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itsdan2 Author

Level 1

11 points

New MacBook only getting 5 hours of battery life

Hello all,

Just purchased this MacBook last week and it seems I am not getting the advertised battery life. I have my wifi and bluetooth turned on with display brightness at about half. The backlight for the keyboard is not on and all I am doing is basic word processing/web browsing on safari (no video streaming). I am also listening to music through spotify connected through my bluetooth headphones. Why am I only getting 5 hours of battery life? I do not believe there are any other background processes that would be running, especially since I just got it and there are almost no third party applications installed.

MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)

Posted on Apr 22, 2015 7:55 PM

65 replies

Aug 25, 2016 6:16 PM in response to gatesbuster

I agree with you on some things, but on others I have to defend Apple. Your claim that the MacBook should have been advertised for five hours of battery life matches my few months' of experience with the new computer. However, I had a MacBook Pro 15” Retina from Late 2013, and it was getting 9.5 hours of battery life earlier this year, so your experience with that computer is not the experience with all of them.

Aug 25, 2016 6:11 PM in response to hamen989

I had a particular case that was able to defend my point. I had just gotten the 2015 MacBook after selling my Late 2013 MacBook Pro 15” with Retina Display. Both computers were advertised for 9 hours of battery life, and I was using them the same way. The only difference was I got 9.5 hours on my MacBook Pro and was getting 5 on my MacBook. Obviously, there was something wrong with my laptop.

I advise you to skip AppleCare’s first line of defense and ask to speak with an AppleCare Senior Specialist. My first interaction with AppleCare was fruitless, but when I asked to speak to a Senior Specialist, things began moving forward.

Dec 2, 2016 7:34 AM in response to itsdan2

All,

I have been suffering from poor macbook 12" battery life and have been doing some testing and querying with vendors. My issue was found to be with Outlook 2016 and languages. If you are using Outlook 2016 on your macbook make sure that you do the following:

Click on new email, Options menu, choose language, disable Detect Language Automatically.

I was getting 4 hours, and am now getting between 7 and 9 on a daily basis.

pf2222

Level 1

41 points

Dec 2, 2016 4:13 PM in response to itsdan2

Have you tried to run Activity Monitor to find out which application used up the energy? You can start Activity Monitor from Finder | Applications | Utilities or App Launcher.

Felix250

Level 1

4 points

Dec 12, 2016 4:29 PM in response to itsdan2

I have the same problem. The 15 inch macbook I own is brand new with a new install of software and I had it charged all day. I come home and work for 2-3 hours on wordpress connected through Wifi and it is already down to 47%. I am truly upset with the poor performance of this VERY expensive piece of equipment...

New MacBook only getting 5 hours of battery life