MacBook Users Claim Apple Overstates Standby Battery Life and Resists Repairs

Megalith

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Reports on Apple’s Support Communities and other discussion groups suggest that MacBooks are not living up to their promise of “up to 30 days standby time.” Their batteries are supposedly draining at 2 to 10 times the normal rate during standby, leaving the laptops dead after only 3 to 15 days. Apple is calling this “normal behavior.”

Reaching out to Apple CEO Tim Cook directly, Antoniou said he was contacted by spokesperson Shane Barton, who told him that “there was nothing wrong with [the battery] according to Apple,” and “even blocked the local Apple store from letting me pay for a new battery.”
 
This sounds familiar. I had it happen when I tried out Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3. Standby didn’t last 3 hours no matter what settings I tried it just fucking drained dead. I rolled back to 8.1 and been fine since. Battery holds up great.

Too bad they probably don’t have that option. Fucked up to block repairs. That part almost sounds untrue.

All in all though, long live the “up to”. Doesn’t matter if most can’t hit that mark, it was only a high estimate after all
 
Seems like a case of "nothing's wrong with your battery, we're not replacing it."

That being said I have no idea why they would make this kind of claim.
 
This sounds familiar. I had it happen when I tried out Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3. Standby didn’t last 3 hours no matter what settings I tried it just fucking drained dead. I rolled back to 8.1 and been fine since. Battery holds up great.

Too bad they probably don’t have that option. Fucked up to block repairs. That part almost sounds untrue.

All in all though, long live the “up to”. Doesn’t matter if most can’t hit that mark, it was only a high estimate after all

What version of Win10 (build)? I have a SP3 and it's been pretty good on Win10. The key is making sure it actually goes to sleep. A lot of times the issue is an app that's either waking up the PC or keeping it from sleeping. Powercfg -requests, powercfg -lastwake, and powercfg -requestsoverride are the keys to fixing those items.
 
What version of Win10 (build)? I have a SP3 and it's been pretty good on Win10. The key is making sure it actually goes to sleep. A lot of times the issue is an app that's either waking up the PC or keeping it from sleeping. Powercfg -requests, powercfg -lastwake, and powercfg -requestsoverride are the keys to fixing those items.
I don’t know, back towards the very original release of 10. I don’t really use the apps much and I’m neurotic enough that I close everything hitting the taskbar. Don’t know what the task manager may have still had running though, but shouldn’t matter. An average user shouldn’t have to kill processes and tasks directly in order to have a modicum of battery life.
 
"..up to 30h" for sure means in default config, all settings optimized to reach this 30 day sleep mode. Whereas a typical user has Features in macOS enabled that will cause it to do work while at sleep, called PowerNap.
Not sure if it is enabled by default, but it makes sense to have it on in every day life where you charge it daily etc. The more changes happen in iCloud the more often the SSD writes, the more often Time MAchine makes a Backup ( enable locale ! ) onto its own drive or the actual TM drive, etc etc. one causes the other to spool up and work. In the end, all this sums up to your lost days, by PowerNap alone.

Add some stupid app and it's the said 3 days.

I havent actually tried this myself on my MBPr, I usually dont put it away for 30 days and dont want to either ;) I do know that when I am done typing this I fold this thing over, incl.VMware Ubuntu, RDP, VPN all open, and tomorrow night, the battery will hardly have changed, tho my temporary local backups ( disable locale ) are disabled to save SSD space. ANd my mbp is 4 years old and still has a great battery life.
 
30 days will be in a specific config. Close ur fkn power hungry apps.
 
30 days will be in a specific config. Close ur fkn power hungry apps.

default as in "as it comes from Apple, no other apps installed". The special config part is PowerNap OFF and no TM configured, no WLAN on, no CAT cable, no USB connections either, TB also empty, yeah, then 30 days brand new, I could buy that.
 
Do they state in their advertisement how much battery is left after max 30 days ? 5% ?
 
