Expected battery charge on new retina MBP (2015) and can it be improved?

[addictive]

I have a 13inch Retina MacBook Pro (2015) and last month got the battery replaced through an official Apple store. I was surprised they said it would take 12 days or so as I was expecting a 48 hour turnaround but I wasn't aware my Mac would be sent to the Czech Republic. It cost me £199 and my Mac was delivered by courier to my address rather than having to collect from an Apple store, I think it took just over a week in the end. I'm very pleased with the decision.

Before they battery replacement my five year rMacBookPro was only lasting an hour before needing to be attached to the MagSafe to charge.

It's transformational to have a new battery....but I'm a little disappointed by the battery life. I'm getting around 4 hours or so on a full charge. I'm not pushing the machine with usually only Safari open although I might have numerous tabs open.

Is this the length of battery life I should expect? Is there anything I need to do to improve the battery life?

Out of interest in real world terms how much battery life do the M1 MBAs get on a full charge?

 

[Dave Braine]

I was only getting about 4-5 hours with my mid 2012(bought new in 2015) MBP, after it had a new battery last year. Things have come on a lot in terms of battery technology and power consumption since then.

I now have a M1 MBA. I couldn't say how long the battery lasts because I've never run it down below about 30%, but it lasts a looooong time.

 

[MBAir2010]

OP
Did you condition the battery?

 

[addictive]

OP
Did you condition the battery?

Yes, I did but perhaps you've got some other advice or tips? I'm a little surprised its only 4 hours or so but this old tech battery on an Intel dual-core i5 cpu.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I agree with @MBAir2010

Battery Calibration

All newly-installed smart batteries should be calibrated as soon as possible. This helps your phone or laptop get an accurate reading on the battery’s state of charge.

www.ifixit.com

Additionally, Web browsing nowadays is far from low impact.

 

[addictive]

I was only getting about 4-5 hours with my mid 2012(bought new in 2015) MBP, after it had a new battery last year. Things have come on a lot in terms of battery technology and power consumption since then.

I now have a M1 MBA. I couldn't say how long the battery lasts because I've never run it down below about 30%, but it lasts a looooong time.

Yeah, thats partly my thinking that battery technology and power consumption are vastly different. This would have been a top of the range laptop when released but this is now seven years old.

I'm waiting for the next iteration of the MBA to be released but I needed a new battery for this rMBP to function.

 

[MBAir2010]

the original MacBook air battery from 2010 was at 39% for over 2 hours of usage last nite.
which consisted of photo editing and typing here,
which is remarkable considering the age and cycle count of 608
(what ever that means)
i don't think i can get a better performance from a replacement by
OWC or from  if they even sell these anymore.

meanwhile the Dell XPS 13" now lasts 18 minutes then shuts down
but that laptop is unplugged and in a box for now.