Macbook Pro Retina battery problem?

Unfortunately, this is a common complaint of the rmbp. One of several reasons why I opted for the 2012 unibody.

Make sure it's not your Time Machine running. Other than that, I gained a ton of battery life by turning off auto brightness. When I need brightness adjusted, I just push the keyboard buttons. Made a huge difference for me!

Good luck!

dude , if your only getting 2 and a bit hours battery , then take it back get the gurus to trade it in , and get it fixed , if its not working use the warranty.

you would have to be doing some heavy stuff to drain that battery like that out the box .

This thread is slightly old but just to update the events, I was getting dismal battery life and only doing Safari for most of my usage. I was getting perhaps 2 1/2 hrs per a charge and that is with backlight at 50% and leaving the graphics only on integrated. After Apple released the firmware update 1.0 for all the recent Macbooks and Air, now my retina is getting a minimum of 5 hrs. The best I've gotten over the past 4 days since release is over 7 hrs. I'm super thrilled that I'm finally getting what the computer was rated to get.

I am slightly concerned regarding some of the advice given in this post. MacBooks use LiPo batteries which can be irrepairably damaged if allowed to completely discharge. This is due to the residual charge needed to kick start the charge process - if the battery is drained too far it could fall below the safe threshold and charging would then be impossible. There should be safeguards in place however it's always safer to not test this as it is not necessary. The old 'memory effect' that people seem to be giving advice about is only relevant when dealing with NiMh or much older NiCd batteries that did need regular 'cycles' involving a thorough discharge followed by a long charge. LiPo batteries' chemical exchange (delivering charge) is more efficient at cooler temperatures which is why cooling is important. This can also explain why a hot computer, running intensive graphic applications has less life than one running cool. It is totally about the power consumption of the GPU etc, this is key however the increased temp shortens the battery life. This is also why, if you have LiPo or Li Ion batteries you should store them in your fridge!!

I have personally noticed that my new Ret MacBook runs VERY hot - even when doing very little - this would shorten the battery life - although, having said all of the above I am disappointed with the battery life at the mo - a 10 min video consumed 10% of my battery last night with the screen on about 30% brightness!!

The best bit of advice from above has to be the one regarding Time Machine.

The advice to deliberately run down the battery ONCE to calibrate it no longer applies to modern MacBooks:

Portables with built-in batteries

Current Apple portable computer batteries are pre-calibrated and do not require the calibration procedure outlined in this article. These computers use batteries that shouldbe replaced only by an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

-- from: Apple Portables: Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance

Worth pointing out that calibration per se does the battery no good in terms of performance and, yes, may harm an older and already weak battery. Only in the ancient days of NiCad batteries did it help to reduce the memory effect. Nowadays the only benefit is that it permits the battery management hardware to take measure of the real actual state of the battery cells (vs. an assumed state based on theoretical performance models), which then allows it to display a realistic "time remaining at current operating conditions" display and an effective forced sleep trigger point when discharged.

So, if you don't "calibrate" and the management circut's prediction model gets sufficently deviated from reality, worse that can happen is the computer tells you have a lot of time left of charge, then suddenly goes to sleep 10 minutes later. Or worse, it just dies completely and you lose all the work you just invested while writing the next Great American Novel (or whatever), without the system getting a chance to update the sleepimage for hibernation.

Alternately, if you calibrate on a regular basis you will have a hyperaccurate "time remaining" display, the Mac will go to forced sleep/hibernation properly with no data loss ever, and you will get to watch your battery die of "old age" in a very short while.

It's your Mac, you decide the road ahead. I've a colleague with an Early 2011 MBP who cycles the battery EVERY day, fully charging then running on battery down to the 10-20% mark while sitting on his desk next to the charger. Personally I exercise the battery down to 30% every now and then, working most of the time plugged in.

I dont know how the OP is going with it all, well I hope!

I wanted to update that I have had mine for almost a week now, and I get pretty good time on my new MBPr.

I dont have any fancy features like swtich graphics or anything activated. Just turned it on, installed DropBox, Mac Office 11, Couple of games off app store, and put some files on here..

70% brightness with display set to best for retina - I got 9 hours 10 mins first charge. And I got about 7:30 on my recent charge but ive been watching a lot of videos and flash heavy sites.

For word, I have no doubt I could clock almost 10 hours.

As usualy it would appear Apple has over engineered. 2.5 hours? Dude it must be faulty. If it isnt tell apple to show you what your doing wrong, or get it replaced.

Hope it goes well, im not trying to brag about mine, just to re assure you its not right 🙂

thanks

Well then mine must be faulty, cause my Retina gets 3 hours tops of light surfing (no bluetooth, flash, youtube or automatic anything, half brightness). running Lion, all updates installed . Im returning it.

Hi.

The following might be a guide to a solution of such problems:

The battery of the MBP has a capacity of 8460 mAh. That is if the computer "consumes" 8.5 Ampere (A), then the battery lasts 1 hour (h). If the computer consumes 4.25A, then the battery lasts 2 hours. If the computer consumes 2.8 A the battery lasts 3 hours. If the computer consumes 1.75 A the battery lasts 5 hours. If the computer consumes 1.2 A the battery lasts 7 hours.

Instead of doing lenthy tests you should just have an eye on the amperage (power drain) and try to adapt you configuration.

Example: I noticed that my MBP Retina (2012) lasted about 3-4 hours on battery, starting fully charged. Using some battery utility I found that is was consuming 2.0 A to 3.0 A. Opening the console app I found that there was a log message generated repeatetly by some app (tens of messages per second). (Note: The app was Growl, which was compaining that it could not open a window). Fixing the problem, the power consumtion was reduced s.th. below 2.0 A (to around 1.7 A, which would corrspond to 5 hours). I assume that the log messages where constantly nagging the SSD. Note that you hardly notice this type of power consumption by looking at the CPU

Monitoring the amperage gave me s.th. like an App's power consumption. Some apps, which I believed to be idle (even if there are idle on CPU), were not.

If you find a usage pattern which consumes only 1.2 A you will have your 7 hours.

Best

Christian

Note: You can view the power consumption with the System Profile (Apple Menu -> About this Mac -> More information -> Power).

PS: Running Mountain Lion 10.8.1.

I was getting just under 3 hours battery life. After a diagnostic test in the Apple Store I found that my battery was physically fine.

I recommend trying all 3 of these suggestions. Resetting the SMC and PRAM worked for me. I'm now getting 7 hours.

Reset PRAM

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Reset SMC

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

If you've used Migration Assistant this could work

http://www.cultofmac.com/178092/this-simple-terminal-command-could-more-than-dou ble-your-retina-macbook-pros-battery-life/

I hope this helps

Mikee

Mine is also getting really hot above the keyboard when charging. What should i do to maintain in good battery and lower the battery's temperature

Hi everyone!

My brand new Macbook pro retina isn't charging at all!

The first charge went all fine. This is the second time i put it on charging and don't work.

I've installed the mountain lion 10.8 in the last battery cycle.

Anyone with the same problem?

Please help!

Rafapiresgo-

Take your brand new MacBook Pro retina back to the place you got it from and tell them to deal with it. If it is within 14 days and they are an authorized Apple dealer, they have the option to swap it for a new one. After that, it's a repair.

These kinds of problems are really hands-on issues, and are much better suited to a store than a forum.