Macbook battery life

[Bruce Whittington]

As a point of interest, I used my 2016 refurbished Macbook Pro 13" at an event today. The battery was fully charged, and is claimed to give "up to 12 hours " service (or some such wording.) I was running a continuous loop slide show using FotoMagico software, and the computer shut down because of low battery after about four hours. I understand that some apps will use more power, but this is more than a little sobering on a near-new machine. As they say, your mileage may vary . . .

 

[chas_m]

There's a lot of factors that may have played a role there, but the first one I'd consider was how bright your screen is set ... that can use a lot of power if it's above half-maximum.

We're WiFi and Bluetooth unnecessarily turned on? Wi-Fi can use a lot of battery looking for a signal to connect to.

Did the slideshow include any audio or video that would require driving the speakers? Again, that's more battery.

Playing a slideshow in a loop means continuously loading slides from storage as well. There's also my doubt that FotoMagico is optimized for battery use the way, say, Keynote might be.

You might try converting the slideshow to Keynote, and testing again with the screen set at half-max brightness I'd wager you'll get more time out of that battery.

PS. Apple's claim is up to 10 hours, achieved by normal (half-max) brightness doing non-drive intensive things, I.e. Surfing the web.

It's possible something's wrong with your battery, but you'll need to do more testing to determine that. You might try downloading the free Coconut Battery (from MacUpdate.com or the developer's site ONLY) and let us know the readings.

 

[Bruce Whittington]

Thanks for your comments Chas. You have reinforced the point I was trying to make, i.e. that the claimed battery performance is not reached under normal conditions of use. The battery lasts a very long time when not in use - far longer than the battery in my 2008 MBP. So that's in part why I questioned the surprisingly poor performance. My MacBook Pro was set just above mid point brightness for outdoor use, battery was fully charged, there was no video content, sound connection or Bluetooth connection. I question whether WIFI searching would reduce battery life from 10 hours (you are correct about that) to 4, and if it did, that suggests that Apple is even less transparent in its claims for battery life, or it should specify more clearly conditions under which maximum battery performance might be expected. Apple also claims "up to 10 hours" battery life "so you're free to keep watching, gaming and editing from wherever you are." It's clear that those demanding uses would not allow such battery performance. My comment is just a reminder that manufacturer claims will not match normal, average, call it what you will, user results, unless you leave it on the desk, closed. Still, I am very happy with my MacBook Pro, but please, find a way to suggest realistic expectations. How about "battery life from 4 to 10 hours"?

 

[chas_m]

The battery in my 2012 MacBook Pro routinely manages 5-6 hours of normal use, so if you were only getting four hours and you’re not doing anything that is excessively battery draining, something is wrong. Before taking it in for service, I would try getting in the habit of using strictly one app at a time, quitting (not closing) all other apps other than the one you are using at the moment.

This is for testing whether the problem lies with the battery, or with some program running in the background that might be draining your battery without your knowledge. Also, you didn’t let us know your results from the coconut battery program.

Let us know If the single app practice makes a dramatic difference in your battery life.

PS. As you’ll see from any reviews you might find of the 2016 MacBook Pro, routine battery life does in fact meet and sometimes exceed 10 hours. Apple bases their battery rating on realistic, real world, typical user use. There is actually some small print on their website detailing the activities on which they base their claims.