Mb pro 16” battery drain. Wait til you read this

[Alex W.]

No, not crazy. We've seen other models consuming more power then what could be provided by the power brick. Sounds like your 8 core i9 is working hard just as expected.

I don't think there's a hardware failure but then I don't own a MBP any more but to me it doesn't sound defective.

Why did you leave the MacBook and for what? Also on the topic of drain, I ran Call of duty modern warfare and left it on a single player scene all night, woke up battery was a 100% fans were barely noticeable over the speakers.

Im actually impressed by this laptops performance fan and audio design.

 

[Sirmausalot]

Hard to know what's going wrong since you've tried everything with Apple. But do you have anything else plugged in to your ports? Also, Apple now says power on the RIGHT side of the computer, not the left (several articles on this if you google). What programs/processes are running in the background if any? If you switch off the dedicated graphics while using Lightroom how is performance/power draw?

For what it's worth, Adobe Products, although powerful, are often riddled with bugs and old, legacy code (my experience with Premiere Pro). There are alternatives to Lightroom I understand, some of them excellent. Which version of Lightroom are you using? The legacy version? I could see that misbehaving with the current OS/hardware.

 

[maflynn]

Why did you leave the MacBook and for what?

I left the fold simply because I wasn't getting value for my money and in all honesty, I've seen too many corners being cut by apple in the name of profit margin. The butterfly keyboard was the straw that broke the camel's back, but the T2 issues, both the kernel panics and the fact that Apple is using proprietary components that prevent me from using the laptop in a way that I see fit was also a major factor.

I initially went with a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme, the cost difference between that laptop and the MBP was shocking. I paid about 2,200 (I forget the exact dollar amount), and for a similarly equipped MBP, it would have run me in the 4k range.

I've since moved on to a gaming laptop because I wanted a more robust GPU, and being in lock down, that couldn't have come at a better time. I'm rocking with a Razer advanced (2019 model), the fact that the PC laptops I have (Thinkpad and Razer) have user replaceable components is a huge benefit for me as well.

 

[Yurk]

I have the exact same issue. If I play a light video game (on macOS or Bootcamp), the mac pulls so much power that it discharges. Especially if using an external monitor with the lid open.
The only way to avoid the discharge issue is to disable turbo boost on the Intel CPU (e.g. with Turbo Boost Switcher).
Also, using clamshel mode and a displayport monitor helps reduce power consumption from the (defective) AMD GPU.
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[simonmet]

I think the i9 chips (and probably recent i7s) are a bit of the culprit here. They can pull stupidly high power at very inefficient power to performance ratios, and as such are not really suited to laptops; at least not without some heavy firmware/software power management that Intel and Apple evidently haven’t done to keep them in check. People were noticing and saying this from the beginning with the i9s and it’s not just Apple that’s affected.

Having said that, you seemingly need to pump the CPU and GPU simultaneously and in a sustained fashion for extended periods to see excessive battery drain on charge. I have not seen this. The most I’ve seen is a paltry 1-3% drop. Hardly anything that bothers me.

At first I thought I was getting very disappointing battery life, and I don’t know if trying the SMC reset thing or adjusting some settings helped, but I’m getting good battery life now; or at least as expected. Others have reported satisfaction as well. I frequently get estimates of over 10 hours with light use and yesterday my battery had dropped less than 10% in over an hour’s usage that included some light editing in Capture One and typical Safari-Discord-Steam client usage, all with a decent screen brightness of over 50%.

I can’t speak for Adobe as I haven’t used it since before Aperture!, but I’m not surprised if it’s terribly inefficient. There are many excellent alternatives out there. Capture One seems very efficient but is expensive and difficult. Have a look at this article comparing many of the current editors’ feature sets:

https://photographylife.com/best-non-destructive-editing-software-for-photography

In short. If you haven’t already, try multiple SMC and NVRAM/PRAM resets as it can’t hurt. Look for processes including third-party processes that are running in the background. Disable any iCloud or other syncing you don’t need/use as well as Siri stuff you aren’t using as well. Use ad and tracking blockers in your browsers and avoid Chrome. Also, I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I elected to not use FileVault encryption. The T2 chip is security enough! (for me)

These machines are power hungry, but so are the competition’s. At least the Mac’s charger is svelte and it can recharge/run from portable battery packs. I think the new Razers can now too, but there are many other things that keep me on the MacBook for now.

 

[lewdvig]

Based on reports like the OPs, and recent MacBook history, this is a computer that needs AC+. IMO it will run into issues in year 2-3. It's $420 CDN to add AC+ but I will probably bite the bullet and pay up.

The i7 and i9 are advertised as 45 watt chips but can consume up to 135 watts when boosting (in the right chassis). So under load, the CPU might be pulling a lot of power taking the MBP over 100 watts that the PSU can supply. I'd like a XTU or Throttlestop type app for Mac that could let me set the max watts for the CPU. 8 cores ar 3 GHz and 45 watts would be fine for me.

