Q: Lion - Horrible MacBook Pro Battery Life

HELP! HELP! HELP!

OK, I downloaded the SMC update, restarted thhe computer, but for more than 45 minutes it's stuck on a grey screen and won't move. What shall I do? Is this normal? It is plugged in, the cursor is moving on the screen, but it doesn't seem to do anything - I can't hear any HD activity.

How did your update go`Is it normal to take so long? Please help, I need my MBP!

Thanks,

L

No, it's not normal.

Have a look here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

@ Redarm: Thank you, a soft boot did the trick.

Hey all, been monitoring this thread for a couple months now, and like most of you are experiencing similar problems on my Early 2011 15-inch MBP (2.0 GHz i7, 8 GB RAM).

Just installed the SMC update, and am not really noticing any change. For me, it's always been fine when not doing anything to my computer, however when I do something as simple as move the mouse around the screen wih no programs open the battery life estimate drops dramatically.

I'm in college and rely on my MBP on a daily basis. Since upgrading to Lion it's been a bit of a nuisance to carry around the AC adapter everywhere.

Hi all,

I have been reading this whole thread (over a few days) and wanted to add my 'support' to the cause.

I recently bought a brand new Macbook Pro, 15" i7 processor.  One of the reasons I went for this was the impressive battery life my colleagues had shown me on their own Macbook Pros (incidently, all running Snow Leopard).

Mine came with Lion pre-installed, so I have no option to go back to Snow Leopard.

I started out getting around 4.5 hours as my maximum reported battery life.  Since all the updates have been completed, including the very latest firmware, and I have reset the SMC, PRAM and calibrated the battery, things are a bit better - I occasionally get a reported 8+ hours left, but this soon settles down to 5-6 hours and seems to drop quite quickly to 4 and below.

I've also installed gfxcardstatus to ensure only the integrated graphics are used when unplugged - a good move and seems to help somewhat - I use Google Chrome a lot and without gfxcardstatus it would always kick the discreet graphics card into play - totally not required...

I still don't believe I get promised battery life though - one of the main reasons for this, I think, is the fact that when the machine is sleeping the battery continues to drain - about 0.5% to 2% per hour.  So you charge it in the evening then pack your MBP in your briefcase for the next day's work - before you even start you are down to 90-95% at best.  As the day goes on this all adds up and surely has an affect.

As a test I put it to sleep before going into a meeting today at 11:30 - it was at 79%.  When I returned at 12:40 it was down to 76% - how can this be?

I'd really like to know what is draining the battery when the thing is sleeping...  Bluetooth is off, so I know it is not that.  I strongly suspect something in the software / os.

I'll continue to watch this thread with interest - I really think some re-assurance from Apple at this point would be good - something is definatley not right with Lion and MBP batteries.

cubs2234..

This is the identical situation to me, brand new machine etc.,. Apple are now working on it. They are all over my machine, gathering diagnostics, working closely / direct with engineering etc., They've been working with me for the last 3 days. Keep watching.

Thanks

Redarm wrote:

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1361

You can download 10.6.7 here.

Loerincz wrote:

 

HELP! HELP! HELP!

 

OK, I downloaded the SMC update, restarted thhe computer, but for more than 45 minutes it's stuck on a grey screen and won't move. What shall I do? Is this normal? It is plugged in, the cursor is moving on the screen, but it doesn't seem to do anything - I can't hear any HD activity.

 

How did your update go`Is it normal to take so long? Please help, I need my MBP!

 

Thanks,

 

L

I didn't have this issue when after doing the SMC firmware update. Everything went fine for me.

adetri wrote:

 

I still don't believe I get promised battery life though - one of the main reasons for this, I think, is the fact that when the machine is sleeping the battery continues to drain - about 0.5% to 2% per hour.  So you charge it in the evening then pack your MBP in your briefcase for the next day's work - before you even start you are down to 90-95% at best.  As the day goes on this all adds up and surely has an affect.

 

As a test I put it to sleep before going into a meeting today at 11:30 - it was at 79%.  When I returned at 12:40 it was down to 76% - how can this be?

 

You can check that in an easier way which is looking at console log (using an administrator user). Look for "powerd" in diagnose reports.

Yeah same thing here on a 15" MPB Mid 2009 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 8GB RAM. There are no sizable CPU taxing activites in Activity Monitor, Console is reporting normal operations, Fans and Temp seem to be the same as SL. I tried resetting the SMC, but it made no difference.

This is absolutly unacceptable! I had 5-6 hrs of battery life with SL but only 3 with Lion. A single system upgrade should not cut battey life in half, especially when Apple boasts of the Macbook's magnificent battey life, a major selling point for many users. Overall I am not impressed with Lion and I'd go back Snowleopard in a heartbeat, if it wasn't such a pain to backup all my files, reinstall, and hope Lion didn't mess with too many of my applications/preferences.

- I miss Steve.

Yes, totally unacceptable. There is no easy or obvious fix from everything I have seen. I only hope that Apple takes this very seriously and fixes it quickly, or gives un easier transition back to SL. As an owner of 5 MBP over the years, I'm very dissapointed in Apple - both from a transparency perspective, and from how long it's taking to get this handled. My MBP is one year old, and because my battery capacity is down to about 85% now, I get an even shorter battery life than most people here. I used to be able to run around 4 hours before Lion, now less than 2!!!

Apple Please, Please, Pleeeeeaaaaaase Fix this!

Let me throw in my 2 cents worth as well...

Same problem here,

Early 2010 MBP 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB etc etc

With Snow Leopard had at least 8 hours of battery life, now with Lion down to 4 if I'm lucky.

Resetting SMC didn't help.

This really will not do. Apple please find a solution fast!

More info from my post above....

I put my MBP to sleep last night at 79% battery.  9 hours later it, upon waking it, 73%.  So by my estimate if I just leave it, it would have been completely dead within much less than a week of sleeping - this is not right and I do think Lion is to blame - I may visit a Genuis Bar with this issue though, but based on what I've read, this is not down to faulty MBP hardware...  When the machine is shut down, not sleeping the charge doesn't get zapped this way.

From my experience in IT, I wonder if something power zapping in the hardware (bluetooth / usb power  - I don't know) is being kept constantly on by the OS when it should be off and perhaps even being reported as off and not functioning in the OS? 

I love everything else about my MBP - but this is not a good situation.

Has anyone seem that the latest SMC update has fixed their problem and brought back 6+ hours of battery life?

I've been seeing higher estimates, but I haven't been running it for more than 1/2 an hour, and I'm not sure if it's going to pan out in real-world usage.

Cheers for any feedback about your experiences.  I'll let you know more when I've tested it further.