MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) - Rapid battery depletion under low load

Question

MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) - Rapid battery depletion under low load

Hi-There, community.

I don't seem to be getting anything close to 14-16 hours of battery life out of my machine, even under the lightest of loads.

I started using my machine today for some light web browsing using Firefox - just a few tabs, nothing serious.

I left FF open and let appleTV play a few episodes while I was away, and watched my battery life wither away.

See my screenshots of battery life, and system activity during this time.

Just in the time it took to write this post, I'm down 2%.

The Battery Health, according to my Mac, is fine, with only 8 cycles under its belt. But my experience using this says otherwise.

I saw one discussion where a user factory reset their machine and saw expected performance after that - but I'd really don't want to go down that path unless I have to.

Is there a better way I can demonstrate that my battery health is not what it should be?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 12, 2021 4:46 PM

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Answer 1

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,022 points

Dec 12, 2021 5:40 PM in response to goodThymeCharlie

..goodthymecharlie:

..Also note the lack of frugality where Firefox energy consumption, is concerned.

Most usage numbers were based on stock software; default browser: ie: Safari..

With quad-core and plenty of reserves, older intel-based Macs can run flat cold

with Firefox. (While Safari isn't my first choice.) Too much is used by Firefox. A

good looked in Activity Monitor; as Firefox shows it's the queenbee of wasteful.

That an M1 system may have a few pesky issues with the energy starved beast

'Firefox' is no surprise. I'd expect more numbers of beta testers may use M1/M2

going forward with Firefox and other third party software.

Good luck & happy trails! 🌻🌿❄️☃️

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Answer 2

Dec 12, 2021 5:06 PM in response to goodThymeCharlie

👉🏼 Determine battery cycle count here. 

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Answer 3

Dec 12, 2021 6:06 PM in response to K Shaffer

Yes - I definitely noticed Firefox near the top of that 12 hour power consumption column. It's pretty disappointing to see it using so many resources when it's essentially idle - but that's the insanity of modern browsing :).

I may run a similar test with native software (safari rather than Firefox) and see what I see.

I haven't heard wide-spread reports of this lack of battery life for this model. Something seems off.

Thanks for the reply.

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Answer 4

Dec 12, 2021 6:07 PM in response to Smilin-Brian

Just 8, Herr Fish.

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MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) - Rapid battery depletion under low load

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