Michael Empric
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: Lion - Horrible MacBook Pro Battery Life

After upgrading to Lion, my MacBook Pro battery life has been severly affected. After 1.5 hours of light web browsing, my battery has decreased to 40% from 100% after charging all night.

 

Notes: Spotlight completed indexing the hard drive over night, and the laptop remained plugged in charging. The fans seem to be running normally, not at a higher rate. The backlight is at 50% brightness.

 

Thoughts?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB Ram

Posted on Jul 21, 2011 7:02 AM

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Michael Empric

Q: Lion - Horrible MacBook Pro Battery Life

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  • by Prodactief.nu,

    Prodactief.nu Prodactief.nu Jul 31, 2011 2:46 AM in response to Nick1100
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 2:46 AM in response to Nick1100

    Hi Nick,

     

    How did you downgrade? I bought the macbookpro 2011 early series and there was as far i know not a recovery disk of some kind?

  • by jesslorenzo,

    jesslorenzo jesslorenzo Jul 31, 2011 3:20 AM in response to Nick1100
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 3:20 AM in response to Nick1100

    Hi Nick,

     

    I also have a new Macbook pro 15' 2011 and I cannot carry arround a heavy mac and only have a 2 to 3 hr life.

    I am considering going back to snow leopard.  How did you do this?

     

    Thanks

  • by a4rons,

    a4rons a4rons Jul 31, 2011 4:12 AM in response to Michael Empric
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 4:12 AM in response to Michael Empric

    Downgrading is very easy if you have a os x 10.6 disk you need to launch this and then do an archive and install takes about hour and everything is back to normal.

     

     

     

    I think this issue is only linked with Core 2 Duo MB and MBP but by the sounds of things it's effecting the first gen Core i5 & i7 too?

     

    Has any one got this issue with second gen i5 & i7 (sandy bridge) MBP's. I checked the ones in the Apple store at half screen brightness they were all giving between 9-12 hours.

  • by Wick_sk,

    Wick_sk Wick_sk Jul 31, 2011 4:16 AM in response to a4rons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 4:16 AM in response to a4rons

    Yep I got it with the first gen i7 MacBook Pro (2,66MHz). Battery life went from 4-5 hours to 2-3... I checked processes, I checked the citrix issue, I made sure spotlights isn't indexing. Just browsing with only the integrated grahpics card on gives me about 3 - 3,5 hours of battery life. If I start doing more - it goes down to 2 hours. And it is real battery life - it dies after this time. Battery health is 94% with 273 cycles.

  • by BaedaBln,

    BaedaBln BaedaBln Jul 31, 2011 4:30 AM in response to a4rons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 4:30 AM in response to a4rons

    It is at least affecting the first generation i5 MBP (Mid 2010).

  • by jesslorenzo,

    jesslorenzo jesslorenzo Jul 31, 2011 5:07 AM in response to BaedaBln
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 5:07 AM in response to BaedaBln

    I am using the Sandy Bridge Core I7 on the early 2011 mbpro, 15' 2.2ghz.  It is affecting the battery life just as bad, if not worse.  Battery usage is about 2 to 3 hrs.  That's with normal browsing and integrated graphics, half dimmed lights.

  • by jesslorenzo,

    jesslorenzo jesslorenzo Jul 31, 2011 5:08 AM in response to a4rons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 5:08 AM in response to a4rons

    @a4rons:  If I do a time machine backup in Lion, can I still access this when I go back to snow leopard?

  • by Sahmraw,

    Sahmraw Sahmraw Jul 31, 2011 5:12 AM in response to Michael Empric
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 5:12 AM in response to Michael Empric

    I got mine on Friday and I am not get the battery life advertised. Mine gets about 3 hours just browsing and using iTunes. New MacBook Pro 13.3" 320GB HDD, core i5 with 4 GB ram

  • by alexius82,

    alexius82 alexius82 Jul 31, 2011 5:39 AM in response to Michael Empric
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 5:39 AM in response to Michael Empric

    Turned back to firefox from safari and got 1.5 hours extra on estimated time itself.

     

    1. Turn off smart zoom, look up, which works only in safari

    2. Turn off hot corners which can be acessed by gestures

    3. Turn off full screen swipes to access desktops and use mission control for the same

  • by Nick1100,

    Nick1100 Nick1100 Jul 31, 2011 7:55 AM in response to Prodactief.nu
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 7:55 AM in response to Prodactief.nu

    My 2011 13" Macbook Pro came with install disks. But if you back up your Mac with Time Machine, here's another method: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2389334,00.asp

  • by a4rons,

    a4rons a4rons Jul 31, 2011 8:15 AM in response to Michael Empric
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 8:15 AM in response to Michael Empric

    yes that would save you having to run all the updates.

  • by Nick1100,

    Nick1100 Nick1100 Jul 31, 2011 8:19 AM in response to a4rons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 8:19 AM in response to a4rons

    Yes, it affects my Sandy Bridge Macbook Pro.

  • by bigd_pdx,

    bigd_pdx bigd_pdx Jul 31, 2011 9:06 AM in response to Nick1100
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 9:06 AM in response to Nick1100

    2011 I7 MBP Sandy Bridge 2.2Ghz.  Only a couple of months old, but I have calibrated the battery two times since owning (I do it about once a month).

     

    I just unplugged with 97% showing on the battery meter and continued surfing for about 40 minutes.  I hit a number of forums I frequent.  Battery dropped down to 90% in that time.  Shows about 7hrs remaining.

     

    A couple of points worth noting:

     

    1) Running 802.11n wireless.

    2) Using gfxCardStatus with Integrated only on battery.

    3) No Adobe Flash installed.

    4) Using Safari with AdBlock (and I block social toolbars on the sites I frequent).

    5) Brightness set to 50%, keyboard backlight off and used trackpad for entire session.  Bluetooth enabled, but not in use.

    6) Stock "Energy Saver" settings.

    7) OSX Lion (installed as an in place upgrade over SL).  No time machine enabled on this machine.

  • by LandonAB,

    LandonAB LandonAB Jul 31, 2011 10:50 AM in response to bigd_pdx
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 31, 2011 10:50 AM in response to bigd_pdx

    I read an interesting conversation, don't recall where, that discussed the processor hit from the new invisible scroll bars.  I have since enabled Always Show Scroll Bars and my battery life and overall temperature of the MBP has improved.  Nothing scientific about this testing, just normal use.

  • by Bob Jacobson,

    Bob Jacobson Bob Jacobson Jul 31, 2011 10:59 AM in response to Michael Empric
    Level 1 (132 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 31, 2011 10:59 AM in response to Michael Empric

    I'm not saying it is Lion's fault, it could be a coincidence, but after installing Lion I experienced a lot of power anomalies like those reported here -- and eventually my MacBook Air's battery was fried. 

     

    I tried every method possible for forestalling a crash and correcting the system software and firmware, but some combination of remedies and the basic problem killed the patient.

     

    I confirmed with Apple Care that the power/battery situation is terminal (no pun intended).

     

    Tomorrow the Air goes into an indie Apple-authorized repair shop that's totally objective on this issue.  I will report back its conclusions.

     

    I really don't want to rely on Lion prior to an update that fixes this problem one way or another.  I'll probably reinstall SL (which never gave me a similar problem over the last 18 months) and wait it out.

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