Subpar battery life on 13-inch MacBook Pro with touch bar (2017)

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Subpar battery life on 13-inch MacBook Pro with touch bar (2017)

I've upgraded from 15" MacBook Pro (late 2013) to the 3.1ghz configuration 13" MacBook Pro about 2 months ago. One thing I've noticed was that the battery life has been very underwhelming. It typically lasts about 5 hours, if not less, with very light use, such as some safari browsing and word processing on MS word at ~75% brightness – half of what Apple has claimed. So I want to ask if anyone has had similar issues with the battery life on the new 2017 models because I'm not sure if this is due to hardware issues specific to my Macbook or if it was a design flaw?

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS High Sierra (10.13)

Posted on Oct 24, 2017 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Oct 25, 2017 4:34 PM in response to JimboSausage

Hey JimboSausage,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. I can see that you hav some concerns regarding your MacBook Pro's battery life since you've upgraded the configuration. I can certianly understand wanting to get the most from your battery when it's fully charge and would like to help offer some information that can help with this. A few things to note is that your notebook battery life depends on your computer's configuration and how you're using the computer.

In the link below you'll see some settings and steps you can take to get the most from your battery.
About Mac notebook batteries

My battery runtime is low

Wait until your Mac is finished with initial setup. When you use your Mac for the first time, activities like setting up Mail and Photos, migrating your iCloud content, and indexing your files with Spotlight use more power than your Mac requires in general use. If you have a large amount of data to transfer, it can take several days before your battery life returns to average daily use.

Identify what the battery life should be for the product you're using. 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.

Learn how to minimize common causes of battery drain:

Optimize your battery life using the Optimizing Battery Life section earlier in this article.

Learn how apps can affect Mac battery performance. Some applications—such as browsers, video editing software, and video games—require more power based on how you're using them. Check regularly for updates to your software—it's important to use the latest versions available.

Configure automated backup and sync software to run only when your computer is connected to a power source or to pause when your battery level drops below a certain percentage.

Check Activity Monitor for any malfunctioning software processes, especially after installing software updates or a new operating system. Installing updates is important to ensure optimal performance for all applications.

If you still have battery issues after optimizing your computer's performance and checking for malfunctioning software 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 might 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.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

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