If you are working from home, why would you not power your M1, instead of using battery to run an external monitor, and everything else you have going? Am I missing something important with my question?
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Major Battery disappointment on MacBook Pro M1
- Thread starter Le0M
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I noticed a very weird thing: through the iStat graph, the GPU usage is always 0, no matter the usage. Other similar apps act the same way, like iStatistica, for instance. The only exception seems to be Activity monitor, which actually do show GPU usage with credible values.
In the iStat Menus screenshot, the GPU graph won't even be shown.
Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?
I'm running Big Sur 11.1.
In the iStat Menus screenshot, the GPU graph won't even be shown.
Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?
I'm running Big Sur 11.1.
I've been experimenting with battery only clamshell mode which I thought was impossible but someone posted an undocumented pmset command to enable it:
sudo pmset -b disablesleep 1
Since I set that, I've been running my MBA in clamshell mode since around 6:00 PM EST. after 4.5 hours, I'm down 12%. I've been playing around with the latest Docker and reading and posting here and doing a little video. Normal moderate usage. At this rate I would get another 15 to 20 hours of battery.
Edit: The last charged to 90% 10:08 PM was when I plugged it in for about 2 minutes to wake the screen (it didn't work, I had to open the display briefly and then when the external woke up, I put it back in clamshell).
sudo pmset -b disablesleep 1
Since I set that, I've been running my MBA in clamshell mode since around 6:00 PM EST. after 4.5 hours, I'm down 12%. I've been playing around with the latest Docker and reading and posting here and doing a little video. Normal moderate usage. At this rate I would get another 15 to 20 hours of battery.
Edit: The last charged to 90% 10:08 PM was when I plugged it in for about 2 minutes to wake the screen (it didn't work, I had to open the display briefly and then when the external woke up, I put it back in clamshell).
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Yeah, and that's exactly what happens when keeping the Mac in clamshell mode. That's why I try and avoid it.
I'm pretty sure cuz I read it in depth a few years ago. But now I just re-checked, read a few articles, and it turns out the best thing to do is to keep the battery at around 50% and do many but short charge/discharge cycles. The exact opposite of what I knew till yesterday.
Thanks for the input.
@jdb8167
Very interesting, both the amount of battery charge it uses in clamshell mode, and how you were able to force-use clamshell mode even without charging nor third-party apps (like Amphetamine).
May I ask if you used third-party apps for this purpose before, and if you saw a big battery drain?
Also, with that terminal command, does your mac go to sleep if it's not connected to external displays?
Very interesting, both the amount of battery charge it uses in clamshell mode, and how you were able to force-use clamshell mode even without charging nor third-party apps (like Amphetamine).
May I ask if you used third-party apps for this purpose before, and if you saw a big battery drain?
Also, with that terminal command, does your mac go to sleep if it's not connected to external displays?
Your question is understandable, but I want to preserve the battery's health, and keeping it plugged in for a long time while using it does not good to the battery itself. The worst thing would be to keep charging the battery after reaching 100% and making intense use of the computer, cuz the temperature rises considerably, and this combination of charge and temperature kills the battery much faster in the long run. Here's the source: https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Is there a way to see the total usage time after the last charge and not calculating it hour by hour from the chart?
Point a fan at it or put it on a cooling pad if you are going to be that obsessive about it.
Hmm the weird thing is. If I use clamshell mode without the power cord, the monitor cannot find a source. So I thought not being able to use clamshell without power is normal.
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No, I didn't even realize it was possible until someone posted this magic incantation. In the past it was probably a lot less useful to use your MacBook in clamshell but now that the battery is so good, it becomes something I will use a lot of.
This works well on my M1 MacBook Air:
sudo pmset -b disablesleep 1
I can go close to 20 hours without the MacBook Air display being on and just using an external monitor. Pretty amazing.
This is great! I still would prefer it plugged in but that may allow me to plug a webcam without needing a dongle.
Thanks!
BTW maybe a bit offtopic: but you said you are running Creative cloud or?
I’m using creative cloud too, and there always a lot of background processes running - how to stop that completely if not running LR etc? Any way to disable and use the Adobe apps?
I’m using creative cloud too, and there always a lot of background processes running - how to stop that completely if not running LR etc? Any way to disable and use the Adobe apps?
Looks like you're running an old version of iStatMenus. The GPU topic is now called Apple M1.
I'm running the 6.5.1 version, and I'm pretty sure it's the most recent one. And it should support M1. But alas...
I don't know... I stopped using an external display several days ago, and yet I don't see a great battery life improvement. I'm barely browsing the web, no other apps running, and with 70% battery remaining it gives me an estimate 7 hours top. Brightness two steps below max.
I'm wondering the same that peoples and reviews claim getting 15+ hours of real life usage. I'm with MBA M1 and I barely get maybe 11-12 hours at most, usually around 10% per hour in usage like surfing this forum with display brightness max -6 or -7 clicks. I had MBP 13" 2019 previously and this MBA M1 is maybe 30% better in run time hardly (because my MBP was usually brightness max. -4 or -4 clicks) but using new machine does not feel like huge improvement in battery life.
It could be due to bad battery but I doubt because when using Coconutbattery or similar to show how much machine is using power, I often see my MBA pulling over 5W, like as of writing this it is 6.54W so even doing math 50W battery 6.54W power usage adds up to only around 7.5 hours!! So if someone claims getting 15 hours they much be doing something that uses only 3.33W power (in MBA) to reach that and I'm not sure what you can actually do because that much is used pretty much when machine is sitting idle on desktop doing nothing with screen brightness max. -6 clicks.
