Macbook pro battery life
November 26, 2013 9:47 AM Subscribe
My macbook pro battery life is awful, and it shouldn't be. What can I do about that?
My early 2011 15-inch macbook pro has 86% of its original battery capacity after 607 loadcycles, but my battery life is really bad.
I've lost about 30% of my battery in the last 40 minutes, and it regularly goes from full to dead in two hours or so.
As far as my typical use habits, I try not to be running anything too crazy in the background, but I don't remember to (and don't really want to) quit skype/im/evernote/dropbox type apps running in the background that may have an impact. I always have chrome open and I have a nasty habit of keeping a ton of tabs open, which I think it pretty memory intensive - is that something that's likely to have a big impact on my battery? General use is heavy, I don't even want to count the number of hours a day I'm on the thing but it's way too high.
On a normal day, I would have, say, word, chrome, excel, and maybe spotify in use, and skype, evernote, and dropbox open in the background. I may also have other apps (like a tab or two in firefox, or mendeley, or some files in preview) open - is that an issue and something I should think about?
I don't torrent, or anything like that that I would expect to be memory-intensive. I always keep my screen brightness as low as I can tolerate (usually around 40%) and the keyboard lights off. Bluetooth is off. I turn wifi off if I don't need it.
Nothing I do seems that unusual, but I think my battery life is. I just ran a virus scan with sophos and it didn't find anything.
What are high-impact, reasonably easy things to do that are likely to increase my battery life? Is there anything I can do? Should I look at replacing my battery? I don't expect 12 hour battery life, but more than two would be nice.
(apologies if I missed previous questions - there were a lot of related but unhelpful in this case questions on the green to sort though)
My early 2011 15-inch macbook pro has 86% of its original battery capacity after 607 loadcycles, but my battery life is really bad.
I've lost about 30% of my battery in the last 40 minutes, and it regularly goes from full to dead in two hours or so.
As far as my typical use habits, I try not to be running anything too crazy in the background, but I don't remember to (and don't really want to) quit skype/im/evernote/dropbox type apps running in the background that may have an impact. I always have chrome open and I have a nasty habit of keeping a ton of tabs open, which I think it pretty memory intensive - is that something that's likely to have a big impact on my battery? General use is heavy, I don't even want to count the number of hours a day I'm on the thing but it's way too high.
On a normal day, I would have, say, word, chrome, excel, and maybe spotify in use, and skype, evernote, and dropbox open in the background. I may also have other apps (like a tab or two in firefox, or mendeley, or some files in preview) open - is that an issue and something I should think about?
I don't torrent, or anything like that that I would expect to be memory-intensive. I always keep my screen brightness as low as I can tolerate (usually around 40%) and the keyboard lights off. Bluetooth is off. I turn wifi off if I don't need it.
Nothing I do seems that unusual, but I think my battery life is. I just ran a virus scan with sophos and it didn't find anything.
What are high-impact, reasonably easy things to do that are likely to increase my battery life? Is there anything I can do? Should I look at replacing my battery? I don't expect 12 hour battery life, but more than two would be nice.
(apologies if I missed previous questions - there were a lot of related but unhelpful in this case questions on the green to sort though)
There are basically three things that affect battery use of a laptop computer. Number of apps open isn't one of them. They are:
1) CPU usage: the more active the CPU is, the more power you're using (If you're playing video games, you can group GPU usage in with this as well). Idle apps in the background don't use any noticeable amount unless something is wrong.
2) Screen brightness. Lighting up that big panel takes a lot of electricity. Turn down the brightness and you'll get better battery life.
3) Radio usage. Do you have wi-fi and bluetooth always turned on? Operating these radios takes up electricity.
Seeing as you aren't really doing any of these things, my first guess is that your battery is just going bad. Get a new one. They fail fairly often.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 9:52 AM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
1) CPU usage: the more active the CPU is, the more power you're using (If you're playing video games, you can group GPU usage in with this as well). Idle apps in the background don't use any noticeable amount unless something is wrong.
2) Screen brightness. Lighting up that big panel takes a lot of electricity. Turn down the brightness and you'll get better battery life.
