The first stop on our battery-life betterment tour is the Windows battery performance slider, a recent addition to Windows 10.It aims to group all of the settings that affect battery life into a. Jan 21, 2020 Their battery life isn't quite as trend-setting though, even there are some standouts among the range. Here's our list of the MacBooks with the best battery life to help keep you working for longer. Mar 25, 2020  Of these, the MacBook Air (2020) offers the best battery life, up to 11 hours of wireless web and 12 hours of movie playback. The MacBook Air (2020) offers lots of features at a great price. The least expensive option, for example, has a 1.1GHz dual-core 10th-generation Intel Core i3 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz, 256GB Storage, Touch.

1. Best Mac Os For Battery Life Expectancy
2. Best Macos For Battery Life Download

The first stop on our battery-life betterment tour is the Windows battery performance slider, a recent addition to Windows 10. It aims to group all of the settings that affect battery life into a few easy-to-understand categories. The company that made your PC determines exactly which settings the battery. 14 hours ago  25 best battery life laptops. From CNET Labs: These are the 25 top battery-life performers in laptops, hybrids and Chromebooks, from 2019 through today. This list includes Windows and MacOS. Mar 26, 2020  Apple MacBook Air (2020) review: the best Mac for most people All it needed was a totally new keyboard and faster processors By Nilay Patel @reckless Mar 26, 2020, 10:11am EDT. May 26, 2020 In earlier versions of macOS, the battery status might display Replace Soon, Replace Now, or Service Battery if your battery holds less of a charge than when it was new or needs to be serviced. If the battery's lowered charging capacity is affecting your experience, get your battery evaluated at an Apple Store or Apple-authorized service provider.

Understanding batteries in Mac notebooks

Optimizing battery life

Troubleshooting batteries

Understanding batteries in Mac notebooks

MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro computers come with lithium polymer batteries to provide maximum battery life in a compact space. To understand battery technology and battery life, it's good to know common battery terminology:

• Cycle count: Batteries are expected to function for a certain number of cycles. This number represents the sum of total and partial discharge cycles throughout the life of the battery. You can see the cycle count limit for your computer by reviewing Determining battery cycle count for Mac notebooks.
• Full charge capacity: Measured in mAH (milliampere-hours), this refers to the amount of power the battery is capable of containing, less the energy required to shut down the device. This number lowers as the battery becomes depleted with usage and age.
• Remaining charge capacity: This number represents the current amount of power left in the battery as measured in mAh (milliampere-hours). Using the computer when not connected to AC power will cause this number to lower as power is depleted from the battery.
• Consumed / depleted: Consumable parts are those that deplete over time as their internal components are used. Batteries, due to their chemical components, are considered consumables, and over time they lose their ability to hold a charge. If the cycle count on a battery exceeds its expected limit, the battery is considered consumed.
• Defective: Batteries are considered defective when they stop working due to a defect in materials or workmanship, or due to a manufacturing defect. Defective batteries are covered under Apple's one-year limited warranty and extended-service contracts.
• Load: The amount of activity being performed by a task or tasks. Certain power-intensive processes place a heavier load on the battery and result in a much-reduced runtime per charge.

Setting up your Mac for the first time

When you set up your Mac for the first time, some activities—like setting up Mail and Photos, downloading your files from iCloud, and indexing your files with Spotlight—can use more power than your Mac requires in general use.

If you have a large amount of data to transfer over Wi-Fi, it might take a few days for your Mac to finish its setup process. It's best to keep your computer connected to a power source during this time. Once setup is complete, the battery life will begin to reflect the regular activities you perform on your Mac.

The battery status menu

Your primary resource for viewing battery status is the battery status menu. It shows you how much charge your battery has and whether it's currently charging. This menu is at the right side of the menu bar:

The battery status menu also tells you if your display or any apps are using significant energy. Click Display Brightness if it's listed under Using Significant Energy, and your display dims to 75% brightness. Also consider closing any apps that are listed to save battery power.