I think many users here telling they numbers are simply looking at battery history in MacOS menus and that number seem to be wildly exaggerated - just looking mine at it claims I used my machine last monday for over 5 hours with battery use something around 10% and I did not use it that long, so looks like machine is pulling these huge numbers out if its ass.
So please use REAL clock to measure your actual usage time vs battery use when quoting your usage hours, don't just look battery menu data.
Alright. So in about 3.5 hours, at around 13/16th of brightness I watched some videos with VLC (1 hour top), left the mac to sleep for 30 minutes, and then surfed macrumors forum for the remaining time. The battery went from 97% to 67%, which is a rate of around 10% per hour.I'm wondering the same that peoples and reviews claim getting 15+ hours of real life usage. I'm with MBA M1 and I barely get maybe 11-12 hours at most, usually around 10% per hour in usage like surfing this forum with display brightness max -6 or -7 clicks. I had MBP 13" 2019 previously and this MBA M1 is maybe 30% better in run time hardly (because my MBP was usually brightness max. -4 or -4 clicks) but using new machine does not feel like huge improvement in battery life.
It could be due to bad battery but I doubt because when using Coconutbattery or similar to show how much machine is using power, I often see my MBA pulling over 5W, like as of writing this it is 6.54W so even doing math 50W battery 6.54W power usage adds up to only around 7.5 hours!! So if someone claims getting 15 hours they much be doing something that uses only 3.33W power (in MBA) to reach that and I'm not sure what you can actually do because that much is used pretty much when machine is sitting idle on desktop doing nothing with screen brightness max. -6 clicks.
I think many users here telling they numbers are simply looking at battery history in MacOS menus and that number seem to be wildly exaggerated - just looking mine at it claims I used my machine last monday for over 5 hours with battery use something around 10% and I did not use it that long, so looks like machine is pulling these huge numbers out if its ass.
So please use REAL clock to measure your actual usage time vs battery use when quoting your usage hours, don't just look battery menu data.
I think the problem is some of the apps and how you are using them, not the machine itself. I have had my M1 MBA since Thursday afternoon (4pm) and have been surfing MR, watching YouTube videos, installing apps, creating documents, and streaming some 4K Netflix and haven't been going through the amount of battery you have been.
Wifi with 6 - 8 clicks brightness.
Yeah, sounds about similar battery use as in my MBA
I bet there is some confusion about what is actual use of the machine. Sure reviews use some benchmark to measure it but again those are not quite the same as ours daily use IRL. I'm just comparing my MBA M1 to my previous MBP 13" 2019 using them the same way as always and I'd say MBA M1 gives me hardly 30% more usage on battery.
So are you claiming it has been on for like 48 hours, or what you try to say?
Have you clocked (using real watch and not that imaginary number shown in battery menu) how much you have actually actively used them machine during that? Do not count the times you are not touching the machine as it goes "napping" all the time when you leave it.
I wasn't stating or suggesting I am still on the same original opening day single charge. I have gone through 2 cycles thus far.Yeah, sounds about similar battery use as in my MBA
I bet there is some confusion about what is actual use of the machine. Sure reviews use some benchmark to measure it but again those are not quite the same as ours daily use IRL.
So are you claiming it has been on for like 48 hours, or what you try to say?
Have you clocked (using real watch and not that imaginary number shown in battery menu) how much you have actually actively used them machine during that? Do not count the times you are not touching the machine as it goes "napping" all the time when you leave it.
So I must be high on eating too much chocolate but I have no idea what you are trying to say in matter where peoples are talking about battery usage in real active use?
At the start of the thread, the OP had been using his Mac in clamshell connected to an external monitor and complaining about battery usage.So I must be high on eating too much chocolate but I have no idea what you are trying to say in matter where peoples are talking about battery usage in real active use?
All I was saying is, in my opinion, I have used my new Mac a lot since Thursday and haven't had any complaints about battery performance. I think the OP usage pattern as well as some of the apps he is using is the cause for what he sees as excessive. I also think this expectations may need to be recalibrated.
“Brightness 2 steps below max”
This is likely the culprit, all the NotebookCheck reviews show battery performance dropping by 50% at max brightness. I usually keep mine at around 50% or lower and get tremendous battery life.
This is likely the culprit, all the NotebookCheck reviews show battery performance dropping by 50% at max brightness. I usually keep mine at around 50% or lower and get tremendous battery life.
Just to state my point more exactly, I've just used my MBA M1 for 1 hour 51 minutes (battery was just charged to 100% and after I unplugged charger I started counting that). During that time battery went from 100 to 87% (82,3% in Coconutbattery which is the real perfentage). All I was doing was having Safari open with 3 tabs and most of the time I spent on this forum, brightness max. -6 clicks and using Wifi with good signal. Occasionally I had notes open and Coconutbattery or iMazing.
So my real battery usage during that was about 9.5% per hour (because I started from 100% only coconut reading is right as MacOS battery counter won't show 99% until battery is really 94%!, so keep that in mind measuring these or start counting from where MacOS counter is already well below 100% to get the real percentage!!!).
So my real battery usage during that was about 9.5% per hour (because I started from 100% only coconut reading is right as MacOS battery counter won't show 99% until battery is really 94%!, so keep that in mind measuring these or start counting from where MacOS counter is already well below 100% to get the real percentage!!!).