Just got a new MacBook Pro 16" and today is the first full day of use. I am getting less than 4 hours of battery life, not even close to the advertised 11 hours.
Will do more testing at work tomorrow and hopefully things improve.
Config is 2.4GHZ 8-core, i9, 32GB RAM, Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB
MacBook Pro 16", macOS 10.15
Partially figured it out (for me at least)
Station (getstation.com) was forcing my discrete GPU to run all the time and eat up all my battery.
Open it using terminal with this command: `open /Applications/Station.app/ --args --disable-gpu`
and your battery life life goes from about 3 hours to over 5 hours.
Still not even close to a full day, but much better.
Here's two nifty pieces of data and a full study on the machine I found. Sounds like it could be related to an Intel Processor issue. I do run an external model and have enabled the graphics switcher and will run a timed experiment tonight on machine performance WITHOUT a secondary monitor. I'm curious to see what the battery life is without it...
Secondly; the video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkmdHVfk4XE
Speaks to the i9 processor overclocking to 5ghz to open EVERYTHING therefore eating the machine up tremendously.
Here is the app that allows you to turn off Turbo Boost - I will run tests today as well on performance with Turbo Boost shut off. Here: https://www.rugarciap.com/turbo-boost-switcher-for-os-x/
Here is a workaround for that problem:
Use https://gfx.io/ to activate only the integrated graphic card. Then you will have 10 hours of battery life.
Otherwise it uses the performance gpu mode all the time. Auto switching does not seem to work on the Macbook 16“, so you have to manually trigger it with that app.
The post mentioned among other things;
What config do you have? I have:
2.4Ghz 8 core i9, 32Gb Mem, Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB, 2Tb SSD, MBP 16" 2019
(same as @CromeYellow).
It seems as though Adobe CC Apps (InDesign and Photoshop) are forcing the dGPU to run all the time and I wonder if the 4GB GPU and less RAM would be better for battery drain. Computer is only about 14 days old and had gone through 19 charge cycles.
Update: just did the latest OS update, Adobe CC updates AND SMC reset. Saying 5.5 hours fro 95% charge. Brightness at 63%
I think you’re conflating two issues that are related, but different.
It doesn’t help to claim we’re Apple fans or employees. You bought a Mac too, does that make you an Apple fan now? I don’t know.
I’m looking at the issue as fairly as possible.
(1) The dedicated AMD GPU has a high energy impact.
(2) “Pro” apps that use the CPU and dGPU together have a very high energy impact and it’s just better to use them plugged in.
I observe that running following apps drain battery and fan runs fast (also system heats up to 70C):
So sad, but atleast MCB should work fine with OBS/Prism Live Studio and Apple motion :(
"from what I’ve read in this forum, and watched online it seems we the consumer by into the idea of great, only to be confronted with... oh it’s because you have this chip, or your using this software. If this isn’t a pro machine, that can run and do as it’s advertised then it needs to be addressed and advertised for what it is. To add salt to the injury, I’ve also got the kernel crash thing happening when the machine goes into sleep mode. Oh wait a minute, that’s because I have it attached to a monitor. Please Apple, enough is enough. "
Did you even check the About This Mac as I suggested to verify if your dedicated GPU was activated? I understand your frustration but if you're not even going to reply to tell me that you checked it but rather just wanted to rant at me I don't have time for that. Ranting is not allowed here according to the forum rules. BTW, having long battery life does not dictate if something is PRO or not. Every laptop with a dedicated GPU has the same battery drain when it's activated. This is not exclusive to Apple.
I think the simple answer is OBS (like any other video editing app) is just going to chew through your battery faster than, another app that doesn’t rely heavily on the CPU and dGPU.
When I use AfterEffects, for example, I only get a few hours or work time, so I’ve resigned myself to plugging in when I’m working.
Guys here is my UPDATE -
Specs:
Purchased July 10th.
I have done literally EVERYTHING shy of rewriting the HD and installing everything manually. At this point I have done the following:
Issues I have seen/experienced:
I have spent hours + on the phone with Apple Senior Advisors and Level 3 techs. Nobody has any idea even though this is a known problem! Senior advisor claims it was the first she had heard of it although there are a ton of documented cases. Nothing I have done at this point has improved the issue and it seems it is NOT an isolated incident. This machine was around $4700 and is used as my primary machine for a digital agency. *Sending this machine back (one week) and waiting 2 weeks for a new machine, which may or may not have the same issue is simply not a practical solution. I'm losing time and money daily. My MacBook Pro 2012 with a new battery lasted longer than this. APPLE please have your engineers sort the issue out. I suggest issuing a RECALL on these items as many professionals are losing precious work time. An almost $5k machine that in under 2 weeks isn't working as specified is a huge issue and our agency will not hesitate to vocalize the issue to gain attention and have it fixed on behalf of professionals everywhere. This is NOT ETHICAL. You have to know the issue exists as its documented countless times since November or 2019. *PLEASE ADDRESS this and get it fixed STAT!
The only slight help I have found was the 2 addition above; one which allows the CPU to not Turbo Boost. You can turn it off and stop overclocking and reduce heat. The add-on also monitors stress on the CPU as well as temp. The other is the tool that turn off the dGPU. It appears Apple did not thin the design of this machine through. I am on machine #2 and will send them back repeatedly until they do something to fix the issue or recall them.
coconutBattery
I have the 2.3Ghz i9, 16GB RAM, 5500M 8GB, 1TB SSD MBP 16" 2019
Yea, Adobe apps probably need the GPU to do processing so that makes sense. Are you getting 5.5 hours with Adobe apps open? If so, that seems good.
If Apple had advertised “about 4 or 5 hours with typical usage” I think we’d all get on with our day. My 2018 13” MacBook Pro boasted a 7-8 hour battery, so if I got 5.5 I was pretty happy.
In my testing, an hour on Zoom used 25% battery. Google Hangouts and FaceTime by comparison use much less. Zoom chews through battery faster than some Pro Adobe apps!
On another note, the new MacBook Air — which advertises an 11 hour battery — gets half of that in real world testing reviews (theverge.com).
It also might help to point out, that for whatever reason, my laptop seems to have settled on 5.5 hours of battery on consistent practical use. This is after constant use for three weeks.
"Honestly it sounds like an Apple employee post"
Wow how rude! I do not work for Apple. I posted 100% facts, but it sounds like you didn't want an actual solution or facts posted so you can continue to complain about Apple. Believe whatever makes you happy but the dGPU coupled with power-hungry apps that activate it is 100% the cause for 15" and 16" MBP's since they have discrete GPU's.
"This is far away from the 11 hours, and I challenge anyone to say that it's not true."
Your tone is very rude and this is not about combating you but helping people with solutions. Take it up with Apple if you think your MacBook is defective. Furthermore I never replied to any of your posts so your accusations of me calling you a liar are out of place sir. Also you're NOT the OP. My post was replying to the OP's issue. Your name does NOT match the OP.
The bottom line is a brand new machine should not drain a battery when not doing anything but simple work. And if it is supposed to charge/discharge differently, then Apple and ALL service people should understand this and the consumer should be given the same answer. Not one review I originally read said one word about this issue. I spoke over weeks time to more than 5 people, Wasted hours and hours, including when on duty in a situation that was an emergency and some of the people I spoke too certainly gave incorrect information about even the most simple related issues. The machine was brand new. The replacement is brand new and not having this issue at all. The older new one also got very hot often. I have not had this problem at all on the new replacement. Yes, some of their machines are faulty. Why, I sure as heck don’t know, but such issues should not be happening. It certainly is not what I expect from Apple!
MacBook Pro 16 inch battery life
