rMBP 15" Sudden drop in battery life

Hi Swiggen,

I'm sorry you are having issues with your Macbook Pro's battery.

I would suggest resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Power

The computer doesn't respond to the power button when pressed.

A portable Mac doesn't appear to respond properly when you close or open the lid.

The computer sleeps or shuts down unexpectedly.

The battery does not appear to be charging properly.

The MagSafe power adaptor LED doesn't appear to indicate the correct activity.

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
3. On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
5. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
   Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

Another troubleshooting step would be to reset the PRAM as well:About NVRAM and PRAM

Resetting NVRAM / PRAM

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

You can read more details by clicking on the two links above, but these would be two good troubleshooting steps to try.

Below are some general tips for maximizing battery life:

Mac notebooks: Tips for maximizing your battery charge

I hope this information helps ....

Have a great day!

- Judy

Running any VM (and I, too, use Parallels Desktop to run Windows 7) is going to put a huge drain on your battery. The "7 hours" quoted by Apple is based on a 'perfect' scenario (only running wifi, surfing the Internet and avoiding videos, with perhaps an email client open and precious little else).

If you're able, just test your machine on battery without running Parallels and see if your battery time increases.

Clinton

Hi Swiggen,

If you've tried the tips I posted above for maximizing your battery charge, and are still experiencing issues, I would suggest checking the condition of the battery. The following links will show you how:

Mac notebooks: Determining battery cycle count

OS X Mountain Lion: Battery conditions

Cheers,

Judy

I had the same problem and i fixed it.

check in system preferences under energy saver than make your display turn off after 1 minute in battery , that's all.