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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

#211

Post by solidr53 »

fastball wrote: post #165
camillomiller wrote: post #27

I think a lot of people are talking about the new MBP as if they had one. It's 2017 and a too many power users still base their opinion simply on specs divination -- that is, theoretical musings about this and that component will perform. Especially with Apple, it should be clear that the whole thing is much more complicated than a 1+1 based on a spec list.

I think that's been clear to anyone without their head in the sand for a while now. It's the same with iOS vs. Android. Early Android proponents did nothing but talk up the specs and the "customizability". The reality is, iPhones have always had such great hardware/software integration that they made using touch screens feel like you were interacting with the UI physically. You press a button, the phone almost immedi…

Don't even start....

This must be a troll

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#212

Post by snowwrestler »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #87
snowwrestler wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mac laptops these days are built with backlights strong enough to compete with daylight. In typical working conditions, 100% is way overkill. For max long term comfort, your display should be no brighter than the ambient light levels. Otherwise--if the display is way brighter--your pupils will have to contract when you look at the screen, and dilate when you look away. Your pupils are controlled by muscles and like a…

In a dark room I find the minimum brightness much too bright. Weird feature to wish for, but I think they need to crank the minimum brightness down by at least 25%.

Agreed. There is a setting that inverts colors, which darkens most text areas in websites and apps. It screws up pictures though, obviously.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#213

Post by IMcD23 »

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…

I have now had mine in twice with key issues. Out of the box, my 'b' key would type 'bb' about 60% of the time instead of just 'b'. 15-day repair that involved apparently replacing the entire front panel, trackpad, battery, and a few other things.

3 weeks after that repair, my 'o' key stopped responding unless I hit it in the bottom left corner. Took it in and they fixed it in-store. Said that many people are having keyboard issues.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#214

Post by camdenlock »

izym wrote: post #101
camdenlock wrote: post #79

When I bring my 2016 MBP into the office, it runs out of battery near the end of the day, and I have to plug it in for those final 2 or 3 hours. Very satisfied. My colleague with a new Surface Book has been shaking his fist at me, wishing he hadn't listened to the FUD and left the Applesphere. Apparently he gets frustratingly bad battery life on his SB. (To be fair, though, the SB's display ejection hardware is just…

What do you mean by "considering these workloads"? It sounds like a fairly light workload.

Compiling codebases, bringing services up/down in Docker containers, testing client-server workflows, etc.

These activities, especially when repeated throughout the day, can be quite computationally-expensive, taking a significant toll on the machine's resources. These aren't light workloads, they are fairly heavy.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#215

Post by astrodust »

tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #162
astrodust wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first generation "Retina" machines were not without their drawbacks either, but those were ironed out quickly enough. If you update every single year you'll be intimately aware of these problems. If, like most, you're on a 3-5 year cycle it's largely irrelevant. People used to buy cars every two to three years as well, but now it's common to retain them for a lot longer unless you're leasing.

If you are on a 3–5 year cycle it is relevant because you would be stuck with it for 3–5 years. Unless you like the hassle of migrating to your new MacBook Pro, test it for a week, and then return it. If you are unlucky, you can’t migrate back because the newly upgraded macOS, iTunes library or Photos library is not compatible with your old macOS, iTunes library or Photos library. So you won’t be able to migrate back…

You have 14 days to decide you don't like it and take it back, no penalty, which is nice. Plus if you're on a 3-5 year cycle skipping a year is no big deal.

It's also unlikely you're OS locked on a 3-year old machine. My 2012 MacBook Pro still runs current versions of macOS.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#216

Post by rasz_pl »

School-Cotton wrote: post #32
rasz_pl wrote: post #15

Its very efficient _at doing NOTHING_. Start using CPU and its 1 hour max.

The overwhelming majority of the time, most users' CPUs are idle. Idle drain matters.

Macbook Pro used to be for Power Users, not 'most users'. Power users do not drop $3K on a laptop to let it sit idle, they compile stuff, run multiple VMs, convert videos etc.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#217

Post by sfilipov »

philliphaydon wrote: post #77
retreatguru wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The few people I know who upgraded from their 2012/2015 model to 2016 have complained about battery being worse :/

I wonder if all reports of poor battery life are from users of MBP with touch bar. It is interesting that the non-touch bar MBP has a ~10% bigger battery, half the TDP under sustained load and doesn't need to drive the ARM processor + touch bar. Thus better battery life than MBP with touch bar.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#218

Post by 6t6t6t6 »

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…

I really do care about weight and dimensions. Before I used to buy the typical 3.5Kg laptops. When you carry an Acer around, you can feel the weight in your backpack, even when you walk around the office to go to a meeting. I switched to a MBA and I feel it like if it was a paper notebook. It is a huge difference. A perfect laptop for me would have the weight an dimensions of a MBA with almost the power of a MBP.

As for battery life, I need enough battery to be able to go to meetings without having to take the charger with me. It's not usual for me to work 8 hours without having a charger near to me. Also, as far as I know, the new Macs with USB-C, can be charged from an external battery pack.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#219

Post by akvadrako »

ethagknight wrote: post #175
akvadrako wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be due to a specific USB device. I had the issue once with what seemed to be a USB-C to USB-A adapter and a high power draw device. Many others have reported issues with external drives.

More anecdata because facts are sparse... My 15" late 2016 MBP will not properly wake from sleep when I use my Dell USB 3.0 dock. I need to test further but it may be more directly due to the monitor plugged into the dock. EDIT: on the topic of the article, my battery life is great, the whole computer is great EXCEPT for having to keep activity monitor open to keep an eye on which GPU I'm using. the discrete GPU will…

I agree that the heavily load dependent battery life is a pain, but one suggestion is to get iStat Menus. The CPU usage widget can show a icon to indicate if the integrated (i) or discrete (A) GPU is being used.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#220

Post by yaseer »

glhaynes wrote: post #204
yaseer wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're conflating a 'professional' as a white-collar job classification, and a 'professional' computer user. The macbook pro is a computer for professional computer users. A professional philosophy professor has no need of a macbook pro, a professional video-editor does. Being a 'professional; in your white-collar classification, doesn't imply that you're a professional computer user. It's not an insular definition,…

A professional philosophy professor has no need of a macbook pro, a professional video-editor does. I don't see why. A philosophy professor might prefer a larger screen and a faster CPU for their web browsing and document editing. And, while a professional video-editor would understandably gripe about it, I have no doubt they could get their work done—if they had to—on a 12" MacBook. Video editors used to get fine wo…

I'm sure you can find some philosophy professors that will appreciate bigger screens and faster computers; that wasn't the point.

This is about the semantics of the word 'professional' and avoiding confusing a 'professional' in the white-collar-job sense, and a 'professional computer user'.

Set by whom? Where?

Well, apple don't define their terms formally in a Dictionary, they're subject to interpretation. I would say they've historically marketed the Macbook pro as a computer for 'professional computer users', not 'professional' in the white-collar vs blue-collar sense of the word.

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