To see the health of your battery, hold the Option key and click the battery icon in the menu bar to reveal the battery status menu. You'll see one of the following status indicators:

• Normal: The battery is functioning normally.
• Service Recommended: The battery's ability to hold charge is less than when it was new or it isn't functioning normally. You can safely continue to use your Mac but you should take it to an Apple Store or Apple-authorized service provider to get your battery evaluated.

In earlier versions of macOS, the battery status might display Replace Soon, Replace Now, or Service Battery if your battery holds less of a charge than when it was new or needs to be serviced. If the battery's lowered charging capacity is affecting your experience, get your battery evaluated at an Apple Store or Apple-authorized service provider.

While some third-party apps report on battery health conditions, the data reported by these apps may be inaccurate and isn't a conclusive indication of actual diminished system run time. It's best to rely on the information reported in the battery health menu, described above.

Optimizing battery life

Your notebook battery life depends on your computer's configuration and how you're using the computer. Here are some settings and steps you can take to get the most from your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro battery.

Check Energy Saver settings

The Energy Saver pane in System Preferences has options to help improve the battery life on your Mac notebook when it's idle. For instance, setting your display to sleep when idle temporarily turns off the backlight and significantly improves the battery life.

Deselecting 'Enable Power Nap while on battery power' can also extend your battery's charge.

On Mac notebook computers introduced in 2016 or later, the display brightness adjusts to 75% when you unplug the computer from power if you have 'Slightly dim the display while on battery power' enabled.

The example above is from macOS Catalina. Some features such as Automatic graphic switching and Power Nap aren't available on all Mac notebooks or versions of macOS.

Adjust keyboard and display brightness

Your Mac notebook's built-in keyboard has settings that can help automatically conserve battery power:

• To allow your keyboard's backlight to automatically dim or brighten, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, select Keyboard, then select 'Adjust keyboard brightness in low light'.
• In the Keyboard section of System Preferences, you can also allow your keyboard's backlight to turn off after a period of inactivity.

You can use the F5 and F6 keys to manually adjust your keyboard's brightness, setting it as low as possible while still allowing you to see the keys.

Your display's brightness has a major effect on battery life, and allowing your display to automatically adjust can significantly help to conserve power. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then select Displays. Enable 'Automatically adjust brightness' to allow your display to dim or brighten based on your surrounding's light levels.

To manually adjust your display's brightness to a comfortable level, use the F1 and F2 keys.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can quickly adjust your display brightness by tapping in the Control Strip on the right side of the Touch Bar. To access the keyboard brightness buttons, tap in the Control Strip:

The Control Strip expands, and you can tap to adjust your display's brightness, and tap to adjust keyboard brightness:

Check graphics settings

MacBook Pro 15-inch and 16-inch notebooks commonly include two graphics processors, or GPUs. You might see them documented as a discrete GPU and an integrated GPU. The discrete GPU generally provides substantial performance at the expense of high power draw. The integrated GPU allows for optimal battery life, but in most cases doesn't have the performance of a discrete GPU.

For optimal battery life on your MacBook Pro, use automatic graphics switching.

Turn off features and technologies that use power

Mac notebooks have a number of integrated technologies which can have a significant effect on battery power.

• If you don't need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, you can turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from their menu bar icons or in System Preferences. This will help save power.
• External USB, SD card, and Thunderbolt devices connected to your notebook can also draw power and should be disconnected for optimal battery performance.

Troubleshooting batteries

A great place to start when troubleshooting battery issues is the built-in diagnostics that are available on your Mac notebook. Learn how to use Apple Diagnostics on your Mac.

If Apple Diagnostics tells you that your battery requires service and cites reference code PPT004, you should confirm this issue by running Apple Diagnostics over the Internet, which uses the latest diagnostic information. To do this, turn off your Mac by choosing Shut Down from the Apple menu . Then press the power button to turn on your Mac. Immediately press and hold Option-D until Apple Diagnostics begins.