3) Radio usage. Do you have wi-fi and bluetooth always turned on? Operating these radios takes up electricity.
Seeing as you aren't really doing any of these things, my first guess is that your battery is just going bad. Get a new one. They fail fairly often.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 9:52 AM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
I agree, sounds like a bad battery. Just wanted to add to tylerkaraszewski's list: DVD/CD player can also suck down battery. There is a tool on your Mac called Activity Monitor that can let you know what, if anything, is using a lot of CPU. Does your battery actually die when it's tun down? I ask because an alternate possibility is that the meter is off and the battery is poozly but okay. Apple's got this page of advice. Only thing I didn't see already mentioned here: temperature. Too cold or too hot are not great for your battery.
posted by jessamyn at 9:57 AM on November 26, 2013
posted by jessamyn at 9:57 AM on November 26, 2013
What OS are you running? If you upgrade to Mavericks (free), there are additional OS-level utilities for preserving CPU cycles and RAM for active programs. I think it would help, but more likely, a battery replacement would help much more.
Do you run on battery when you could be plugged in (e.g., at home)? Extra unnecessary cycles will make the battery wear out faster.
I was also going to link to Apple's page of best practices.
posted by supercres at 9:59 AM on November 26, 2013
Do you run on battery when you could be plugged in (e.g., at home)? Extra unnecessary cycles will make the battery wear out faster.
I was also going to link to Apple's page of best practices.
posted by supercres at 9:59 AM on November 26, 2013
Your problem is almost certainly chrome and all those browser tabs.
Upgrade to Mavericks and switch to Safari. Web pages these days tend to run a lot of JavaScript and flash, whether they are visible, or not. Safari on Mavericks has optimizations specifically designed to cut power consumption by background tabs. Mavericks has other power consumption optimizations as well.
posted by Good Brain at 10:02 AM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Upgrade to Mavericks and switch to Safari. Web pages these days tend to run a lot of JavaScript and flash, whether they are visible, or not. Safari on Mavericks has optimizations specifically designed to cut power consumption by background tabs. Mavericks has other power consumption optimizations as well.
posted by Good Brain at 10:02 AM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
I have the same computer (Early 2011 15 in macbook pro), and had the same problem. Two hour battery life basically no matter what, and also the thing was basically always HOT. I took it in to the genius bar, and the next day had a new logic board and 3x battery life. It had something to do with a wonky graphics card. YMMV.
posted by rockindata at 10:24 AM on November 26, 2013
posted by rockindata at 10:24 AM on November 26, 2013
Personally I'd take it to the genius bar first and see if they can find anything.
But unfortunately, batteries wear out and have to be replaced much sooner than the actual computer. I think I replaced mine around 3 years.
posted by radioamy at 10:28 AM on November 26, 2013
But unfortunately, batteries wear out and have to be replaced much sooner than the actual computer. I think I replaced mine around 3 years.
posted by radioamy at 10:28 AM on November 26, 2013
Something else that helps is installing a flash blocker app. Flash just drains batteries.
Also, I didn't know this, but my battery was shot. I took my Macbook Pro to the store for other issues, and he said my battery was shot. They put a new one in for free (under Applecare), but I think it only would've cost $70 or something.
posted by kbennett289 at 11:09 AM on November 26, 2013
Also, I didn't know this, but my battery was shot. I took my Macbook Pro to the store for other issues, and he said my battery was shot. They put a new one in for free (under Applecare), but I think it only would've cost $70 or something.
posted by kbennett289 at 11:09 AM on November 26, 2013
Yes, batteries fail and go bad. But before blaming the battery, I'd certainly want to know what your battery life looks like with nothing running on the machine.
Can you spare the machine for a few hours? If so, here's what I suggest: quit all applications. Quit all the "background" running stuff like Dropbox and Spotify. Turn off WiFi and disconnect any network cables or USB peripherals (printers, mice, whatever). Run Activity Monitor (or "top -o cpu" in a terminal window) and kill anything that is using more than 1% of CPU.
Go to System Prefs-> Energy saving and turn off Computer Sleep and Display Sleep. Now, with a full charge, disconnect from power, and start your timer. When do you hit the battery red line? When does it go into hibernation?
