Michal Ždanský For almost a year now, a large number of older MacBook users have been struggling with a serious problem that came with OS X Lion, namely battery life. It's surprising how little we've heard about this problem, but it's not exactly an anomaly.
If you own a MacBook that was released before the summer of 2011 and that included Snow Leopard when you bought it, you might be in the same boat. What actually happened? Many users lost a significant amount of battery life by installing OS X Lion. While Snow Leopard's battery life was a comfortable 6-7 hours, Lion was 3-4 hours at best. On the official Apple forum you can find quite a few threads describing this problem, the longest of them has 2600 posts. Several such questions about reduced stamina have appeared in our forum as well.
Users are reporting a 30-50% drop in battery life and are struggling to find a solution. Unfortunately, it's hard to find without a reason. So far, the best theory is that OS X Lion is simply running a lot of background processes, such as iCloud syncing, that are draining valuable power from the laptop. Apple knows about the problem and even promised a fix, but it hasn't arrived even after four decimal updates.
[do action=”quote”]When I consider the reduced endurance as well as the speed and responsiveness of the system after installing Lion, I am not afraid to compare OS X 10.7 to Windows Vista.[/do]
The batteries that Apple supplies in their laptops are amazing in their own way. I personally own a 2010 MacBook Pro and after a year and three quarters the battery is holding on to 80% of its original capacity. At the same time, the batteries of competing laptops already have a signed part after the same period. I'm even more surprised that Apple let such a mess go unnoticed. Considering the reduced endurance as well as the speed and responsiveness of the system after installing Lion, I'm not afraid to compare OS X 10.7 to Windows Vista. Since installing the system, I have experienced frequent crashes where the system does not respond at all, or merrily rotates its "beach balloon".
My hope and the hope of other users with the same problem is Mountain Lion, which should be released in less than a month. People who had the opportunity to test the developer preview reported that their endurance increased by up to three hours with the last build, or they regained what they lost with Lion. Is this supposed to be the fix Apple promised? The Lion is completely uneaten when it comes to battery life. I hope the upcoming feline will switch to a more moderate energy diet.
"When I consider the reduced endurance as well as the speed and responsiveness of the system after installing Lion, I perceive OS X 10.6 as Windows Vista." Windows Vista.” ?
Right. It also occurred to me after reading it, although I have to say that since late 2011 and a clean installation of 10.7.4 I find the OS usable... it's a shame when ML is behind the door, which I have on a 2010 MBP and I have to say that since a non-functioning network drivers after waking up are ML svizny..
That's right, it should have been 10.7
Otherwise, of course, I agree with the article. The battery of the Macbook Air 2010 was familiar, and perhaps since system 10.7.3 it has stabilized a bit.
beautiful, crush the system and force a fix with an upgrade for money...
Please?
I had a problem with both the battery and freezing, a clean install solved everything. But it's true that I've been moving my user account since the days of Panther...
Would the author like to go through the article and correct the confusion in the numbering and labeling of MacOS X versions, which he has committed more than once in this article?
As far as I know, there was one wrong numbering, that has been fixed.
At the moment I have a MacBook Mid 2010 and I haven't noticed any problems with battery life. I have Lion.
The only problem that came up with Lion was the occasional splashing of graphics on the external monitor. But even this problem has been reduced to a minimum after an update, and lately I don't remember colors, icons, etc. getting messed up on the external monitor.
I have a MBP 13″ mid 2010 and after installing Lion, the durability is still comparable to Snow Leopard, no drops or fluctuations... It seems that a lot of users have a million applications installed, which until now the developers have not been able to adapt to Lion...
I now have the updated Macbook pro 13″ (mid 2012) and I must say that I am quite similar. It's enough if I'm on the Internet and the duration is around 3 hours. Yesterday I played Diablo3 with a friend and my endurance dropped to 2 hours!!! This really doesn't look like their promised 7 hours. I'm really curious how it will last the whole day at school. I was a little disappointed.
You don't really mean that you expected those 7 hours while playing Dibal, do you?
I expected 7h while chatting on the Internet.
When playing Diablo, about 4-5 hours.
When playing Diablo 3 max. 1-2 hours. 4-5 not by chance.
