Mac: Battery life

Owned by LaLine Ray, created
Last updated: Jun 13, 2022
2 min read

Concerned about your MacBook’s battery life? Go through the following and see what helps.

 Instructions

  1. Check battery health https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/check-the-condition-of-your-computers-battery-mh20865/12.0/mac/12.0

  2. Depending on which OS you are running, if you click on the battery in your top bar it should show any apps that are using significant energy. Usually browsers and Adobe products are the biggest culprits. Try shutting down those apps and then opening one at a time to see if there is one causing more problems than others.

  3. Check your battery preferences and power adapter preferences to make sure they look reasonable. Sometimes updates can make changes that are less than optimal.

  4. Use the Activity Monitor utility app to see if anything is using more CPU and/or GPU energy than seems reasonable. Also check to see if there are multiple instances of a particular app running - Chrome in particular (and some Adobe apps) can get background services stuck in a loop so it opens another instance of services and drains battery energy faster.

  5. Reduce screen brightness if possible.

  6. Check on battery cycles - go to the Apple menu, About this Mac, System report. Scroll down to see the Power specifications and see what the cycle count is. An average MacBook battery can go through 1000 cycles without a problem. Beyond that the condition will begin to deteriorate.

  7. Clean up your hard drive as much as possible. Delete files you no longer need or move them to Box. Remove as much as possible from your desktop. Empty your trash. Etc.

  8. Check for app and OS updates and make sure everything is up to date.

  9. Make sure you do a complete shut down and fresh restart at least once a week.

  10. Consider the environment your MacBook is in and your usage patterns - is it too hot? Pet hair blocking the air vent? Lots of multitasking? Settings turned on that don't need to be (like Bluetooth, keyboard backlight, etc.)?

  11. Battery storage and charging issues - Avoid the extremes and try to keep your battery between 20% and 85%. If you aren't going to use your laptop for a few days, make sure it is charged to at least 50%. If your battery is charged, don't use it while it is plugged in - instead unplug it from the wall and let it start discharging normally while you use it.

 

If your battery health is deteriorating rapidly and the above does not help, bring your laptop to LIT for us to check.

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Verified: Jun 7, 2022

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