If this is about the same 2 or 2.5 hours, yeah, the battery is shot. (Or maybe a bad logic board, as per rockindata above?) If it is much longer, then it was one of those background application vampires. Or Chrome, probably.
Basically, you can first figure out for yourself whether it is a hardware fault or a software problem.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:46 AM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Can you spare the machine for a few hours? If so, here's what I suggest: quit all applications. Quit all the "background" running stuff like Dropbox and Spotify. Turn off WiFi and disconnect any network cables or USB peripherals (printers, mice, whatever). Run Activity Monitor (or "top -o cpu" in a terminal window) and kill anything that is using more than 1% of CPU.
Go to System Prefs-> Energy saving and turn off Computer Sleep and Display Sleep. Now, with a full charge, disconnect from power, and start your timer. When do you hit the battery red line? When does it go into hibernation?
If this is about the same 2 or 2.5 hours, yeah, the battery is shot. (Or maybe a bad logic board, as per rockindata above?) If it is much longer, then it was one of those background application vampires. Or Chrome, probably.
Basically, you can first figure out for yourself whether it is a hardware fault or a software problem.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:46 AM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
First, go into the Energy Saver control panel and make sure that 'Automatic graphics switching' is checked. The 15" 2011 MacBook Pro typically (always?) had two GPUs - a slow but low power drain integrated GPU, and a fast but hot and power hungry ATI GPU. When 'Automatic graphics switching' is not checked, it ALWAYS uses the power hungry GPU. You should probably also make sure that 'Put hard disks to sleep when possible' is checked in the 'Battery' section of that control panel.
I would strongly suggest upgrading to Mavericks unless you have a very good reason not to. Mavericks invested a lot of effort in optimizing for battery life, which will help. Equally helpful is that you can click on the Battery icon in the menu bar and check which apps are using the most power. Maybe you need to run those apps, maybe you should kill them.
A big problem that Mavericks may or may not fix is that (at least in previous OS releases) there are a number of very common Mac APIs that an app may use which will cause the laptop to switch over to the power hungry GPU. Things that you wouldn't even think would cause grief could wipe out your battery in a hurry, let alone a bunch of Chrome tabs running flash ads. I'm far from certain, but my sense is that Apple has rewritten a number of those APIs so that they are no longer as prone to switching off the integrated GPU now. And that Apple does a better job of at least indicating what apps are causing the problems.
posted by wotsac at 12:16 PM on November 26, 2013
I would strongly suggest upgrading to Mavericks unless you have a very good reason not to. Mavericks invested a lot of effort in optimizing for battery life, which will help. Equally helpful is that you can click on the Battery icon in the menu bar and check which apps are using the most power. Maybe you need to run those apps, maybe you should kill them.
A big problem that Mavericks may or may not fix is that (at least in previous OS releases) there are a number of very common Mac APIs that an app may use which will cause the laptop to switch over to the power hungry GPU. Things that you wouldn't even think would cause grief could wipe out your battery in a hurry, let alone a bunch of Chrome tabs running flash ads. I'm far from certain, but my sense is that Apple has rewritten a number of those APIs so that they are no longer as prone to switching off the integrated GPU now. And that Apple does a better job of at least indicating what apps are causing the problems.
posted by wotsac at 12:16 PM on November 26, 2013
That model of macbook pro is fraught with problems. It was the very first quad core model and seriously, all i've heard and seen of them is stuff like what rockindata describes. It actually seems like something that might go class action soon. Look at this google search. I'll also note that i've repaired other manufacturers laptops with this same series of ATI GPUs that were experiencing GPU failures and just other... odd shittiness.
Lots of people who have GPU issues report problems with the switchable graphics failing and sticking in "high performance" mode with the ATI gpu running.
It's also worth noting that my old mothballed 2009 macbook pro(the very first integrated battery model) is still at like.. 95% health with 700+ cycles. 86% isn't a TON lower, but it's lower than i've usually seen. Nonetheless, i don't think 86% is a bad battery at all. You should still get, well, 86% of the rated capacity so likely >6 hours with the kind of usage you're putting it through.
