MacBook Battery Time Remaining • Hacker News Board

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#21

Post by SFJulie » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:26 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #10

Have they never heard of averages? Just show time remaining based on last 5 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, and all data. Or does apple not like that kind of "complexity" and wants just a single number?

Average makes bad estimations for non linear phenomenon. And nothing can be done about it.

Math 101.

And what could be better? Well, nothing we don't have the math for that problem in the first place. If we had, we could predict weather accurately with a time window bigger than 24hours...

24 hours is the accuracy weather forecasts are having since decades even with Moore laws multiplying the power of processors...

Even by throwing more money and engineers at them some problems cannot be solved.

The only way to average non linear phenomenon is to scale the problem to an extra large population or make prediction on ultra short time.

Actually I guess that if users were seeing there battery lifetime sucked dramatically every time they use WiFi, or GPU it would create an adverse effect on computer users of making them anxious (human beings are weird animals) and some of them would use less their computers.

Imagine if SUV were showing an estimation of mileage dropping sharply when you make a big acceleration? People would stop accelerating like mad men, hence it would kill the SUV/sport car market. You don't want to kill a really good and rational economy, do you?

Sellers don't want you to be economical in your use of anything, else it kills the market as sure as a pair of crocs lasts for years.

We live in an era where consumers and producers want to use moar resources, moar energy and feel good about it, not anxious.

Does the planet have limited resources, is it irresponsible?

No! Let's throw more money and engineers at a problem and we surely can solve it.

I guess immortality and super powers are just around the corner. lol.

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#22

Post by hellofunk » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:26 PM UTC

logicallee wrote: post #19

hellofunk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2015 model, bought brand new a couple weeks ago. Apple made the smart move of still selling last year's model as part of the current product lineup.

So you would get 9 hours on this year's model (likely enough for you.) This year's has give or take a 75 watt hour battery while last year's has give or take 100 watt hours, so to arrive at the above figure I quoted three quarters of what you reported.

Perhaps. Some reports by varied users really do claim improved battery life on the new 2016 model, so perhaps, especially with this last macOS update a few days ago, I'd actually get more than 12 hours now. Who knows, I ain't buying this first iteration of the 2016 model. But when I gave it a try at the store, I must admit I liked the feel a lot. The battery and graphics issues, and my unwillingness to deal with dongles (for now), and the extra 400 euros, led me to the proven 2015 design.

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#23

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:37 PM UTC

jakobegger wrote: post #5

The time remaining indicator was really useful. It was more than accurate enough. It allowed me to see at a glance if I had enough charge to finish the movie, if it would last for the rest of the train ride, etc. If I saw that the battery wouldn't last as long as I had expected, closing Slack would fix it. The problem with the time remaining indicator was that people started reporting the displayed time as actual run…

> The battery of the new MacBook Pro is significantly smaller than the predecessor's

I think I heard that Apple originally intended to have a different battery design than the one they shipped, and had to revert at the last minute. Perhaps it would have better battery life had that not happened.

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#24

Post by hellofunk » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:46 PM UTC

logicallee wrote: post #19

hellofunk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2015 model, bought brand new a couple weeks ago. Apple made the smart move of still selling last year's model as part of the current product lineup.

So you would get 9 hours on this year's model (likely enough for you.) This year's has give or take a 75 watt hour battery while last year's has give or take 100 watt hours, so to arrive at the above figure I quoted three quarters of what you reported.

By the way 3/4 the battery wattage does not mean 3/4 the battery time. The new 2016 supposedly uses lower power consumption, especially with the display itself (which is where much of a battery goes). Which is why many people are getting longer battery life from a smaller battery (if you believe many of the reports out there, including by tech journals).

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#25

Post by tajen » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:49 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #8

jakobegger wrote: post #5

The time remaining indicator was really useful. It was more than accurate enough. It allowed me to see at a glance if I had enough charge to finish the movie, if it would last for the rest of the train ride, etc. If I saw that the battery wouldn't last as long as I had expected, closing Slack would fix it. The problem with the time remaining indicator was that people started reporting the displayed time as actual run…

> Of course, the problem is that most likely battery life actually is lower. The battery of the new MacBook Pro is significantly smaller than the predecessor's, but the components don't use significantly less power Exactly. Apple has always designed their devices to a battery life target. But as "wireless web" and "movie playback" both depend on use cases that get more and more optimized as Apple improve their softwa…

It's natural that Apple designs a battery target for one usage. It's totally ok to tell '10hrs watching a movie', with actual figures being lower when doing other activities. PC competitors never ever hit the target, even for movie-watching, so we were perfectly happy to have 10 actual hours for one usecase.

Of course I don't get what customers gain from .07 nineteenth of an inch less of thickness. Next version Apple will provide a thinner macbook, with no battery, and the power supply will come from an NFC table...

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#26

Post by herbst » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:53 PM UTC

tajen wrote: post #25

kalleboo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course, the problem is that most likely battery life actually is lower. The battery of the new MacBook Pro is significantly smaller than the predecessor's, but the components don't use significantly less power Exactly. Apple has always designed their devices to a battery life target. But as "wireless web" and "movie playback" both depend on use cases that get more and more optimized as Apple improve their softwa…

It's natural that Apple designs a battery target for one usage. It's totally ok to tell '10hrs watching a movie', with actual figures being lower when doing other activities. PC competitors never ever hit the target, even for movie-watching, so we were perfectly happy to have 10 actual hours for one usecase. Of course I don't get what customers gain from .07 nineteenth of an inch less of thickness. Next version Apple…

There are several non apple products for years with way better battery life. My 6yo T420 easily makes 12-14 hours on Wifi. More if i disable stuff.

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#27

Post by Jack000 » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:54 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #2

Bring on the machine learning battery gauges?

if it runs on the GPU it will have to take its own power draw into account

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#28

Post by TazeTSchnitzel » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 12:55 PM UTC

frankomonster wrote: post #3

Love that Apple keeps adding "features" like this. Not even SlimBatteryMonitor still works thanks to this update. What a time to be alive, watching Apple choke on their own arrogance. Their one shot at a big comeback is the iPhone 10th anniversary edition. If it is as much of a smash hit as Robert Scoble keeps heralding then Apple will be golden for another decade.

Maybe it'll be a special collector's piece, like the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh.

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#29

Post by herbst » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

logicallee wrote: post #19

hellofunk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2015 model, bought brand new a couple weeks ago. Apple made the smart move of still selling last year's model as part of the current product lineup.

So you would get 9 hours on this year's model (likely enough for you.) This year's has give or take a 75 watt hour battery while last year's has give or take 100 watt hours, so to arrive at the above figure I quoted three quarters of what you reported.

Have they fixed the issue that batteries dont stop charging once they are full? Otherwise those 9 hours wont be 9 houra for long ether.

Re: MacBook Battery Time Remaining

#30

Post by gambiting » Sun, Dec 25, 2016, 1:01 PM UTC

tekklloneer wrote: post #6

I know why apple hasn't, but I'd kill for a $1500 macbook stuffed into a macbook pro case, and all of that spare space taken up by battery. Give me a core-m, 8GB RAM, a high res display, and a massive battery.

I would also settle for a battery pack which charges the MacBook at full speed over USB. I know the latest one charges from battery packs, but they can usually provide 15-20W, so it's a bit from the charger's 65 or 85W.