Q: Battery life dropped considerably on Mountain Lion.

I did and documented this early in the forum, a 3.1 MBP. It trained while off. Problem appeared solved when installing SL on it.

This is a nasty scenario. As drain when off means some sort of a short or open circuit, something keeps flowing.

However, I am very sure that the problem was also solved simultaneously as i also installed a new batery. As the problem never returned (but nor did I attempt ML on that unit), I am inclined to suspect that the battery was a primary culprit. Defective batteries will discharge for no reason.

Hmmm.  The battery I have right now I purchased less than 2 weeks ago.  However, using the 'Battery Health' Program, it states the battery is 3 months old which is probably when it was manufactured.  I think I'll just make an appt at the genius bar and have them look at it.  Worst case scenario is they give me another brand new battery and rule out the battery if it still drains after that when off.

Hey guys,

My mac is a 2011 MBA. I'm still on Lion (10.7.4) and have been monitoring this thread (as part of my research to decide whether/when to upgrade to ML). I have a couple questions and am seeking your opinions:

1. The impression I've formed so far is that the battery problem is most likely caused by the SMC firmware update. The SMC update is to support Power Nap in ML. I know I won't need it and will disable it after upgrade. So is there a way to upgrade to ML but skip the SMC update? My guess is "probably not" but I thought I'd ask anyhow.

2. I'm losing confidence in Apple's software updates. There have been way too many duds/incidents of late. I wanted to upgrade to Lion 10.7.5. But even a tiny Thunderbolt update got me paranoid. (Come to think of it,  Mac is giving me more headaches than Windows .) So can anyone who has upgraded to 10.7.5 confirm that the update doesn't affect battery life or cause any other problem?

Thank you very much.

slightly off topic but related :-)

what is the best free battery app…??

To update my situation.

Have mid 2010 MBP

Have done a reinstall. Reset SMC and PRAM.  When MBP is asleep the barrery drains(never did this on previous system). Now life is 4 hours.  The only improvement is the MBP does not heat up now.

Thinman

kimee wrote:

 

Hey guys,

 

My mac is a 2011 MBA. I'm still on Lion (10.7.4) and have been monitoring this thread (as part of my research to decide whether/when to upgrade to ML).

My two cents?  First, if you were to upgrade to Mountain Lion the odds are you wouldn't experience any issues.

The SMC will almost certainly be updated if you were to upgrade.

That said, if you can live without Mountain Lion for a little longer, it might be worth the wait.  I really like using it on both my iMac and (now) my MacBook Air, but there's really nothing that I can't live without.  I still have an iPhone 4, so AFAIK there's no advantage for me in that sense either.

It is disappointing that OS upgrades don't always go perfectly...but to be honest, out of the millions of MacBooks running Mountain Lion, it's a very small percentage that have any problems.

Many folks have had the issue resolved with 10.8.2, but others haven't, so if you can wait...your call of course.  I believe Apple will get this ironed out, but it's hard to say how soon and of course it's never soon enough if it's your MacBook that's affected.

Soooo...don't forget, you get what you pay for here. 

Trevor Murch-Lempinen wrote:

 

slightly off topic but related :-)

 

what is the best free battery app…??

I use two only because each has one or more features that the other one doesn't.

Coconut Battery allows you to save your battery's maximum capacity data...good if you're making a case for a new battery.

Battery Health has more in-depth live measurements.

Both are free.

I upgraded to 10.7.5 & I more happy with the battery life on my MBA 2011.

Hi

I've been having v similar issues with mid 2010 MBP. Today I stopped using Chrome and disabled Carbonite and the battery life has improved a huge amount.

I'm just guessing but I imagine it's related to how certain applications are handling certain power management options.

In both my efforts I installed only the apps that I must use (neither Carbonite or Chrome was installed) but it made no difference.....

Back on Lion until everyone on this thread starts jumping up and down with joy because the problem has been fixed.

thanks richsadams… they seem to be the ones that everyone use…

Ever since I've discovered Chrome self-installing itself onto the users' Login Items lists, I've viewed it with deep suspicion. The fact that they insist on setting up an automatic and non-user-involving selfupdate mechanism further fuels the distrust. A third-party application having the presumptiousness of running itself 24/7 and out of the sandbox is the height of folly.

Courcoul wrote:

 

Ever since I've discovered Chrome self-installing itself onto the users' Login Items lists, I've viewed it with deep suspicion. The fact that they insist on setting up an automatic and non-user-involving selfupdate mechanism further fuels the distrust. A third-party application having the presumptiousness of running itself 24/7 and out of the sandbox is the height of folly.

+1.  Used to like Google, but their "Do no evil" motto seems to have slipped by the wayside.  Too bad really.

Trevor Murch-Lempinen wrote:

 

thanks richsadams… they seem to be the ones that everyone use…

kimee wrote:

 

Thanks, richsadams.

You're welcome.

Thanks, richsadams.