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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

#51

Post by nsxwolf »

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 recently carried an older 13 inch MacBook Pro around to a bunch of meetings in the city. I could not believe how heavy it started to feel after about a mile of total walking.

I welcome powerful laptops that are as light as possible.

Where are people working that they need a full day of untethered charge? I've never been to a client that didn't provide me with a power outlet.

4 or 5 hours of real world use for a developer workstation is just fine train commuting or sitting in a coffee shop in the morning.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#52

Post by sxg »

wlesieutre wrote: post #49
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.

Yeah, I'm having similar issues. Also having issues with multiple monitors. For some reason, one of the monitors will just flicker on and off or won't register at all.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#54

Post by rayiner »

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 don't really buy the "aren't they thin enough already" argument. I would've said my 15" MBP 2013 is small and light enough, but the 2016 model is notably more livable. The reduction in footprint (which also affects space for a battery) makes it a lot more manageable to spring for the 15". It's a pound lighter than the 13.3" polycarbonate MacBook I had a decade ago!

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#55

Post by tru3n0rth »

M_Grey wrote: post #45
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

Is that really a bad thing, though? It seems like it gives the consumer a choice between having an ultra-lightweight device, or compromising on that front in favor of more battery life and protection.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#56

Post by mgkimsal »

tracker1 wrote: post #34
mgkimsal wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or... arguably kept the 'same' battery life as previous devices, but added more battery draining 'stuff'. I had one, and returned it, partially for battery life. I'm doing a lot of development (intellij/phpstorm/virtualbox/etc). The battery life wasn't bad - at heavy use, I could get perhaps 6 hours of 'real' usage, but... It was $3700, which was a bit much for my blood given the battery shortcomings (and a few other…

I'd trade in a few ounces to get back user serviceable memory and hd/ssd upgrades.

agreed. the thinness was/is 'nice', but... would prefer hd swapping and memory mods.

if price went down based on thickness, maybe it would be more welcomed...

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#57

Post by Tehnix »

retreatguru wrote: post #48
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?

I on the other hand wouldn't have bought the Macbook Pro, but ended up doing so because it had now become the "Macbook Air with retina" that I'd been waiting on for ages (...although a shitton more expensive).

More battery would be nice, but thinness and espcially weight matter a great deal to me. I literally sometimes don't even have my charger with me, because that small amount of added weight annoys me a great deal. Although I'm probably a bit extreme in that regard.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#58

Post by rayiner »

retreatguru wrote: post #48
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?

The battery is 25% smaller. Not enough to go from not dismal to dismal. Likely the integrated GPU kicking in when it shouldn't.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#59

Post by Alex3917 »

marpstar wrote: post #38
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've had the same intermittent key issue on my keyboard since I got it. Opened a support ticket with Apple days after I received it but still haven't send it in. Joel Spolsky had the same issue[1], TWICE [2]. If there's anything wrong with these machines, it's the keyboard, not the things everyone who doesn't even own one thinks it is. [1]: https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/815245283818733569 [2]: https://twitter.co…

Yeah the space between the keys is wide enough that dust from the air can get in between them, but too narrow to get it out. And the precision levels seem to be high enough that that's all it takes to cause this issue. (At least according to the other folks experiencing this on Reddit.)

It's a shame because I really like the feel of typing on it, but if it keeps breaking that's a huge issue.

Re: New Macbook Pro power efficiency and time remaining

#60

Post by rayiner »

patryn20 wrote: post #17
cthalupa wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you controlling for the screen having a higher maximum brightness? I thought I was getting much worse battery life on my new MBP compared to my old one, but then I paid attention to screen brightness - when I level match the screens to the same level of brightness, I get the same battery life as my older one. I'm used to just jamming the screen to 100% brightness, so I've had to get used to keep it around 70% or…

To be honest no, I didn't. But I also don't generally change my screen brightness. So I'm not sure I ever even checked what it was at on the 2016.

The new display gets a lot brighter, and physics means it'll take power to do it. At full brightness most of the idle power usage is running the backlight.
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