Q: Lion - Horrible MacBook Pro Battery Life

@hemamalini

Don't update to 10.6.8. This is the release where apple introduced the 'battery eater'.

I observed my battery draining after upgrading to 10.6.8 before Lion was even out. The only reason I upgraded early to Lion is because I hoped this would fix my battery problem.

Far from it!!!

Hi all,

I've created a new Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Users-Getting-Only-3-4-Hours-of -Battery-Life/275951899104964

Please leave the details of your unique situation on the page, and make sure to "Like" it!

Also, please let me know of any suggestion you have to make it better.

Thank you,

Ilhan

Well done, thanks.

I did an SMC reset and seem to be getting more battery life than I used to (estimates give between 6-7 hours but I haven't timed the run-down).  Has anybody else tried this and gotten a result?  I'll have to test it out for a while and see what it gives me in real-world usage.

If you haven't tried, try doing an SMC reset yourself -- Google how for the details.  (I had done a PRAM reset a while back but didn't know about the SMC).

I, and several others, have posted this several times: what is Console (Applications>Utilities>Console or just type Console into Spotlight) telling you?

I have followed this issue for awhile and one thing I see is to change Safari to 32 bits. I have been all over my Safari prefernces and can't figure out how to do that; can someone give me a step-by-step on how to change that AND tell me what that is going to do to my Safari useage?

Thanks so much.

yep my estimates started going back up to 8-9 hours average 6-7 but they are just estimates....it all depends on what your doing but im happy because on 10.7.1 i wasnt even getting 3 hours now they are going back up...... there is still a bug no doubt and the more we talk about it APPLE's rep is @ stake so cross your fingers and hope they create a fix with 10.7.3 ps i think everyone who has a facebook account should like the page that ilhan created http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Users-Getting-Only-3-4-Hours-of- Battery-Life-with-Lion/275951899104964

Well done but only 15 likes, come people let's get as much attention to this as possible, Apple your users are not happy!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Users-Getting-Only-3-4-Hours-of- Battery-Life-with-Lion/275951899104964

Just want to add my voice too. the battery is charged 100%, I close the lid, open it after an hour and the battery is at 87%. Thats HORRIBLE!

battery status from iStat

cycles: 667

health: 82%

design capacity: 5450 mAh

current capacity: 4456 mAh

amerage: -21mA

viltage: 12476 mV

Quit Safari, open Finder, select Applications from the Favourites pane, scroll to Safari and "Get Info" (Control-click, right-click, two-finger tap or command-i) tick the "open in 32-bit mode" option.  Launch Safari.

terifromwinchester wrote:

 

I have followed this issue for awhile and one thing I see is to change Safari to 32 bits. I have been all over my Safari prefernces and can't figure out how to do that; can someone give me a step-by-step on how to change that AND tell me what that is going to do to my Safari useage?

 

Thanks so much.

The SMC reset seems to be solving most problems - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

 

The SMC reset seems to be solving most problems - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

Hi there,

I know this thread is enormous, but just to let you know that SMC reset has not solved this for many users, myself included.

Hi Ademsemir,

I opened the lid a while ago, after 3,15 hours sleep: battery fell just to 96% (advertising 4:25 left), and I'm experiencing the same problems as everyone in this thread.

Just for information: 2 hours later my previous post I'm getting 56%, with 2:23 advertised time left (which seems at least consistent in relation to the previous statement, 2 hours ago).

Activity was: browsing on chrome multitab, skype chat, mail, iTunes over Airport Express.

Brightness is maximum and keyboard backlight half way. But the monitor was actually dimmed and maybe switched off (did not check) during for about 1 hour.

There is LITTLE anyone can do to improve battery life until Apple fixes the problem. Stop bothering, you get occasional luck as it forces you to reboot/shut down apps and you are misled it's a cure. It's not. I'm 10 weeks into this problem as my MAC came with LION pre-installed.

HOWEVER, I did an experiment Wednesday that I finally had time to do. I ran all day with about 10 applications and ONLY ones that due to my previous research on this issue, I knew didn't have an impact on battery life. I didn't start any others and managed to get through my day with 8 hours of batter life - HOORAY.

I only used Mac Mail, Adium, App Store, Safari (I did alot of browsing), ITUNES, I also ran Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (Mac versions). I didn't launch VMWARE or Twitter or Iphoto or SKYPE etc, the known battery killer apps (see my previous posts). I also shut down drop box and Google music background tasks as I didn't know if they would have an impact.

Anyway, I went all day Wednesday and got just about exactly a working 8 hours usage (MacBook Pro, 8GB, SSD). I rarely get more than 4 hours.

So, it proves my NEW MAC under LION, under 10.7.2 *IS* Perfectly capable of 8 hours (a few times when I left my desk to get coffee (not many), it went up to 11 hours. However, when I do my normal job and use the MAC with other apps that I use, I rarely get aboue 4 hours.

This PROVES in my mind, without a shadow of a doubt that certain applications are the cause of the battery drain  and nothing else. I didn't do any resets/hardware or software. Just went from a 4 hour day Tuesday,  to an 8 hour day Wednesday using the above approach and a 4 hour day again Thursday doing my normal crap.

APPLE - FIX this, tell the application vendors (and some of your own app developers) how to write code that does not EAT battery. If an App as simple as twitter, or your Iphoto app minimized can eat 50% of my battery life then YOU need to fix it and help others to do so. I have proved there is NOTHING wrong with my hardware or settings because I got 8 hours in controlled environment from unplug to forced shutdown without changing a thing in a setting.

Ilhan Kudeki wrote:

 

I did an SMC reset and seem to be getting more battery life than I used to (estimates give between 6-7 hours but I haven't timed the run-down).  Has anybody else tried this and gotten a result?  I'll have to test it out for a while and see what it gives me in real-world usage.

 

If you haven't tried, try doing an SMC reset yourself -- Google how for the details.  (I had done a PRAM reset a while back but didn't know about the SMC).

Unfortunately, what I reported on before didn't last.  After leaving my computer plugged in and asleep, I turn it back on to find that I'm only getting the same 4 hours as I used to.  And even before then, I was only estimating a little over 5 hours of battery life in actual usage.

So I find that the SMC reset doesn't necessarily solve the problem.