If running Apple Diagnostics over the Internet confirms the issue, contact Apple or take your computer to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store. They'll tell you which service and support options are available.

If you don't find any issues with Apple Diagnostics read on for more information about troubleshooting your battery.

My battery runtime is low

1. If you recently set up your Mac, wait until your Mac is finished with initial setup. When you use your Mac for the first time, activities like setting up Mail and Photos, migrating your iCloud content, and indexing your files with Spotlight use more power than your Mac requires in general use. If you have a large amount of data to transfer, it can take several days before your battery life returns to average daily use.
2. Identify what the battery life should be for the product you're using. The Tech Specs site provides Apple's battery life expectations for battery usage. The specifics for wireless web usage and standby time are included in the Tech Specs article for each product.
3. Learn how to minimize common causes of battery drain:

• Optimize your battery life using the Optimizing Battery Life section earlier in this article.
• Learn how apps can affect Mac battery performance. Some applications—such as web browsers, video editing software, and video games—require more power based on how you're using them. Check regularly for updates to your software—it's important to use the latest versions available.
• Configure automated backup and sync software to run only when your computer is connected to a power source or to pause when your battery level drops below a certain percentage.
• Check Activity Monitor for any malfunctioning software processes, especially after installing software updates or a new operating system. Installing updates is important to ensure optimal performance for all applications.
• If you still have battery issues after optimizing your computer's performance and checking for malfunctioning software processes, test in safe mode. Safe mode limits the active items on the system and allows testing in a more minimal environment. If the battery life is better in safe mode, you might need to do further software isolation for the items disabled by safe mode to determine what the power draw is while not operating in safe mode.

My battery isn't charging

Confirm the correct wattage AC adapter for your computer. A power adapter rated for a lower wattage than is required for the system might not reliably charge the computer. If you're not sure which power adapter to use with your computer, learn how to find the right power adapter and cord for your Mac notebook.

For more help, learn what to do if your USB-C power adapter isn't charging your Mac notebook. If issues persist, reset the SMC.

My battery won't charge to 100%

Occasionally, the battery might not show a full charge (100%) in macOS, even after the power adapter has been connected for an extended period of time. The battery might appear to stop charging between 93 percent and 99 percent. This behavior is normal and will help to prolong the overall life of the battery.

My battery isn't recognized

If the battery in your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro is fully drained of power, the battery will put itself into a low power state to preserve its ability to charge in the future.

Connect your Mac notebook to AC power and allow it to charge for at least five minutes. If the 'connect to power' screen persists after charging for five minutes, reset the SMC.

The low battery warning doesn't display

If you don't receive a warning when your battery has a low charge, generally reported at or under 15%, it might be because the battery menu bar icon is disabled. Follow these steps to enable the battery status menu item:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click Energy Saver.
3. Select the 'Show battery status in menu bar' check box to display the battery status menu item.

Portables using OS X Mavericks v10.9 or later display the low battery warning when the battery has approximately 10 minutes of power remaining. Earlier versions of OS X report it at 15% or less.

Servicing the battery in your Mac notebook

MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro computers with built-in batteries should only have their batteries replaced by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store. Attempting to replace a built-in battery yourself could damage your equipment, and such damage is not covered by warranty.

Most older Mac notebooks have removable batteries that you can replace yourself. Contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for assistance servicing a removable battery.

Battery warranty information

Your Apple One Year Limited Warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. If you purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan for your Mac notebook, Apple will replace the notebook battery at no charge if it retains less than 80 percent of its original capacity. If you don't have coverage, you can have the battery replaced for a fee.

Best Mac Os For Battery Life Expectancy

Learn more

Learn more about the batteries used in Apple products.

Who wants to make an urgent dash to a power outlet to rescue their laptop battery? That's no fun, especially if you're working a crowded convention center, tapping away at an airport gate, or even lounging on a tropical beach. Luckily, modern laptops are much more efficient than their predecessors. Nowadays, even inexpensive desktop-replacement laptops and some gaming behemoths can last for more than eight hours on a single charge. Some ultraportables can endure for 14 hours or more.

