Major Battery disappointment on MacBook Pro M1

[rui no onna]

“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.

Yep. Brightness is a big power hog, usually with exponential increase as you increase brightness. I believe this was at around 30% display brightness (on desktop, Safari and Messages running in the background). Around 10-30% is a comfortable level for me indoors.

 

[rui no onna]

Posting a reply on MacRumors at 25% brightness.

 

[0906742]

Yep. Brightness is a big power hog, usually with exponential increase as you increase brightness. I believe this was at around 30% display brightness (on desktop, Safari and Messages running in the background). Around 10-30% is a comfortable level for me indoors.

Incredible, your battery health (full charge capacity) seems to be just over 100% Mine is already down to 99% after 5 charge cycles. Only when it was new it couple times briefly reached 100% but even out of the box new was below 100%. Mostly seen similar experience with other MBA owners too they are already below 100%.

Could you keep an eye on yours if it stays like that? And what you your battery serial first two characters? Mine is DP, so I think it is Simplo battery. Yours is probably some other if it is that good.

Anyway, looks like there is huge difference between MBA M1's in battery usage. Mine was like 6.5W doing the post in this forum but display was max -6 clicks (I don't think it would drop 4W just for screen brightness if I lowered it to same as you, I tested that sometime). Maybe it is all down to battery lottery luck, not sure those battery usage numbers shown are still related to battery itself someway causing what I see.

BTW, does your MBA M1 screen show red glow on the right edge when display black image with brightness max or very high? Maybe there are also different panels and batteries in units causing huge difference we see in actual run times...?

 

[Le0M]

How can you guys use only 30% brightness in a lit room? I can barely see the screen if I use that little percentage. I need at least 50%, but usually more; unless it's evening and there are no lights turned on around me.

 

[Le0M]

Anyway, the official tests by Apple were done with the screen set at 50% brightness.

 

[0906742]

How can you guys use only 30% brightness in a lit room? I can barely see the screen if I use that little percentage. I need at least 50%, but usually more; unless it's evening and there are no lights turned on around me.

Same here. Usually max. -6 or -7 clicks is the dimmest I can use.
Anyway, I doubt screen brightness makes that big difference, it is likely under 5W that screen uses even at 100%. And even that would be rather high for a modern notebook screen. So max. -6 to down around 30% does not cause 4W or more difference in power draw.

Anyway, the official tests by Apple were done with the screen set at 50% brightness.

It is worth to notice for previous models (before M1) they used max. -4 clicks, so rated numbers are a bit doctored for M1 in that regard... It still read there if you look specs for Intel based models.

 

[rui no onna]

Incredible, your battery health (full charge capacity) seems to be just over 100% Mine is already down to 99% after 5 charge cycles. Only when it was new it couple times briefly reached 100% but even out of the box new was below 100%. Mostly seen similar experience with other MBA owners too they are already below 100%.

Could you keep an eye on yours if it stays like that? And what you your battery serial first two characters? Mine is DP, so I think it is Simplo battery. Yours is probably some other if it is that good.

Anyway, looks like there is huge difference between MBA M1's in battery usage. Mine was like 6.5W doing the post in this forum but display was max -6 clicks (I don't think it would drop 4W just for screen brightness if I lowered it to same as you, I tested that sometime). Maybe it is all down to battery lottery luck, not sure those battery usage numbers shown are still related to battery itself someway causing what I see.

BTW, does your MBA M1 screen show red glow on the right edge when display black image with brightness max or very high? Maybe there are also different panels and batteries in units causing huge difference we see in actual run times...?

My battery starts with D8. Most of my iOS devices were like that as well, with full charge capacity higher than design capacity when brand new. Of course, battery wear eventually takes its toll so it goes down eventually.

I didn't notice a red glow on max brightness.

Mind, I checked the battery usage while it was at max screen brightness and it was 7.3W. It was 8.34W while playing the YouTube backlight bleed test.

How can you guys use only 30% brightness in a lit room? I can barely see the screen if I use that little percentage. I need at least 50%, but usually more; unless it's evening and there are no lights turned on around me.

That level is just comfortable for me. When I have to play tech support for my family's devices, their displays are so bright it hurts my eyes.

 

[bsmr]

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.

That’s it. Don’t use Firefox or any other browser than safari.
Check CPU consumption while watching a YouTube video.
safari = around 10-20% CPU
Firefox = around 80% CPU

eats a lot of battery ?


they’re going the same with as with iOS.
you have to use safari to get the best results.
Not a good behavior.

 

[0906742]

My battery starts with D8. Most of my iOS devices were like that as well, with full charge capacity higher than design capacity when brand new. Of course, battery wear eventually takes its toll so it goes down eventually.

