M1 MacBook poor battery life?

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Batman

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#290342 4-Nov-2021 16:52

I bought the new MacBook (14" base model) thinking it will give superior battery life to my Windows laptop but I'm using about 15%-20% every 2 hours just browsing the net on Safari. not even playing music or watching videos.

the only thing open are safari, finder, email, contacts, App Store. I noticed chrome was open for some reason but it wasn't using it, there are no pages launched.

I don't think it is indexing anything as I've been using it for a few days now (off and on, as I also have a windows laptop).

Do you have to uninstall chrome to get better battery life or is leaving it un-launched ok.

Brightness bang on 50%.

I do have something called SpeakerAmp installed but it's not running at the moment.

Slightly dim display + low power mode are both ticked.

lxsw20

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#2807609 4-Nov-2021 17:04

You get free phone support with Apple with a new purchase, they are very helpful. I'd give them a call if you're concerned about it.

mike

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#2807611 4-Nov-2021 17:07

15%-20% every 2 hours is 10-13 hours and right on spec "Up to 11 hours wireless web"

The MacBook Air and the 13" Pro are rated 15 and 17 hours web browsing so you sacrifice a lot with the M1 Pro

What Windows laptop have you got and what does it get?

I use a USB-C PD external battery when I can't be near an outlet. Click on the battery icon top right near the click and it will tell you any apps "using significant energy"

Batman

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#2807648 4-Nov-2021 18:30

it's now 3 hrs and 25-30%, sorry I thought it got 17 hrs, pretty sure it said 17hrs when I thought about buying it!

PC not sure sorry will do a test one day when undisturbed by the kiddos :)

CYaBro

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#2807651 4-Nov-2021 18:32

Batman:

it's now 3 hrs and 25-30%, sorry I thought it got 17 hrs, pretty sure it said 17hrs when I thought about buying it!

PC not sure sorry will do a test one day when undisturbed by the kiddos :)

Apple site says this for the new 14" MacBook Pro M1:

Up to 17 hours Apple TV app movie playback

Up to 11 hours wireless web

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Linux

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#2807658 4-Nov-2021 18:48

All hours are rated ' Up to ' the battery life you are getting is in spec!

Handle9

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#2807670 4-Nov-2021 19:49

Linux: All hours are rated ' Up to ' the battery life you are getting is in spec!

Apple tends to be more accurate in the real world than the windows laptop makers specs.

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#2807707 4-Nov-2021 20:46

Handle9:
Linux: All hours are rated ' Up to ' the battery life you are getting is in spec!

Apple tends to be more accurate in the real world than the windows laptop makers specs.

Have to agree

CourtJester

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#2825135 6-Dec-2021 16:54

before questioning power usage, it is useful to monitor the energy panel in Activity monitor.

Chrome is known as an energy hog, as is Safari ( to a lesser degree). the more tabs you have open the more energy will be used.
Also every extension, and browser plugin will drain extra battery power, as will user installed plugins and user startup applications (eg temperature monitor software like iStatistica.app (3%energy usage at times).

Updating to the most recent version of MacOS also usually has a positive impact of energy efficiency. (but Monterey is still pretty much in public beta stage - even the release version 12.0.1 as of 6 Dec 2021 has major issues. For some folk doing a full shutdown, startup from cold (not sleep) solves some issues.

Activity Monitor.app in the Utilities Folder may indicate a number of high energy use system applications, some of these like spotlight indexing can be genuine energy hogs initially after software or Mac OS installs/updates. But after they are done, their energy use becomes barely above zero. Leaving your MAcbook, in sleep mode, plugged in overnight, most nights means these processes can occur when you are not relying on battery.
however, leaving your MacBook in sleep mode, not plugged in overnight can run your battery down due to normal and necessary internal automatic housekeeping processes, and mail downloads.

with care you will find you can slightly exceed the Apple specified battery endurance. but not by much. and this requires a certain ruthlessness shutting down every unnecessary application, extension, and usr process.
elimination of every Intel (Rosetta2) app also has a positive impact on energy use.

Part of the trick to max endurance is to ensure that you CPU only uses efficiency cores, and only occasional high power cores. and the minimum of wifi, with bluetooth turned off, and GPU barely used. So pre-downloading videos better than streamed. some ad blockers can reduce Safari energy use, but that is a mixed bag. and closing unused safari tabs every single time.
and turnoff keyboard lighting.
as people using iPhones have discovered, experimenting with different screen illumination levels can have a huge impact. It might be that on your MacBook setting the screen to 49% has a big impact, but no difference at all between 52% and 74%.
also in hot or cold environments battery life will suffer. 18-21º is likely optimal.

darylblake

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#2825136 6-Dec-2021 16:57

M1 Pro user here.

I had 97% battery this morning when I started work. Have 38% battery now.

The new MacBooks are absolutely fantastic?