FWIW: I've tried Razor, XPS, Legion, GS65 and Zephyrus laptops as alternatives to the MBP and they all have their compromises (HW failures, battery life, DPC issues, heat, noise, build quality, Windows). With those computers you have to use 3rd party tweaking apps or the performance is compromised in one way or another.

There is no thin/light panacea.

 

[Yurk]

I'd like a XTU or Throttlestop type app for Mac that could let me set the max watts for the CPU. 8 cores ar 3 GHz and 45 watts would be fine for me.

Have you tried Turbo Boost Switcher? It's free and can be used to disable turbo boost on MacOS.
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I think the i9 chips (and probably recent i7s) are a bit of the culprit here. They can pull stupidly high power at very inefficient power to performance ratios, and as such are not really suited to laptops; at least not without some heavy firmware/software power management that Intel and Apple evidently haven’t done to keep them in check. People were noticing and saying this from the beginning with the i9s and it’s not just Apple that’s affected.

Actually, the AMD Radeon 5300M GPU in the 16" Macbook Pro consumes 85 Watts of power. For a 7nm technology, this is a horribly inefficient GPU. With a 100 Watt power brick, this leaves no room for the Intel CPU to do its job.
Also, the CPU an GPU are both connected to the same heat sink, so when the GPU overheats, the CPU overheats as well, causing unnecessary thermal throttling. This would have been completely avoidable with a separate heat sink. There are also serious known power issues with the AMD GPU when you connect an external monitor (namely the GPU uses >20 Watts at idle, instead of 4 Watts, in both Bootcamp and MacOS, which is contrinuting to the problem.)
In my opinion, it's mainly AMD and Apply that are the culprits here, not Intel.

 

[mcaswell]

Two things. You need the large apple power brick and you need a usb c cable that supports 100w.
Even if you have a large power brick capable of charging 90w if your cable is only rated for 60w your machine will only get 60w.

The cable would be my guess as well... can the OP verify they are using the original cable (or another that is capable of 100W)?

 

[lewdvig]

Have you tried Turbo Boost Switcher? It's free and can be used to disable turbo boost on MacOS.
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Actually, the AMD Radeon 5300M GPU in the 16" Macbook Pro consumes 85 Watts of power. For a 7nm technology, this is a horribly inefficient GPU. With a 100 Watt power brick, this leaves no room for the Intel CPU to do its job.
Also, the CPU an GPU are both connected to the same heat sink, so when the GPU overheats, the CPU overheats as well, causing unnecessary thermal throttling. This would have been completely avoidable with a separate heat sink. There are also serious known power issues with the AMD GPU when you connect an external monitor (namely the GPU uses >20 Watts at idle, instead of 4 Watts, in both Bootcamp and MacOS, which is contrinuting to the problem.)
In my opinion, it's mainly AMD and Apply that are the culprits here, not Intel.

Thanks, I will try that!

Not to be that guy, but the 5300m & 5500m Pros are 50 watt parts. They are actually quite efficient compared to a 1650 (35-50 watt) and 1660ti (60 to 80 watt) parts that they compete with.

Looks like there are 120 watt GAN chargers coming soon. I might try one of those for gaming and high load sessions.

 

[Yurk]

The cable would be my guess as well... can the OP verify they are using the original cable (or another that is capable of 100W)?

I am using the original power brick with the original apple cable that came with the 16" macbook. It can provide 100 Watts, no problem, measured with iStat. The issue is that the mac draws > 100 Watt when playing a light video game, so 100 Watts are not enough.
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Not to be that guy, but the 5300m & 5500m Pros are 50 watt parts.

According to

AMD Radeon Pro 5300M Specs

AMD Navi 14, 1250 MHz, 1280 Cores, 80 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 4096 MB GDDR6, 1500 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

The TDP is 85 Watt. But according to

AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU - Benchmarks and Specs

Specifications and benchmarks of the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M GPU.

www.notebookcheck.net

TDP is 85 Watt for the 5500M, 65 Watt for the 5300M, and 50Watt for the 'Radeon Pro', so you are probably right.
I will check the TDP under bootcamp with GPU-Z and confirm.

 

[Alex W.]

Does the i7 drain or is this only i9

 

[jerryk]

I think it is the cable. USB-C chargers, cables, and computers negotiate the current and voltage setting they can handle. A generic USB-C cable can only handle 60W. You need to have a cable that is chipped and certified for 100W to get the full output from the MacBook 16 charger. The original cable is such a cable. But with 3rd party cables you need to ensure they are

 

[Yurk]

I think it is the cable. USB-C chargers, cables, and computers negotiate the current and voltage setting they can handle. A generic USB-C cable can only handle 60W. You need to have a cable that is chipped and certified for 100W to get the full output from the MacBook 16 charger. The original cable is such a cable. But with 3rd party cables you need to ensure they are

I have two original apple cables rated at 100 Watt and 2 original apple 100 Watt chargers. They both cannot keep up and allow the battery to drain on my i9 / Radeon Pro 5300M 16" macbook when playing a light game such as AoE2.

