MacBook Pro i7 battery life

I have to say that I'm not too happy with my MBP battery life. It lasts for 3 hours only. No heavy duty usage, just browsing the net with bluetooth and wi-fi on. With the heavy price I paid for it I expected much more...


Can you guys share your experience and suggest how to improve my MBP battery life.


MacBook Pro i7, 15 inch screen

Processor 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 25, 2011 3:10 AM

Reply
28 replies

Jan 8, 2017 9:04 AM in response to dzaja

I discovered that after installing McAfee, my battery life went from great (10 hrs for simple processing tasks) to dismal (3 hrs - could literally see 1% disappearing every few minutes). I didn't check the Activity Monitoring but I uninstalled McAfee and the battery life returned to normal. I'm thinking that certain virus scan software are huge energy drains.

Jan 11, 2017 1:58 PM in response to dzaja

Hey everyone, I just had to return my custom configured 15" with 1TB. After numerous cases with Apple Senior Advisors and in store genius bar, my battery kept draining right out of the gate, just withe use of Chrome and surfing the web along with YouTube videos. With 90 mins of use on full brightness (which is the only way I like to use my computer) it went from 100% down to 69% with hardly any use and then when I brought it to the store, as they were running diagnostics which all came out normal, it was dropping 1 percent every few mins,. Decided to return it and I'm hoping they come out with a fix or perhaps wait for the next edition altogether. I really like the machine including the speakers are nice and loud, but 3-4 hours battery life on full brightness wont work for me. It's a shame, as I have a new iPhone 7+ and would like to sync everything across devices in a perfect world.

Jan 11, 2017 3:39 PM in response to Mike410

I promise I'm not trying to be snarky, but 69% after 90 minutes of Internet browsing and YouTube use is better than nearly any PC I've encountered, and better than quite a few Macbook Pro models I've encountered (including my own 15" w/nearly new batter and a 2TB drive).


Full-brightness burns battery no matter what. Battery life is calculated by manufacturers with pretty much every energy-savubg feature enabled. That includes screen brightness set pretty low.

Jan 16, 2017 10:38 AM in response to Mike410

Went into the regents street mac store in London UK today and on four different, identical specced MacBook Pro 13 inch touch bar laptops -


- all at 75% brightness

- 50% volume

- no open programs apart from safari showing the same homepage


On activity monitor with the charging cable removed and the battery at 100% charge, get ready....


One read 8 hours approx battery

One read 9.5 hours approx battery

One read 18.5 approx battery

One read 20 hours


Personally on identical machines, at the same energy settings running the same program and sitting idle, a small amount of difference is possible but 12 hours?!?!


Anyone else tested identical machines side by side. My one at home is 13 (possible processor upgrade to 3.3? 16gb ram), am returning it and apple can keep building me a custom one on their dime, until they get it right.


It appears the theory on differing battery suppliers is right. Make sure you check your machine against at least a few other machines.....

Jan 16, 2017 12:35 PM in response to Haggerstontom

Consumer Reports tested several and got the same crazy variation in actual battery life. Their scenario is a bit different- they disable all battery-saving features in Safari and in the OS.


A couple of thoughts- first, Apple removed the "remaining" feature in a recent OS update specifically because there was a problem with the algorithm used that cause it to be totally unreliable.


Second- going back to the Consumer Reports testing- Apple sent then the latest beta and it fixed the battery consistency issues.

Feb 10, 2017 12:50 PM in response to Michael Battenfield

Well I just want to know one thing why did we all buy this new MBP 2016 ? I was told to dim my screen ?? to save bayyert ,when I dim it I can't see much ! Why it has such a great clear picture to dim your screen.There is an issue with the battery life hope that they will do something ,Replace the battery , Replace the computers or software issue .I think that something has to be done soooooooon .

Consumer reports for me I don't trust , one time they say battery problem and then they say something else .I care less all I know that my battery is running 4.20 H on a full charge and want my machine to be fixed .

Feb 10, 2017 8:17 PM in response to dzaja

100% of laptop battery life tests (any brand, and also including most electronics) are measured utilizing energy-savubg features, including but not limited to dimmer screen, reduced processor clock speed, and spinning down of any physical drives. if you want battery life that is anything like advertised life, you have to run under similar constraints.


Non laptop made will.cime anywhere near what you are looking for with brightness of screen set to max and heavy use. None. Not a brand or maker known.

Apr 4, 2017 7:38 PM in response to dzaja

I've been really upset with the battery life. I've read all the excuses and justifications for this MacBook Pro 15" with the TouchBar comparing it to other laptops of the same category etc. I was patient and waited for a patch to solve this, trusting Apple really does care for its products.


I don't care about excuses anymore. I'm comparing it to my 2012 Retina MBP. And it's absolutely embarrassing. I might get 4-5 hours out of this 2016 new laptop with writing in Word, answering emails in Outlook and playing music via BlueTooth in iTunes. This is my daily routine. With my 2012 MBP I could spend 8-10 hours outside of my office enjoying work without walking around with my bulky charger. Those days are over.


I don't have the freedom to go to any old coffee shop anymore, they must have power outlets now for me to be able to do my work. I'm forced to change the way I do my work by cruising along on 25% brightness to get an extra hour out of my laptop. On top of that the performance of running applications doesn't even seem much better than my old laptop. I truly thought this was going to be a step forward from my 2012 MBP which was already amazing, I regret replacing it. A true step backwards, I don't care what the reviews say -my colleagues, friends and myself know this not to be true.


Worst part is that Apple support just justifies this and doesn't see a consumer issue. I truly have patience and believe Apple tries to do the best for their customers, but this is a step back and not forward.


I've never been this disappointed with an Apple product and this change of heart about the quality of their products.

Apr 4, 2017 10:53 PM in response to Qpid0

Here again my post was removed , Tough to post the truth here since this support is Apple and you can't post what ever I did earlier .So I am still facing the same problem with the Lemon I bought MacBook Pro 13" hope that this time they will not remove it as I am still working with a senior advisor . Yes many people are upset due to this same problem Short battery life.Cant post more hope this will not be removed ........

Jun 5, 2017 9:38 AM in response to Sam Ibrahim

Hi Sam,

So, I did not read that you reset the SMC. I have a 2016 MacBook Pro 15", 2.7 GHz i7....I updated to 10.12.5 and reset the SMC. The problem was completely resolved. I went from about 3.5 hrs of battery life to almost 10 with constant use.


I read this fix on the forum, was skeptical, and then applied it. So far (1 week in) it's working well.


Be well,


TGF

Oct 25, 2011 4:21 AM in response to dzaja

I tried that on two occassions within first month after I purchased the MBP. They checked the battery and concluded it's condition is just fine. I did have a several windows open and apps run like Skype, Coda, Photoshop, etc. and the guy said that I can't accept more battery life with those programs running, and my wi-fi and bluetooth turned on.


However, I expected at least 5 hours battery life. There is no point of having MBP for browsing only with no flash loaded without using ordinary apps like Skype, Photoshop, etc.

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MacBook Pro i7 battery life

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