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New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

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Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#41

Post by dperfect »

> Reducing mA (power draw) rather than increasing mAh (power storage) is the most effective way to increase battery life, which would go a long way to explain manufacturers’ obsession with thinness (which, in electrical terms often directly translates efficiency (i.e., smallness)) in their devices rather than just giving us something that endures.

I think it goes the other way; the manufacturers' obsession with thinness (for mostly aesthetic reasons) goes a long way to explain why they're focusing on reducing power draw.

It's great that they are reducing power draw, but by making everything thinner (usually translating into decreased power storage), those gains in efficiency are largely cancelled out when it comes to battery life in real-world usage.

When creating these things, the designers, engineers, and marketing people obviously have some kind of target battery life in mind, and it seems as though the target is always "about the same battery life as the last generation," whereas there's no end to the number of compromises and engineering efforts that go toward cutting 1 mm off one dimension.

And of course, the tech bloggers all go nuts about how thin the newest generation is compared to the last, and people buy computers based on their recommendations.

Aren't these things thin enough already, at least for professionals? Why not go for some truly earth-shattering battery life on one of these laptops? Do people really care more about that 1 mm than they do about potentially hours of additional battery life?

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#42

Post by greglindahl »

patryn20 wrote: post #25
greglindahl wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. I develop on a beefy server, and give everyone who works with me beefy servers, too.

I'm often highly mobile with unreliable connectivity (think back country Alaska/Washington/Missouri/etc). Remoting is not a reliable option while traveling. Now when I'm working from home, I have other workstations I can connect to. And if the connectivity on the road is decent, I do have equipment I can connect to. However I generally find my most productive workflow is all local. Which is why I was doubly disappoin…

Have you ever considered carrying a battery? You have the classic use-case for having one.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#43

Post by JustSomeNobody »

Alex3917 wrote: post #24

I love the new 2016 MBP, and after using it think most of the purported issues are BS. That said, there is one very real issue that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: because of how thin they are, many of the minor issues that could previously be fixed in the Apple Store now require sending it out. I had an intermittently working key on my keyboard and took it in for something I assumed would take half an hour to fix…

That's bad. I am nowhere near an Apple Store and needed a repair on my 2014 rMPB. Apple overnighted me a box. I packed it and it was picked up that evening around 8pm on a Wednesday. They got the computer fixed and back to me by Friday morning. I would be very unhappy to wait 13 days.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#45

Post by M_Grey »

dperfect wrote: post #41

> Reducing mA (power draw) rather than increasing mAh (power storage) is the most effective way to increase battery life, which would go a long way to explain manufacturers’ obsession with thinness (which, in electrical terms often directly translates efficiency (i.e., smallness)) in their devices rather than just giving us something that endures. I think it goes the other way; the manufacturers' obsession with thinn…

Then, irony of ironies, people put their ultra-thin devices in cases to protect them, carry multiple batteries for them, or external charging bricks, and my favorite... the oversized extended battery.

Throws hands up in air

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#47

Post by Alex3917 »

monkmartinez wrote: post #36
Alex3917 wrote: post #24

I love the new 2016 MBP, and after using it think most of the purported issues are BS. That said, there is one very real issue that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: because of how thin they are, many of the minor issues that could previously be fixed in the Apple Store now require sending it out. I had an intermittently working key on my keyboard and took it in for something I assumed would take half an hour to fix…

You love your new computer that has been in the shop for 13 days? May I ask, when did you buy it?

It came in early December, and I dropped it off Feb 2nd. So just a few days outside the 40 day RMA window, though had it failed earlier I'd probably still have opted for them to repair it.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#48

Post by retreatguru »

dperfect wrote: post #41

> Reducing mA (power draw) rather than increasing mAh (power storage) is the most effective way to increase battery life, which would go a long way to explain manufacturers’ obsession with thinness (which, in electrical terms often directly translates efficiency (i.e., smallness)) in their devices rather than just giving us something that endures. I think it goes the other way; the manufacturers' obsession with thinn…

Precisely this. If the 2016 MacBook Pro I bought had been a tad thicker I would not have noticed. But I returned because of the dismal battery life under moderate load. Much worse than the previous generation. Did they even test this machine in the wild?

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#49

Post by wlesieutre »

Alex3917 wrote: post #24

I love the new 2016 MBP, and after using it think most of the purported issues are BS. That said, there is one very real issue that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: because of how thin they are, many of the minor issues that could previously be fixed in the Apple Store now require sending it out. I had an intermittently working key on my keyboard and took it in for something I assumed would take half an hour to fix…

Curious if anyone else had constant sleep/wake failures?

I otherwise love the computer, but when I sleep it overnight it inevitably shuts down and has to restart in the morning. I'm sending in the crash report daily just in case they actually use them and maybe it'll get fixed.

Not a huge deal since computers boot so fast and I always save things, but it's still annoying.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#50

Post by patryn20 »

greglindahl wrote: post #42
patryn20 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm often highly mobile with unreliable connectivity (think back country Alaska/Washington/Missouri/etc). Remoting is not a reliable option while traveling. Now when I'm working from home, I have other workstations I can connect to. And if the connectivity on the road is decent, I do have equipment I can connect to. However I generally find my most productive workflow is all local. Which is why I was doubly disappoin…

Have you ever considered carrying a battery? You have the classic use-case for having one.

Actually I have been looking to buy one for extra on the road capacity. Really I'm just trying to decide what my work machine(s) will be moving forward. I think I'm going to limp by with my current MBPro and Dell Precision combo until the next MBPro refresh is out.
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