Macbook Pro Retina late 2014 battery drain

Hi jbriede,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

From your post I understand that your battery's runtime is lower than you have previously experienced. I know this is definitely a frustrating issue, so I'd like you to please follow the steps below to help resolve the issue.

My battery runtime is low

1. Identify what the battery life should be for the product you are troubleshooting.

   The Tech Specs site provides Apple's battery life expectations for battery usage. The specifics for wireless web usage and standby time are included in the Tech Specs article for each product.

2. There are several common causes battery drain that you can minimize.

   • Take steps to optimize your battery life per the Optimizing Battery Life section earlier in this article.
   • A common cause of decreased battery life is a "runaway process." Make sure to check Activity Monitor for any runaway processes, especially after installing software updates or a new operating system. Installing updates is important to ensure optimal performance for all applications.
   • If you are still having battery runtime issues after optimizing your computer's performance and checking for runaway processes, test in Safe Mode. Safe Mode limits the active items on the system and allows testing in a more minimal environment. If the battery life is better in Safe Mode, you may need to do further software isolation for the items disabled by Safe Mode to determine what the power draw is while not operating in Safe Mode.

Mac notebooks: All about batteries - Apple Support

Take care,

Alex H.