12ajs
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: My macbook pro 13" retina late 2012 battery is far less than what it once was

Having only bought the notebook back in August 2013, the time I've had with this macbook doesn't emulate the battery life I should be getting while doing simple, everyday tasks. Currently, my battery sits at 90%, stating that in 3 and a half hours the battery will be depleted down to 0%. For most of you, I hope this is a shock, as just 6 months ago if my battery was at 90% it would explain that I have another 5-7hrs of battery life remaining.

 

I currently have 5 tabs of Safari open, all with news articles, with only one tab streaming some video in the background. Safari is the only app I currently have open. I simply ask for any information the community can offer me as to why my battery seems to believe it can only withstand another 3 hours of life before dying or needing to be plugged into a charger. This doesn't seem like normal behaviour when dealing with a few tabs of Safari for research purposes.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Jan 18, 2015 10:40 AM

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12ajs

Q: My macbook pro 13" retina late 2012 battery is far less than what it once was

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  • by CT,

    CT CT Jan 18, 2015 10:50 AM in response to 12ajs
    Level 6 (17,883 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 18, 2015 10:50 AM in response to 12ajs

    Video - and anything Flash-based - is a battery pig.   Have a look at Activity Monitor, All Processes, sorted by CPU to see what is using up your battery.

     

    As the battery gets older/misused, as it gets more cycles, it holds less charge.  You can explore this via System Information, in your Utilities Folder.

  • by 12ajs,

    12ajs 12ajs Jan 18, 2015 11:31 AM in response to CT
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2015 11:31 AM in response to CT

    While I don't doubt that the flash player $ucks up a lot of energy, the amount of cycles that I have gone through doesn't really give me any reason to believe my battery should be depleting this quick. I've only gone through 301 cycles, and I've heard around the web that the Macbook pro should be able to at least see 1000 cycles before showing much battery degradation.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Jan 18, 2015 11:31 AM in response to 12ajs
    Level 8 (35,321 points)
    iPad
    Jan 18, 2015 11:31 AM in response to 12ajs

    Please read this. It is an detailed expansion on the method CT has wisely recommended:

     

    Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime, affect performance, and increase heat and fan activity - Apple Support

     

    However, the instructions have not been updated for OS 10.9 and 10.10. In Step 3, the all-important action of setting Activity Monitor to show All Processes, that funtions has been moved from wher it is shown in the example iamge to Activity Monitor's "View" menu:

     

    AM_Mav_select all processes.png

     

    You are looking for any process that uses more than about 10 percent of the CPU resources when the computer is idling.

     

    NOTES:

     

    1) Quit any program you launced befroe doing teh test

     

    2) This test won't tell you much if you apply it immediately after a restart. Use the computer normally for a day without a  restart, then do the test.

     

    My Mid-2012 non-Retina MBP has shown the same battery runtime ("battery life" is not the same; "life" is how may months/years the battery works before needing replacement) with Mavericks and Yosemite as it did with Mountain Lion with which it shipped.

  • by CT,

    CT CT Jan 18, 2015 12:11 PM in response to 12ajs
    Level 6 (17,883 points)
    Notebooks
    Jan 18, 2015 12:11 PM in response to 12ajs

    In addition to what Allan Jones has said, I will point out that (1) 300 cycles is not negligible (I have a mid 2012 MBP with half that many cycles and it goes for over 7 hours if I am not flashing or video-ing). (2) It is not just the cycles, but how the battery was used along the way.  For example, running the battery all the way down is not good. The crucial thing is the amount of energy which can be stored by the battery (compared to a brand new battery).

     

    http://www.macyourself.com/2011/01/23/check-your-macs-battery-health-to-see-if-i t-needs-to-be-replaced/