I have a Prochko 17″ early 2011 and the battery is as good as ever, but pretty good, I rather had long startups of applications, but this was solved by a PRAM reset
I have a mid2012 MBP 13″ with the first mountain lion beta installed. On average, I drive for 3 to 3,5 hours on a battery. BUT: I have Dropbox, Sparrow Mail, DavMail, ColorMunki Display (for external monitor calibration), AirPlay, BetterSnapTool, Clocks, iMessage, Skype running in the background, just a bunch of stuff on two monitors. Instead of a classic hard drive, I stuck an SSD in it. According to some information, the SSD drains the CPU significantly more than the normal disk, so it can be behind the shortening of the battery life on a single charge... For a 2-year-old notebook with all that ballast running in the background in mountain lion on the SSD, I think it's a pretty decent condition …
I have a mid2012 MBP 13″ with the first mountain lion beta installed. On average, I drive for 3 to 3,5 hours on a battery. BUT: I have Dropbox, Sparrow Mail, DavMail, ColorMunki Display (for external monitor calibration), AirPlay, BetterSnapTool, Clocks, iMessage, Skype running in the background, just a bunch of stuff on two monitors. Instead of a classic hard drive, I stuck an SSD in it. According to some information, the SSD drains the CPU significantly more than the normal disk, so it can be behind the shortening of the battery life on a single charge... For a 2-year-old notebook with all that ballast running in the background in mountain lion on the SSD, I think it's a pretty decent condition …
I was thinking mid2010!!! I'm sorry, I'm just doing the honor at work and I'm kind of used to 2012 :D
For now, I stayed with the original Snow Leopard on the Macbook and waited for Lion to be tweaked into a usable form, I think that has already happened after many updates. But Apple already has a new Mountain Lion system up its sleeve, so I'm waiting for it. I was looking forward to the new features, but according to the listed specifications, it seems to be in vain. E.g. Only 2011 and newer machines will support AirPlay! So there will be a situation quite similar to iOS6, buy a new iron or you're out of luck.
Well, I read somewhere that Apple plans to release a new OS every year. Based on history, SL was usable only after major modifications, Lion about a year later...
of course, Apple's strategy will be the same as with iOS, it will release a new system that will not support old machines and will thus force you to throw away a working laptop every two years... (which would have been OK 10 years ago, but since the days of 2 cores, PCs have developed, too he didn't change)...respectively he changed, but the PC you bought 5 years ago for your FB, website and Excel is just as good as a new machine...so the vast majority of people will need an upgrade...if they don't want a new OS.)
The question then arises: Do we need an "alternative" that is beginning to resemble the mainstream?
And how will Apple respond when disgruntled users simply stop buying? Which is unfortunately a utopia..
People will not stop buying something that is a phenomenon. Apple is still a long way from the tipping point.
Megaber: I would say most people just need the opposite. As a designer and photographer, I need to continuously upgrade my HW, so I definitely welcome development. Where there was a Macbook 2 years ago and where there is a new retina cannot be compared. For me, a clear choice = a clear investment. You can do better with better and that's it. You don't need a 50k machine for excel, fb and the like. I bought MBP full blast a year ago and now I'm going full blast again. The difference in selling a MBP2011 and buying a MBP 2012 is pretty minimal, for a person who has it to work with. So a replacement every 2 years is fine.
You did not understand at all that we are talking about "software" here, i.e. a constantly new and new OS where certain parts, e.g. Mail, you cannot install on your 1-year-old machine and the same old OS, if it happens to be really improved, Apple makes approvals and can it's easy for him to be kicked in the ass by users from day to day for such innovations where last year trumpets were blowing, drums were pounding, everything was Amazing and 200 new improvements, half of which will disappear in the next Amazing system and the other half is variously fucked up and in addition not a single system (except Tyger) was even properly debugged and YAY we have a new system!!
Mountain Lion is basically another one-tenth version of Lion, it is not a fundamental change and therefore there is probably no reason to worry about the lack of debugging of the first versions (I will leave aside that Lion is unfortunately still far from being debugged according to my standards). However, such a frequent cycle for the desktop OS is just a carryover of other ways from Apple's current cash cow – the mobile platform, without any practical benefit for users. Personally, I don't understand why I should have a system for a year and then immediately rush to "some other version". I'll try ML, because Lion isn't great. If ML disappoints me, which I expect, since it is Lion with a couple of extras, I will definitely return to the last unbroken system, i.e. SL. In the meantime, I will secretly hope that iOS toys will end up in the abyss of history and I will again be able to enjoy a stable and fully functional desktop system (unfortunately, in Apple's presentation, this is probably a utopia).
so the reason why you do it is simple...apple just keeps paying for system updates, they just name it as a new system...