Still, the inconvenient truth is that the battery in your PC or Mac laptop won't last as long as the manufacturer advertises unless you pay attention to some key factors: your power settings, how many apps you're running, even the temperature of the room in which you're working. The good news is that none of this requires very much work to sort out, once you know which settings to adjust. Let's take a look at the highest-yield ways to get the most out of your laptop's battery.

Use the Windows Battery Performance Slider

The first stop on our battery-life betterment tour is the Windows battery performance slider, a recent addition to Windows 10. It aims to group all of the settings that affect battery life into a few easy-to-understand categories. The company that made your PC determines exactly which settings the battery slider controls. But in general, keep these guidelines in mind:

• The Best Performance mode is for people willing to trade off battery runtime to gain performance and responsiveness. In this mode, Windows won't stop apps running in the background from consuming a lot of power.
• The Better Performance setting limits resources for background apps, but it otherwise prioritizes power over efficiency.
• Better Battery mode delivers longer battery life than the default settings on previous versions of Windows. (It's actually labeled 'Recommended' on many PCs.)
• Battery Saver mode, a slider choice that will appear only when your PC is unplugged, reduces the display brightness by 30 percent, prevents Windows update downloads, stops the Mail app from syncing, and suspends most background apps.

Use Battery Settings on macOS

Apple's MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro laptops don't have a battery slider, although many of the same settings described above are present in the Energy Saver preferences.

To open it, click on the Spotlight magnifying-glass icon in the upper right corner of the screen, search for Energy Saver, and then click on the Battery tab. If you want to approximate the Windows Better Battery or Battery Saver modes, make sure that the options 'Put hard disks to sleep when possible' and 'Slightly dim the display while on battery power' are checked, and the option 'Enable Power Nap while on battery power' is unchecked. (With Power Nap enabled and your MacBook asleep, the machine will wake up now and then to check for updates. Disabling it keeps your MacBook fully asleep when it is asleep—until you choose wake it up.) On recent MacBook Pro laptops, the display brightness adjusts to 75 percent when you unplug the computer from power if you have 'Slightly dim the display while on battery power' enabled.

So, if you want the best battery life, should you use Battery Saver all the time? Not exactly. Because Battery Saver mode disables some useful features, you might want to use it only when your battery is below 20 percent and a power outlet isn't near. Likewise, turning off Power Nap can mean it will take longer to catch up on notifications you've missed while you're away from your MacBook. That's why most users should use the Better Battery setting and enable Power Nap most of the time.

Simplify Your Workflow: Closing Apps, and Using Airplane Mode

On the other hand, if you're writing a novel or playing a local video file and don't need to be distracted by notifications, it's fine to enable Battery Saver. It's a good habit to adjust your laptop use in more battery-conserving ways, such as by sticking to one app at a time and closing everything else when you're not using it. It's a bit like turning off the lights when a room is vacant. If you're going back and forth between the kitchen and the pantry all the time, or between Firefox and Word, by all means keep both sets of lights and apps on and open. But if you're just cooking or watching a YouTube video, you'll be best served by turning off and closing everything else.

In addition to aiming to single-task, consider enabling Airplane mode in Windows, or turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in macOS if you know you'll be editing a document with no need for web access. In addition to eliminating distractions, Airplane mode eliminates a significant source of battery drain: not only the wireless radios themselves, but also the background apps and processes that constantly use them, such as updaters and push notifications.

Close Specific Apps That Use Lots of Power

Multiple apps and processes running on your system will chew through battery life more quickly, and chances are you probably aren't actively using everything that's currently running on your PC. In Windows 10, the Settings App is the first step to find energy-hogging programs.

Type 'see which apps are affecting your battery life' into the Windows search bar for a list of apps that are consuming the most power. If you see an app that you rarely use hogging a lot of power, make sure you close it. Often, these are apps you've opened in the background and forgot about, such as Spotify or Adobe Reader.