Sorry, I meant D8 too in my machine, not DP. Yeah, I know usually start well above FCC but my MBA M1 did not, neither did Air 2018 I had briefly back in the day. My MBP 2019 13" stayed well above 100% even after over 1 year of use (close to 1.5 years)... Anyway, there is threads about MBA M1 battery health here and as I recall none reported having as high as yours, so yours seems to be extremely good unit, if display is perfect also. Are you sure there is not label saying "demo not for resale" on your box where it came...

I didn't notice a red glow on max brightness.

Really? Did you check this way to make sure?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-macbook-air-black-uniformity-red-glow.2274365/
Please report to that thread if you are absolutely sure after testing it carefully, you'd be first to report having perfect screen. Many peoples are wondering if they should exchange machine due to this but so far no one said they have perfect in that thread.

Mind, I checked the battery usage while it was at max screen brightness and it was 7.3W. It was 8.34W while playing the YouTube backlight bleed test.

OK, that sound about what I see here. With my usual brightness (max. -6) Youtube is easily around 6-7W.

 

[0906742]

That’s it. Don’t use Firefox or any other browser than safari.
Check CPU consumption while watching a YouTube video.
safari = around 10-20% CPU
Firefox = around 80% CPU

eats a lot of battery 🙈


they’re going the same with as with iOS.
you have to use safari to get the best results.
Not a good behavior.

I never use any other browser than Safari with my apples.

 

[rui no onna]

Really? Did you check this way to make sure?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-macbook-air-black-uniformity-red-glow.2274365/
Please report to that thread if you are absolutely sure after testing it carefully, you'd be first to report having perfect screen. Many peoples are wondering if they should exchange machine due to this but so far no one said they have perfect in that thread.

I watched the following YouTube video fullscreen on max brightness and didn't notice a red glow. Granted, I don't have Superman eyesight or perhaps I'm just not discerning enough. Anyway, it looks fine to me. ?‍♀️

I tried taking a pic but the iPhone (SE2) is probably doing some signal processing because mine looks more uniform to the naked eye.

 

[0906742]

I watched the following YouTube video fullscreen on max brightness and didn't notice a red glow. Granted, I don't have Superman eyesight or perhaps I'm just not discerning enough. Anyway, it looks fine to me. 🤷‍♀️

You did that in completely dark room and you are absolutely sure? Please report to thread I linked, because you are the first claim no red glow, so maybe it is then after all worth to enter exchange roulette... Or do you really doubt your eyesight that you just might not have noticed it? I can tell it may take a little while for eyes to adjust to notice that in a dark room and you need to compare left an right side. Especially if eyes are very sensitive to bright screen it might be that blinding at first it may go unnoticed for that.

 

[bsmr]

I watched the following YouTube video fullscreen on max brightness and didn't notice a red glow. Granted, I don't have Superman eyesight or perhaps I'm just not discerning enough. Anyway, it looks fine to me. ?‍♀️

It's more that you don't care about... There is a red glow on every MBA M1 I have seen until now. Depends on how exactly you look for it.

 

[0906742]

There is a red glow on every MBA M1 I have seen until now. Depends on how exactly you look for it.

How many you have seen so far? It is confusing when you then read someone claim they don't see this or this is not mentioned in reviews (but I know reviews are often "selectively blind" for some common issues).

 

[0906742]

I tried taking a pic but the iPhone (SE2) is probably doing some signal processing because mine looks more uniform to the naked eye.

Just saw you posted this and looks like the "usual" pattern on the right side is there. Probably camera differencies how it looks in photo. Even mine not as bad IRL as it looks in the photos I posted but to my critical eyes definitely red glow can be seen with naked eye.

 

[justinf77]

Same here. Usually max. -6 or -7 clicks is the dimmest I can use.
Anyway, I doubt screen brightness makes that big difference, it is likely under 5W that screen uses even at 100%. And even that would be rather high for a modern notebook screen. So max. -6 to down around 30% does not cause 4W or more difference in power draw.


It is worth to notice for previous models (before M1) they used max. -4 clicks, so rated numbers are a bit doctored for M1 in that regard... It still read there if you look specs for Intel based models.

Here's a quote directly from NotebookCheck:

"Compared to the MacBook Air (49.9 Wh), the MacBook Pro 13 has a slightly bigger 58.8 Wh battery pack, so the battery runtime is also a bit longer. We recorded more than 20 hours in our Wi-Fi web browsing test at 150 nits, which is great. Similar to the MacBook Air, we see a roughly 50 % shorter result when we repeat the test at the maximum brightness setting (which is also higher than MBA at >500 nits). This result once again confirms that the display is the biggest consumer in these kinds of scenarios."