I honestly don't think you're doing anything here to cause this. You shouldn't have to quit that background stuff to get decent battery life, that's bullshit. download gfxcardstatus and force the integrated gpu and see what happens. Safari on mavericks should give you a _bit_ more battery life, but i was running chrome on mountain lion on my 17 incher and still getting 5-6 hours with lots of stuff running in the background like you have. If i quit everything and milked it i could get around 7 on mavericks. And, all metrics point to every generation of macbook pro having greater battery life than the previous one, so you should be getting MORE.
I really think this is some kind of logic board issue though, and that there's something endemic to this model of macbook pro that's just a fucking curse. Lots of people are having TONS of issues, and lots of them are just completely going tits up. So yea, genius bar. They're likely offer you a depot repair for $300 and some change if they don't just replace the mobo for free.
posted by emptythought at 4:47 PM on November 26, 2013
Lots of people who have GPU issues report problems with the switchable graphics failing and sticking in "high performance" mode with the ATI gpu running.
It's also worth noting that my old mothballed 2009 macbook pro(the very first integrated battery model) is still at like.. 95% health with 700+ cycles. 86% isn't a TON lower, but it's lower than i've usually seen. Nonetheless, i don't think 86% is a bad battery at all. You should still get, well, 86% of the rated capacity so likely >6 hours with the kind of usage you're putting it through.
I honestly don't think you're doing anything here to cause this. You shouldn't have to quit that background stuff to get decent battery life, that's bullshit. download gfxcardstatus and force the integrated gpu and see what happens. Safari on mavericks should give you a _bit_ more battery life, but i was running chrome on mountain lion on my 17 incher and still getting 5-6 hours with lots of stuff running in the background like you have. If i quit everything and milked it i could get around 7 on mavericks. And, all metrics point to every generation of macbook pro having greater battery life than the previous one, so you should be getting MORE.
I really think this is some kind of logic board issue though, and that there's something endemic to this model of macbook pro that's just a fucking curse. Lots of people are having TONS of issues, and lots of them are just completely going tits up. So yea, genius bar. They're likely offer you a depot repair for $300 and some change if they don't just replace the mobo for free.
posted by emptythought at 4:47 PM on November 26, 2013
Chrome has always been a massive memory and power suck for me. It might run Flash in the background just for fun, not sure. But it is consistently a high-CPU-bad-actor on any Mac I am unfortunate to run it on. Switching to an alternative browser may help — certainly, switching to Safari on Mavericks will help.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:01 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:01 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Came here to second gfxcardstatus. In general the 'integrated' gpu is what you want to use (it's fine even running Solidworks in a Windows 7 virtual PC on my MBP). If you want to use two displays you'll need the advanced graphics.
My MBP 8,2 is full of power-sucking stuff. The battery has 457 cycles on it and is at 92% of design capacity according to coconutBattery. I consistently get >5 hr on a charge doing "light" work and >3 hr running Solidworks.
posted by jet_silver at 5:25 PM on November 26, 2013
My MBP 8,2 is full of power-sucking stuff. The battery has 457 cycles on it and is at 92% of design capacity according to coconutBattery. I consistently get >5 hr on a charge doing "light" work and >3 hr running Solidworks.
posted by jet_silver at 5:25 PM on November 26, 2013
This happened to me 6 months into my 2012 MBP. I took it to the Genius Bar, they did some sort of reboot on the battery, problem fixed.
posted by mooza at 3:13 AM on November 27, 2013
posted by mooza at 3:13 AM on November 27, 2013
Response by poster: Update: not sure if this is a specific to me problem or a general problem with the app, but quitting spotify (even when I wasn't actively using it) doubled by battery life on its own. I guess I almost always have it running, so I learned about that. I've also been quitting chrome when I'm not using it, and those two things seems to have put me much closer to the range of "typical" battery life.
posted by R a c h e l at 7:09 AM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by R a c h e l at 7:09 AM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
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Personally, if I'm home, I'm plugged in. If I'm anywhere a plug is, I'm plugged in. Battery is for when there's no outlet.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:51 AM on November 26, 2013