Next, type 'See which processes start up automatically when you start Windows' into the search bar. This will open the Task Manager's Startup tab, which lists every utility that runs as soon as you start your PC. Anything with a name like 'Download Assistant' or 'Helper' is usually safe to disable. For example, unless you frequently open Spotify playlists, tracks, or albums from links in a web browser, you can disable the Spotify Web Helper.

To perform similar app purging in macOS, search for Users & Groups, then click the Login Items tab, where you'll find a list of apps that run in the background when you start up your Mac.

Adjust Graphics and Display Settings

You'll want to make sure that apps aren't using the discrete GPU (if your laptop has one) when they don't need to.

If you have a powerful graphics processor in your laptop (in essence, anything whose name starts with 'Nvidia GeForce GTX' or, much less commonly, 'AMD Radeon RX'), you can ensure that only games or other graphics-intensive apps need to use it, while everything else can get by using the more efficient on-CPU silicon for graphics processing. Assuming your system makes use of Nvidia GeForce graphics, open the GeForce control panel (typically found in the Windows notification area on the right side of the taskbar), then click on the Program Settings tab to assign each app to a specific graphics-processing chip. Allocate the GeForce discrete chip to games and photo- and video-editing apps like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, while assigning everything else to the integrated chip.

To perform a similar assignment on a MacBook, search for Energy Saver and make sure the 'Automatic graphics switching' option is checked. You don't have the same kind of fine-tuned control over each program like you do in the GeForce panel, so you'll have to trust macOS's judgment when it comes to which app should use which graphics accelerator.

Take Heed of Airflow

Most laptops now come with lithium-polymer batteries that require much less maintenance than batteries of a decade ago, thanks as much to software and firmware improvements as innovation in the battery technology itself. You no longer have to perform a full battery discharge on a regular basis to calibrate it, nor do you have to worry that draining the battery completely will damage your laptop.

You do have to be careful about heat, however, which will hasten a battery's demise. The biggest problems come from physical obstruction of the ventilation ports. Dust buildup is one problem, which you can take care of by cleaning the laptop's vents and fan. (Periodically, use a can of compressed air to blow out some of the dust.) A more frequent issue that crops up, though, is using the laptop on a pillow or blanket, which can both obstruct the ventilation fan and retain the heat coming off of the system. Avoid this by using your laptop only on firm surfaces such as a table or a desk, which won't flex and block airflow or cooling.

Keep an Eye on Your Battery's Health

All batteries lose charging capacity over time and will eventually need to be replaced. Taking stock of a battery's health now and then is always a good idea.

To see if your MacBook battery is nearing the end of its lifespan, hold the Option key and click the battery icon in the menu bar to reveal the battery status. If you see a 'Replace Now' or 'Service Battery' message, your battery is likely functioning far below its original capacity.

You can find more detailed information on how many charging cycles your battery has endured by opening the System Information app and navigating to the Power tab. Check the cycle count value against the rated maximums in Apple's list to know how many more cycles you've got left.

For an equivalent battery-health indicator in Windows 10, you'll need to roll up your sleeves and delve into world of the command prompts. First, type cmd into the Windows Search Bar in the lower left of the screen to summon the Command Prompt in Windows 10. Right-click on its search item and choose to run Command Prompt at an administrator level. Then, type powercfg /batteryreport at the prompt. Your PC will generate an HTML file whose location is displayed in the command prompt window. Open it, and check near the top for your battery's design capacity, full charge capacity, and cycle count.

Carry a Battery Backup

Finally, the easiest way to ensure that you always have enough battery power is to bring along an external battery pack.

These external power sources plug in to your laptop the same way your charger does. They generally cost between $100 and $200, but come with adapters for use with many different laptop models. They can be used on more than one system, and even for other devices, such as your phone or tablet.

Best Macos For Battery Life Download

These strategies will help you make the most of the battery you have.