And the results:

 

[Clausewitz]

It's healed itself 1% in the past day, laptop is 3 weeks old. This was me falling asleep with Chrome playing YouTube in another tab (making the screen go off)

View attachment 1692997

Apple reports as 100% so it could be iStat being sensitive:

View attachment 1693015

With battery this good it could chop off 10 or 20% and I wouldn't be that bothered, my Dell XPS 13 would be dead by the time I woke up!

More relevant to this thread, I'll hook this up to my 144hz monitor via HDMI and see if it drains more.

Edit: Yep, presumably the adaptor is drawing some power to send the picture over (but I have PD-In on my adaptor so I don't see it as it charges the laptop), power draw increased by 3x and the health % does seem to fluctuate based on me plugging and unplugging the power cable

View attachment 1693012

Either way I personally "dock" my machine with power, the battery isn't that good that I'd just want to drive all my docked accessories off it all day, definitely recommend getting an adaptor with a power jack rather than just a USB-C to HDMI adaptor

Did your battery manage 14% in 8 hrs, 46 mins on battery? or am I reading this wrong? I lose more or less 45%-50% of my charge by this time.

 

[phl92]

I didnt do extensive tests yet but from my feeling my MBA M1 is doing quite well while used (Skype/Zoom drains 7-11%/hour) and when using it only for Safari it seems to drain very little.
However, what is a bit worrying is the fact, that in standby it drains a lot. I am finishing work at 65% and close the display. After a couple hours later the battery is at least below 60%. I hear here often ppl saying its indexing but I am not sure what this means. I am constantly moving and transferring big files (photos/videos) from and on my MBA.
But the standby draining is really a lot!

 

[Clausewitz]

I didnt do extensive tests yet but from my feeling my MBA M1 is doing quite well while used (Skype/Zoom drains 7-11%/hour) and when using it only for Safari it seems to drain very little.
However, what is a bit worrying is the fact, that in standby it drains a lot. I am finishing work at 65% and close the display. After a couple hours later the battery is at least below 60%. I hear here often ppl saying its indexing but I am not sure what this means. I am constantly moving and transferring big files (photos/videos) from and on my MBA.
But the standby draining is really a lot!

Try turning off "Wake for network access" & if you are using Podcasts turn off "Automatically Download Episodes", if it is enabled.

 

[0906742]

Here's a quote directly from NotebookCheck:

That proves my point exactly when I said there is not 4W difference in power draw from going 30% to max. -6 click. Even from 150 nits to MAX 100% brightness difference in power draw counting from the numbers provided in the review you linked is barely around 2.7W, so no way 4W more just from 30% to MAX -6 clicks!!!

 

[phl92]

I

Try turning off "Wake for network access" & if you are using Podcasts turn off "Automatically Download Episodes", if it is enabled.

I did the Podcast settings, but where can I find Wake for network access?

 

[0906742]

I think it was under power/battery icon on the settings menu.

 

[Clausewitz]

I

I did the Podcast settings, but where can I find Wake for network access?

System Preferences --> Battery --> Power Adapter

Additionally, turn off iCloud services for the time being. Apple is/was having some problems with it.

 

[Quackers]

Yep. Brightness is a big power hog, usually with exponential increase as you increase brightness. I believe this was at around 30% display brightness (on desktop, Safari and Messages running in the background). Around 10-30% is a comfortable level for me indoors.


View attachment 1701408

My battery was made on the same day as yours but my m1 MBP is a week older than yours (built on 16th November).

I started a battery rundown test of my own yesterday.
From fully charged I unplugged the charger and ran it with light use for 9 hours straight.
Bear in mind that it is set to never sleep. I close the lid to let it sleep.
Use type was scanning MR (obviously) and one other forum. A couple of other tabs were open and for about 2 - 3 hours watched youtube videos on HD.
Battery power showed 32% left. That's a bit less than I'd hoped but I have to bear in mind that I use about 75% screen brightness.

I shut the lid and it slept for 9 hours and when re-opened it showed 28%. Not too much loss sleeping.

I've now been back on with normal use for an hour and it's currently showing 25%.

So I'm guessing on about 12 to 13 hours max in my use case is likely.
Not as much as I'd have hoped for but still a sizeable improvement on anything I've had before
And it's much faster than anything I've had before too ?

 

[johnkree]

System Preferences --> Battery --> Power Adapter

Additionally, turn off iCloud services for the time being. Apple is/was having some problems with it.

But isn't iCloud one of the reasons to use a Mac? I mean, I work on my phone, I have all my stuff instantly on the Mac... Why would I want to turn iCloud off? This is like turning the sound off because it uses battery, too... For me.