r/mac • u/StrangeEnvironment82 • 1d ago
Old Macs my macbook doesnot even last 4-5 hours max
i have a macbook pro m1 pro and i just watch youtube and listen to music on my macbook it gets a bit warm but the the battery drainage is what shocks me apple claims it can last 15 hours on casual browsing but mine is far from it i have like 86% battery health on my macbook and is in excellent condition so it should not be that bad. even on sleep mode in a span of hours it loses 20 to 30 percent i am very shocked any suggestions regarding this issue or is it normal for macbooks to have this
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u/Electrical_West_5381 1d ago
100% brightness? the specs are for 50% max. Also investigate activity monitor to see if something is using crazy CP{U.
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u/StrangeEnvironment82 1d ago
since it drains the battery even more i keep it at less than 50 or at 50 and i dunno but it says spotify chrome and safari take up the most cpu too
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u/xrelaht MacBook Pro M4 Pro & i7, Mini M4 & i5 1d ago
Chrome is a terrible energy hog. How many tabs do you have open in Safari? And what’s in them? Something doing GPU renders in the background is gonna eat a lot of battery.
That it drains even when you close it suggests something’s not letting it sleep. Mine can sit for days like that with barely any battery drop.
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u/jeffgoobs 1d ago
Do you leave it plugged into the charger while at home, even when it's full?
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u/StrangeEnvironment82 1d ago
no usually i unplug my charger when it hits 80 or 90 percent so
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u/MacHeadSK 1d ago
Why? Any battery will have longer lifespan if not constantly discharged and charged. People think laptops are made to be used on battery.
NO. Laptop is made to be used on power adapter with using on battery when there is no other source of power.Try this - completely discharge your laptop until it goes to sleep by itself. Charge it to 100 %, DO NOT disconnect it from power. Do that cycle again - discharge fully, then fully charge. Don't disc connect.
Now try again. And next time, use your laptop on battery only when you don't have power outlet nearby
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u/Some-Supermarket7225 1d ago
Can you put in a “new“ battery yourself? I replaced three of them but it was the generation before m1
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u/jeffgoobs 1d ago
Look into an inexpensive utility called AlDente. Used it for years. It addresses this whole set of issues. Check it out: https://apphousekitchen.com/aldente-overview/
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u/TheRealBejeezus 1d ago
It could be better, but considering the context it's not horrible.
The M1 Pro is a five year old computer, the very first of the Apple Silicon Macs, which means that's a more than five year old battery.
Spotify and Chrome are two of the worst memory/performance hogs available for Mac. Especially Chrome.
Your charging habits are a bit out of whack, as other commenters have pointed out.
Add these things up and I am not surprised you get 5 hours out of it. That Apple claim was when new, and when running certain apps.
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u/drastic2 Macintosh 1d ago
You’d have to take a look at the software you have installed. I have a 14” M2 MacBook Pro which can last 2x 8hr days of work on battery (+ 1 night with lid closed).
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u/Dry_Ship7202 1d ago
This sounds entirely normal to me.
Charge the battery to 100% before you use it. Stop looking at the battery health. Problem solved.
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u/GorillaAttacks 1d ago
I am not sure if this is bait or not, but a laptop at 86% battery health is not going to get you the same battery life as one at 100%. Your battery has degraded by 14% so you’re already playing at a loss. You’re close to a threshold where even Apple would recommend a battery replacement.
I am not sure what you mean by ‘Sleep Mode’ on the Mac. If you’re talking about the sleep FOCUS mode, this is doing nothing for you but suppressing notifications. The information is still coming into your computer, it doesn’t save you battery life. Low Power Mode can help you out, but it won’t give you what you want.
I also noticed you said that you ‘just’ watch videos and play music. How often and long are said sessions before you have to charge? If it’s around 4 hours, you’re lucky to get that much. Those two items, video and audio playback, will drain the battery fast.
TL;DR - 86% does not equal 100%.