
I spoke to a senior tech person and you never know if this is true but they wouldn't want a slew of returns and bad press if it were not. hope this helps
 
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badlydrawnboy

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2003
1,531
418
Well, I got worried and went down to the Apple store and picked up 10-core 14" Pro with 16 GB of RAM. (I had previously ordered a 14" Max, 32-core GPU with 32 GB of RAM. That is arriving on Wednesday.)

I think I'll probably compare them and then decide which to keep.

That said, I'm wondering if the Max + 32 GB RAM are worth the additional $600 in my case. I don't do any video editing, just photo editing in Lightroom and Photoshop, plus typical stuff like web, email, Slack, etc.

Does anyone know if Photoshop or Lightroom would make use of the additional cores? I am thinking they wouldn't.
 

alee

macrumors 6502a
Jul 13, 2008
856
1,302
New York, NY
Fairly normal use on a 16 Max, 32 gpu, with 64GB. Had a Win11 VM running under Parallels, importing and editing a few photos in Lightroom, email, YouTube running sometimes full screen and sometimes PIP, Time Machine going in the background, and a short hour break in between.

At this rate, it would have run for 14-16 hrs on battery depending on what I was doing for the remainder of the day. For all intents, this is an all day laptop for this kind of stuff... probably 4-8 hrs of runtime for the video folks doing edits. Maybe less if you're running Premiere vs FCP.
 

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AFK

Suspended
Oct 31, 2021
67
58
the metaverse
Thanks for all the tips (fast charging) or that it lasts longer than the older MBPs. These are all great, but I want to know the battery life difference between the M1 Max and the M1 Pro. I'm completely stuck and waiting for an actual review.

It would help so much if someone can share how long it lasts when it is completely idle? I want to know the baseline power consumption.
 

pgreenx

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2021
2
11
Well, I got worried and went down to the Apple store and picked up 10-core 14" Pro with 16 GB of RAM. (I had previously ordered a 14" Max, 32-core GPU with 32 GB of RAM. That is arriving on Wednesday.)

I think I'll probably compare them and then decide which to keep.

That said, I'm wondering if the Max + 32 GB RAM are worth the additional $600 in my case. I don't do any video editing, just photo editing in Lightroom and Photoshop, plus typical stuff like web, email, Slack, etc.

Does anyone know if Photoshop or Lightroom would make use of the additional cores? I am thinking they wouldn't.
I cant answer your question but
Thanks for all the tips (fast charging) or that it lasts longer than the older MBPs. These are all great, but I want to know the battery life difference between the M1 Max and the M1 Pro. I'm completely stuck and waiting for an actual review.

It would help so much if someone can share how long it lasts when it is completely idle? I want to know the baseline power consumption.
i called Apple today. They said there are efficiency gpu cores that run the small stuff and performance cores that turn on and off and kick in when needed. So if you don’t run high graphic stuff then the two chips use the same power level.
I do lmk t know if this is true but they sent you me to the senior tech group to confirm this. They said NO downside to getting the max
For this helps
 

Sowelu

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2008
814
1,012
New York City
That's a pretty tall claim that The Verge is making. A 6 hour difference between the M1 Pro and the M1 Max at idle or with light everyday tasks is major, and it doesn't seem right. If the extra GPU cores aren't being used by any applications, why would they drain the battery that dramatically? An hour or so I can see, but 6 hours? Something seems off here.
 

miamialley

macrumors 68040
Jul 28, 2008
3,577
1,051
California, USA
That's a pretty tall claim that The Verge is making. A 6 hour difference between the M1 Pro and the M1 Max at idle or with light everyday tasks is major, and it doesn't seem right. If the extra GPU cores aren't being used by any applications, why would they drain the battery that dramatically? An hour or so I can see, but 6 hours? Something seems off here.
As I mentioned earlier, Apple said the 16" gets up to 21 hours, same as the 14". They don't have a history of overestimating battery life. Like all of you, I would like to see the tests, also, but I expect Apple's figures to generally be accurate and not as far off as is being suggested.
 

adamk77

Suspended
Jan 6, 2008
566
211
As I mentioned earlier, Apple said the 16" gets up to 21 hours, same as the 14". They don't have a history of overestimating battery life. Like all of you, I would like to see the tests, also, but I expect Apple's figures to generally be accurate and not as far off as is being suggested.


I think the issue is with the fine print on Apple's site here (https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/). Emphasis is mine. Yes, would love to see actual tests and impatiently waiting for the big names to drop some videos soon.
  1. Actual rating of 69.6 watt-hours (14-inch model) or 99.6 watt-hours (16-inch model). Testing conducted by Apple in September 2021 using preproduction 14-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD; and preproduction 16-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. The Apple TV app movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. Battery life varies by use and configuration. See apple.com/batteries for more information.
 
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miamialley

macrumors 68040
Jul 28, 2008
3,577
1,051
California, USA
I think the issue is with the fine print on Apple's site here (https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-14-and-16/specs/). Emphasis is mine. Yes, would love to see actual tests and impatiently waiting for the big names to drop some videos soon.
  1. Actual rating of 69.6 watt-hours (14-inch model) or 99.6 watt-hours (16-inch model). Testing conducted by Apple in September 2021 using preproduction 14-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD; and preproduction 16-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 Pro, 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. The Apple TV app movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. Battery life varies by use and configuration. See apple.com/batteries for more information.
Yeah, that's fair. Everyone is asking the right questions. Would like to see someone with a Max do some tests.
 

Cameraman12

macrumors member
Mar 14, 2009
82
80
Cali
If it helps... I'm running Capture One Pro 21, PS (some light touch up stuff), and safari on a 16in MAX 32GB 1TB with brightness just under half and it just went down to 99% after 58 minutes.
 
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