Q: Battery life dropped considerably on Mountain Lion.

According to Apple I should have one of the following as the latest update:

I actually have 1.73f65, neither of the above. Does anyone know what it should be.... could this be part of the problem... the update giving the wrong SMC??

Salty, I'd been wondering about the exact same thing.

I too have a mid 2011 13-inch MBA, and like you have SMC 1.73f65.

It seems odd to me that Apple has two entries for this machine - seems to be only one with two in the table.

But I'm pleased you have the same SMC version in your machine - makes me think Apple's table is wrong.

Or maybe somone here knows different?

salty777 wrote:

 

According to Apple I should have one of the following as the latest update:

 

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011)

MacBookAir4,2

MBA41.0077.B0F (EFI 2.4)

1.74f3 (SMC 1.6) 1.66f60 (SMC 1.7)

 

I actually have 1.73f65, neither of the above. Does anyone know what it should be.... could this be part of the problem... the update giving the wrong SMC??

This listings are for SMC updates, not the specs for particular machines.  As you can see by the listing the same model can have more than one SMC version.

In other words there is an update for machines with SMC v1.74f3 to SMC 1.6 and SMC v1.66f60 to SMC 1.7.  It appears, at least in your case, that v1.73f65 has already been updated or at least no update is required. 

So you should already have the Power Nap feature (and/or any other behind-the-scenes SMC changes).

I agree that this is an SMC issue, but I don't think it's likely Apple is initiating the wrong SMC update.  I believe it to be (as Chris theorized a while back) specific to the model and the components in that machine, probably even specific to the manufacturer of the component itself...be it a battery or GPU, etc. 

Unlike Dell or Asus and other PC manufacturers that use off-the-shelf parts, Apple creates very exacting and specific specifications for every component in their computers.  They use multiple manufacturers to build these parts to Apple specs.  They may change or add manufacturers during a product build as well.  QC is very high, however some minor variations may occur during the manufacturing process or between manufacturers.  Although the parts meet the QC bench tests at the time, something new, say a new OS and/or SMC version may suddenly highlight that minor difference.

That's why the same model may have different SMC specs and also why it may be so difficult for Apple to track down exactly why the same model of machine may suddenly behave differently after an OS update.  This battery issue is clearly not affecting a majority of MacBooks...but it is a continuing problem.  10.8.2 and a firmware update fixed many MacBooks, but not all so the resolution process is not over.  10.8.3 hasn't been seeded yet, but an SMC update isn't tied to an OS update.  So we could see a further tweaking (and hopefully fix) w/o an OS update.  

Forgot to add...why would the same machine have a different SMC version?  A good example would be the introduction of a new battery mid-production.  The SMC controls battery/power flow.  The new battery (ostensibly better than the previous one in some way) may require a different set of parameters to deliver the same (or better) performance.  A change in the SMC is needed.

I'm afraid richsadams is making a bit of a meal of things. The SMC article does switch the 11" and 13" MBAs. It lists 1.73f65 for the 11" and 1.74f3 for the 13", whereas in fact it's the other way round. This issue has been raised more than once in other threads. It does mean that salty77 shouldn't worry about having the wrong update -  it's the documentation that's wrong.

That was indeed what i had theorized a while back, down to the models likely requiring custom SMC depending on make location etc. Had no idea, however, about core SMC and so on, but this would explain further why what's described may not match what is inside different macbooks.

Also speculated that more tweaks are likely coming down the pipe. For some machines there is no guarantee anything will work.

Would explain why some users had bad battery life after upgrading to 10.8.0 and still disspoainting after reverting back to Lion or SL. So I wonder.... someone with a 2010 unit that reverted an OS, should they install 10.8.2 to see if they get their SMC updated, and then try again or revert to SL or simply if ML or Lion works for them? Fascinating topic.

Maynot matter if you have the wrong documentation, you should not be able to install the incorrect SMC on top of the incorrect hardware. try it. You should get a prompt advising of that.

Thanks for that and to the others that replied..... I'll leave things well alone!

Er ... right. I think my general cxonclusion, then, is that nobody knows anything.

So, I updated to mountain lion just a few days after the release (Clean Install) and was presented with battery life almost half of what it was. After posting on this thread and trying all the solutions suggested, I gave up and Installed a clean copy of Lion (not mountain lion).

Now that there has been several updates, I tried an in-place upgrade to mountain lion only to experience the same problems. My battery life with light applications running goes from 6+ to 3-4 hours.

I'm beginning to feel like an old man as I'm wondering how long I can just stick with Lion and Windows 7 as Mountain Lion seems to have some serious issues that are not being resolved and Windows 8.... Well.... I'd like my desktop back, please.

I know that I am venting some and that's not helpful so here's what I'd like to say. If you are thinking of upgrading to Mountain Lion and hoping it will work.... Don't do it until you have enough time to do the install, test it and (if necessary) do a clean install of Lion and a restore.

Good Luck.

p.s. My battery has gone from 100% to 92% in the time it took to write this with only safari, text expander, xmarks, dropbox and hazel running.

Hi Everyones,

I'm now just pass the two cycle of real use of my MBP 13" early 2011. The charge cycle is 113 cycle. I noticed that the battery indicator looked like drain so fast during the first  half of the its capacity. I just ignore what it read and keep on using it. Altogether I can use my machine more than 7 hrs easily. When the indicator was at around 25% and the remaining hours was about between 1-2 hrs, it keep on at that level for a long time. I used my machine to about 5% level and sum up altogether is about 7-8 hrs.  To me I think the indicator and all the reading is lead to a wrong conclusion but the real use is not too bad. My SMC version is 1.68f98.

hi, is it normal to have a 98 cycles for 16 weeks old mbp 13" mid 2012??? thanks.

I am sick of having this issue. I have 77 cycles on my battery and my AppleCare runs out next year. I basically don't like using my Macbook Pro without being plugged in. I have the original battery have performed a majority of the suggestions I have found on this thread. This is not acceptable. Macbook Pro mid 2009 17" here.

wow you only have 77cycles for 1yr??? why mine is 98cycle for only 16 weeks =(