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User profile for user: audundb
audundb Author
User level: Level 1
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MBP17" early 2011 battery drain during gaming

Yesterday, I tried gaming Battlefield Bad Company 2 on my mbp17. After gaming for about 2 hours (on AC-power), I noticed that the battery level had gone down from 100% to 70%!


So I started reading various forums etc, only to find that the mbp actually use more power than the AC-adaptor can provide "during peak load". Fair enough, except for the fact that during gaming "peak load" is sustained for several hours, right up to quiting the game. Should the battery drain completely, the cpu and/or gpu will be throttled down (in other words crippled).

It would seem that this must be a BIG problem for all the power users out there, rendering 3d/movies etc?


I am really disappointed, as this is a lovely machine, except for this issue.


Questions:


1. Should I not be playing games on my mbp at all? It would at least seem to be a real battery life killer?


2. Is there any way to work around the issue?


3. Is this problem substantial enough for me to "make" Apple take it back?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 22, 2011 5:37 AM

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User profile for user: eww
eww
User level: Level 9
53,028 points

Posted on Aug 22, 2011 6:49 AM

1. You can certainly play games on your MBP, as long as you don't play for so long as to drain your battery completely. Consider this a requirement that you eat, sleep, and get out for some fresh air from time to time.


2. No, apart from minimizing power demand for any other purposes during gaming. Shut down any apps you aren't using (especially web browsers), disconnect all bus-powered peripherals (especially hard drives), turn off Bluetooth and wifi if you're not using them, reduce display brightness as far as you can stand, turn off keyboard backlighting, and make sure your machine is in a well ventilated location so its fans don't have to work any harder than necessary to cool the machine. They will, of course, be running pretty hard anyway.


3. No, because it's completely normal. In Apple's view, it isn't a "problem" at all. Your MBP is working exactly as it's designed to work.

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User profile for user: eww
eww
User level: Level 9
53,028 points

Aug 22, 2011 6:49 AM in response to audundb

1. You can certainly play games on your MBP, as long as you don't play for so long as to drain your battery completely. Consider this a requirement that you eat, sleep, and get out for some fresh air from time to time.


2. No, apart from minimizing power demand for any other purposes during gaming. Shut down any apps you aren't using (especially web browsers), disconnect all bus-powered peripherals (especially hard drives), turn off Bluetooth and wifi if you're not using them, reduce display brightness as far as you can stand, turn off keyboard backlighting, and make sure your machine is in a well ventilated location so its fans don't have to work any harder than necessary to cool the machine. They will, of course, be running pretty hard anyway.


3. No, because it's completely normal. In Apple's view, it isn't a "problem" at all. Your MBP is working exactly as it's designed to work.

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MBP17" early 2011 battery drain during gaming

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