I've definitely seen this on my work macbook. The amount it drains is variable, so it's probably based on what's running (and how those processes keep the CPU awake). I've seen probably up to 40% disappear overnight. Average is 10-25%
Having a macbook for work has taught me that I never want to own a Macbook.
 
Reminds me of the joke about the kid who borrows the car one night and returns it with the gas tank empty. When dad goes to start it the next morning it immediately dies.
His dad storms in and says it had enough gas to open the door and that was it.
 
Do they state in their advertisement how much battery is left after max 30 days ? 5% ?

Well I have a spare iPad Air 2 thst sits around for weeks at a time and its usually only down to 20-30% after 3 weeks
 
Undocumented Feature...

Apple is going to shit because in stead of perfecting their technology, they keep trying to leapfrog and update. God I miss Steve Jobs...
 
if they attach magnets to them he could charge everyones batteries

ROTFL, gimme some magnets

Undocumented Feature...

Apple is going to shit because in stead of perfecting their technology, they keep trying to leapfrog and update. God I miss Steve Jobs...

Yeah. Say what you will about Jobs, but he always made sure he could walk the walk.
 
Yeah. Say what you will about Jobs, but he always made sure he could walk the walk.

Yeah, those were the days when someone would praise Apple and I usually had to honestly agree other than the costs.

Nowadays, when someone tries to blow that horn I dig in and ask what their actually truly trying to praise. Very few can give credible support to the claim. I do respect the cleaner ecosystem, compared to Android, but that's about where it ends.

In terms of any portable device battery life in general(sleep or otherwise), well many devices don't hold up to their claims. Most suffer from the same weaknesses, it's just some are worse than others.

The real crapper here is the continued denial and protection of their image that ultimately punishes those buy their products. It's really a shame to keep seeing a company that I could at one time respect, even if I didn't like, continue to go downhill.
 
I have a newer Macbook Pro I use for work. I didn't exactly run a benchmark on the laptop, but it was in my backpack for about 2 weeks around Christmas time. I didn't touch it as I was on vacation/holiday time. The night before going back to work, I powered it up and still had about 50% of my battery left. I was expecting a dead laptop.
I have Microsoft Office, Android Studio, Xcode, and a handful of cloud apps (Drive, DropBox, etc). These were all dormant and not running (of course). So, if I let this go another few weeks, it might get close to the 30 day mark? IDK. I won't be trying it as I have never had 30 days off from work. If my boss approves, I'll sign up for the test!

I see posts about Steve Jobs and quality control. Just remember the iPhone 4. We were holding the phone wrong. I'm not so sure he was driving quality more than Cook.
 
I have Microsoft Office, Android Studio, Xcode, and a handful of cloud apps (Drive, DropBox, etc). These were all dormant and not running (of course). So, if I let this go another few weeks, it might get close to the 30 day mark? IDK. I won't be trying it as I have never had 30 days off from work. If my boss approves, I'll sign up for the test!

Pretty cool to hear. It also supports what happens for most on all sides of the fence. Keep the non-essential stuff turned off and you better the chances of reaching those charge potentials.

In regards to the IP4. I'd actually forgot about that. LOL. Ironically enough the IP4S has been praised as one the best. I know some people who, very reluctantly, only just recently upgraded to either 6S or 7S.
 
Anecdotal, but this is not my experience with Apple Support and my MacBook Pro battery.

I have a 4+ year old 15" MBP, completely out of warranty. I recently took it in precisely because I was having some battery issues.

They are replacing it free of charge, given that I have to wait for my local Apple Store to receive the part.

Screenshot of work order as proof: https://imgur.com/a/M14tW
 
Apple saying "normal behavior".
Mmmm... yeah... They don't really have too much experience with 'normal'. It must be 'courageous' at the least, instead of normal.
 
Anecdotal, but this is not my experience with Apple Support and my MacBook Pro battery.

I have a 4+ year old 15" MBP, completely out of warranty. I recently took it in precisely because I was having some battery issues.