Just play AoE 2 on Bootcamp, with an external monitor, and you will see what I am talking about. It is not a cable issue. It's a power issue due to flawed hardware design.

 

[faust]

I left the fold simply because I wasn't getting value for my money and in all honesty, I've seen too many corners being cut by apple in the name of profit margin. The butterfly keyboard was the straw that broke the camel's back, but the T2 issues, both the kernel panics and the fact that Apple is using proprietary components that prevent me from using the laptop in a way that I see fit was also a major factor.

I initially went with a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme, the cost difference between that laptop and the MBP was shocking. I paid about 2,200 (I forget the exact dollar amount), and for a similarly equipped MBP, it would have run me in the 4k range.

I've since moved on to a gaming laptop because I wanted a more robust GPU, and being in lock down, that couldn't have come at a better time. I'm rocking with a Razer advanced (2019 model), the fact that the PC laptops I have (Thinkpad and Razer) have user replaceable components is a huge benefit for me as well.

How hot does the Razer Advanced get while under heavy load? I was considering buying one. I've got a Thinkpad X1 Extreme for my Linux needs, but I can certainly understand not wanting to buy two laptops. Personally, I got a i7/16 GB/512 GB/1650 4 GB X1 Extreme for like $1400 on one of Lenovo's sales. I kinda scoff at buying a Leovo product when they're not on sale given the regularity on which they are steeply discounted.

To be honest, the only reason I'm using the 16" MBP is because I like it's speakers since I'm frequently at home and don't require privacy with headphones now given the state of affairs outside.

 

[Alex W.]

Ill report back and try this with

I7 6core, 5300m and an external monitor + gaming.

 

[radus]

Did you test it on different TB3 ports ?

 

[kristof46]

So weird. How is it possible that machine takes only 60W from bigger charger. Ridiculous. Maybe there is any reason (overheating) but still. How the real pros can work with this? Anyway. Is anyone checked this new battery health feature? Maybe that’s the reason.

 

[matram]

As stated above you need a cable certified for 100W to make full use of larger chargers.

 

[simonmet]

As stated above you need a cable certified for 100W to make full use of larger chargers.

I posted in another thread picture evidence of the Mac seeing (according to iStat Menus) the bundled Apple adapter and cable as 60 W only. So others might be experiencing this bug also.

It has resolved for me, and I’ve not been able to replicate it. I have no idea what happened. It could have been a bug in the iStat Menu software reporting incorrectly, but it’s reporting correctly now so who knows?

Very weird.

 

[lewdvig]

Thanks to Yurk I use Macs Fan Control (Mac and Windows) and Turbo Boost Switcher (Mac) and Throttlestop (Win).

Macs Fan Control is set to keep things between 36-65 Celsius on CPU temp Core 1 (left and right)

My 16" with 5500 is the best laptop I have ever owned, it is quiet cool and the battery is great. Today I played Witcher 3 on Ultra for 5 hours and the max temp was 67%.

 

[Hjupter Cerrud]

Thanks to Yurk I use Macs Fan Control (Mac and Windows) and Turbo Boost Switcher (Mac) and Throttlestop (Win).

Macs Fan Control is set to keep things between 36-65 Celsius on CPU temp Core 1 (left and right)

My 16" with 5500 is the best laptop I have ever owned, it is quiet cool and the battery is great. Today I played Witcher 3 on Ultra for 5 hours and the max temp was 67%.

How did you get 5 hours of playing? I can barely get 2 maybe 3 hours when playing games on macos, do you play with turbo boost disabled?

 

[Patcell]

Sorry to be late in the game here... but it is absolutely ludicrous for Apple to be telling you that it is normal for the computer to draw only 60 watts when under load. If the included power adapter and cable are being used, it should be able to take full advantage of the power supply.

 

[Yurk]

How did you get 5 hours of playing? I can barely get 2 maybe 3 hours when playing games on macos, do you play with turbo boost disabled?

2-3 hours on battery or plugged in?

 

[Hjupter Cerrud]

2-3 hours on battery or plugged in?

battery, oh did you mean 5-6 hours while charging?

 

[Yurk]

battery, oh did you mean 5-6 hours while charging?

Yes, my 16" MacBook discharges while being connected to the Apple power charger if I playing a light video game on Bootcamp. I start with 100% battery, launch AoE2, and 1 hour later charge has dropped to 50-70%. The only way to prevent discharge is to disable Intel Turbo Boost.