You speak from my heart. Agreement. The last good OS was SL. Then just a shiny idiot. (I'm not counting iCloud, which is crap for my needs - even though it's free.) Note: I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and don't need anything else. Purely personal opinion.
You stumped me a bit with AirPlay, so I did a little internet research. The official website does not mention AirPlay Mirroring restrictions anywhere, while QuickTime X's quick export to H.264 clearly states that this only applies to Macs from 2011 and newer. The only solid proof is the fact that the developer preview doesn't work on older models, but it's still beta, so nothing is definitive. We will have the final answer in a month.
Hi, well, I wouldn't praise the batteries from Apple very much, because I recently had them inflated. So I have a slightly different question for you... Buy the original battery or not? I have a MB 13 Unibody (2008) and I found a Whitenergy battery for 1600 on the eureka neorigo (probably the only alternative that can be found there) which seems more acceptable than the original one for 3000. Do any of you have experience? The opinion that the original is not that interesting to me, rather the experience with neorigo. Thanks
A friend recommended that he used a neorigo from ebay - same or better durability.
So I gave my friend a MB from 2008 and it's been running fine for about a month now :-)
I use a suitable non-origo battery from eBay
I can only say a positive experience and even better endurance... :(
I knew why I didn't want it, but it's true that I probably won't enjoy many new things on the MacBook from 2006. :(
3 years old Macbook Air now with Lion battery 90% battery life at least the same as if I bought a new regular laptop from a competitor. It is absolutely impossible to compare with the competition, there the battery will fail within two years. Unprecedented, great. Absolute satisfaction. If the endurance of ML was even longer, it would be science fiction :)
I have a Pac Book Pro Mid 2010 and I also bought Lion for it and I manage my office work on a WiFi connection for about 7 hours...I haven't noticed any decrease in endurance (apart from the natural wear of the battery, which is adequate)
I have a MacBook white mid-2010 and the battery life at school, when I just write in pages or occasionally google something, it is a little over 10.7.4 hours on 9, which is great. In the afternoon I leave with about 70% battery, sometimes up to 80%! With this MacBook, the promised 10-hour battery life at the time of purchase has now been almost two years. Another thing that bothers me is the disproportionate heating even if I just start a video on YouTube. The use of the processor may be only 5% and the MacBook is already noticeably heating up. He didn't do that on SL and not even on Lion from the beginning. Another problem I would see is that pesky "beach balloon" that I see much more often than on the SL.
I have an aluminum MacBook from late 2008 and the battery is about 60% even with Lion, which is quite a miracle
Well, I do not know. I have a 15 MacBook Pro 2011. The newer 2.4Ghz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD.
I installed on it at the beginning of the year 10.7., now 10.7.4 and I'm getting more and more pissed off.
System response is worse than 10.6.8, I still see the rainbow wheel. Why?
I ran the system through Onyx, there was a slight improvement, but not much.
When I view multiple photos in Preview it crashes, quick preview with space bar sometimes doesn't respond, I have to restart Finder.
From time to time, InDesign CS 5.5 crashes. For example, when rotating multiple photos in Preview, it cuts out completely - sometimes. The slowness of loading photos in Lightroom is tragic.
I hate games like COD. And please with an AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB graphics card.
All this did not happen on 10.6.8 with an older MBP A1286 with an older Core i7, 512 MB graphics, slower RAM and bus.
So someone smarter tell me what it is. I'll probably go back to 10.6.8, which is a crazy flash, but I won't be embarrassed with the rainbow wheel when I'm presenting photos. I'm not saying that it goes wrong all the time, but it does happen.
Compared to the far less powerful Win 7 PCs, I'm just pissed off. I don't need to have NTB for CZK 55. Make no mistake, I've been on a Mac since 000 - PowerPC 1997, MacOS 9500.
Can it also be less demanding versions of Adobe (previously CS 5, LR one version lower)? I've always said that the MBP is an airplane (I'm on my sixth in a row), but that's not true now.
The only article I found about this problem of mine is this one, so I don't know. Again, I can't say that the battery would last less, maybe a little.