They are replacing it free of charge, given that I have to wait for my local Apple Store to receive the part.

Screenshot of work order as proof: https://imgur.com/a/M14tW

Exactly my findings with Apple Support over the years, just brilliant. They replaced 2 retina screens, last time was when it was almost 4 years old. Show me any other company who does this. Dell aint bad, but they are far far from what Apple delivers, Asus is way off as well. I have/had laptops from all of

them, each was top of the line, and Apple is the only one who actually cares about the customer, even without "extra coverage" and "pay here" "pay there". They fixed my screens without having Apple Care, they just DID IT, no stupid questions asked, 2 times, retina !

Many people bitch about Apple but hardly use any of their products. My iPhone4 is 6 years old, fuck it, it still works better and more reliable than most new phones I come across, my 3rd child plays with it, never broke a screen..and it dropped a zillion times, same with my iPad, it still runs like day 1. My wifes

iPhone4 is same, it just plain works. Never had any issue with both but change the battery after 4 years.


I wish Asus had only 5% of that, that would help alot, currently RMA'ing a 980GTX Poseidon, fans failed, what a nightmare...my 4th RMA with Asus in 1 year, their shit just isnt as good as it used to be 10 years ago, hands down. LED over everything seems to be their new prayer, but that philosophy aint mine.
 
Exactly my findings with Apple Support over the years, just brilliant. They replaced 2 retina screens, last time was when it was almost 4 years old. Show me any other company who does this. Dell aint bad, but they are far far from what Apple delivers, Asus is way off as well. I have/had laptops from all of

them, each was top of the line, and Apple is the only one who actually cares about the customer, even without "extra coverage" and "pay here" "pay there". They fixed my screens without having Apple Care, they just DID IT, no stupid questions asked, 2 times, retina !

Many people bitch about Apple but hardly use any of their products. My iPhone4 is 6 years old, fuck it, it still works better and more reliable than most new phones I come across, my 3rd child plays with it, never broke a screen..and it dropped a zillion times, same with my iPad, it still runs like day 1. My wifes

iPhone4 is same, it just plain works. Never had any issue with both but change the battery after 4 years.


I wish Asus had only 5% of that, that would help alot, currently RMA'ing a 980GTX Poseidon, fans failed, what a nightmare...my 4th RMA with Asus in 1 year, their shit just isnt as good as it used to be 10 years ago, hands down. LED over everything seems to be their new prayer, but that philosophy aint mine.

So why did apple block the customer from buying a new battery?
 
So why did apple block the customer from buying a new battery?

Because the customer wanted the issue fixed, a new battery wouldn’t have fixed the issue... it takes many years to significanly degrade a Macbook Pro battery unless ur an utter moron.
 
Because the customer wanted the issue fixed, a new battery wouldn’t have fixed the issue... it takes many years to significanly degrade a Macbook Pro battery unless ur an utter moron.

So, why not let the customer spend their own money to figure it out? You can't defend apple on the issue of not selling the customer a battery.
 
So, why not let the customer spend their own money to figure it out? You can't defend apple on the issue of not selling the customer a battery.

Because a replacement battery means it has a warranty and its a single use item. Then the customer will demand a new machine because they are a fkwit.
 
Because a replacement battery means it has a warranty and its a single use item. Then the customer will demand a new machine because they are a fkwit.

Your argument is ridiculous. If they buy a new battery how would they be made to warranty a whole new laptop and not just the battery? You sound like the biggest apple shill I have ever seen so far.
 
Your argument is ridiculous. If they buy a new battery how would they be made to warranty a whole new laptop and not just the battery? You sound like the biggest apple shill I have ever seen so far.

The battery carries a warranty ffs. Which means the customer will demand their money back and Apple cannot remove it again. Apple have fitness tests in store for diags and smart chips in the battery that will tell you if it is underpeforming or due for replacement.

Yes I have a Macbook that came up with this notification so I know it exists.
 
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