macOS Mojave Battery Life

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Level 1

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macOS Mojave Battery Life

I have been using this OS since a couple months ago not since the released of it. I thought the dark mode feature will help my battery life but i guess I'm wrong. I realised that my MacBook Pro Mid 2012 don't have the needed screen to help the dark mode turn off my pixels completely but I'm still wondering why does dark pixels doesn't help my battery life?

The thing is I really hate my battery life with this OS, I usually use Safari and Xcode at the same time for 4 hours and I still have 30% battery remaining while now i do the same thing and my battery ran out after 3 hours of usage.

I just want an advice that may help my battery life considering this is an old MacBook Pro too, I also tried downgrading (which isn't recommended) but i refused to do it after knowing that it will erase my whole data (Not risking doing it even with my backed up data).

Hopefully I can get some advices regarding my battery life, thanks.

MacBook Pro 13", 10.14

Posted on Feb 17, 2019 12:20 AM

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Answer 1

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John Galt

Level 10

140,948 points

Feb 18, 2019 7:44 AM in response to snoopysneepy

Please read About Mac notebook batteries.

"Dark Mode" is specifically designed for OLED displays, which your MacBook Pro does not have. An LED backlit LCD's power consumption is exactly the opposite of OLED in that regard: a pixel that's "off" is actually blocking the LED light transmission that is always "on". That Mojave feature is either intended for iOS consistency, or in anticipation of future OLED Mac displays.

The only way to minimize your MacBook Pro's display power consumption is to reduce its brightness. Relatively dark or light images makes little difference.

The most likely explanation is that a seven (approximately) year old battery is simply worn out.

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Answer 2

snoopysneepy Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 18, 2019 7:24 PM in response to John Galt

I know how does the dark mode works which should've disable pixels completely in OLED as you said, but I still can't understand why dark pixels (Not disabled pixels) didn't help my battery life. I expect that it is because of my old battery that didn't support the latest OS which causes it to drain faster than it should be.

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll try doing it later.

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

140,948 points

Feb 18, 2019 8:09 PM in response to snoopysneepy

... I still can't understand why dark pixels (Not disabled pixels) didn't help my battery life. I

The reason is that "dark pixels" on your Mac does not mean "pixels that are turned off" or consume no power.

Creating "dark pixels" on that Mac consumes more power than creating "light pixels" — the light source being your Mac's display backlighting. LCD displays refract that light. OLED displays create it.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

140,948 points

Feb 24, 2019 5:15 PM in response to snoopysneepy

Display brightness is a much greater factor. Quoting from that Apple Support document:

"Your display's brightness has a major effect on battery life, and allowing your display to automatically adjust can significantly help to conserve power. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then select Displays. Enable "Automatically adjust brightness" to allow your display to dim or brighten based on your surrounding's light levels."

Until Apple incorporates OLED displays in their Macs, the General > Appearance "Light" vs "Dark" choice will have a negligible effect on battery life compared to that Display setting.

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Answer 5

Feb 19, 2019 8:27 PM in response to John Galt

This man knows what he is saying, proud to come across such knowledgeable person on forum.

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Answer 6

snoopysneepy Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 24, 2019 5:06 PM in response to John Galt

I see. So using the light mode is considered as a more efficient way to save up my battery?

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macOS Mojave Battery Life

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