Is OS X Mountain Lion's battery time remaining estimate accurate?

[FearoftheNight]

Hey guys. I just read AT's review of the rmbp and saw that for a light workload they got 7 hours or so of battery life. I just checked mine at 100% and saw an estimate for 5.5 hours. I only have like 2 tabs open (no flash)...what gives??

 

[TheStu]

To answer your title: ...ish?

I mean, the battery life estimate (i assume) is based on what has happened to the system recently, and some fuzzy logic that tells it that that sort of thing will continue to happen. So maybe you had just recently done something that spiked it or something.

I am assuming that you replaced the MBP in your sig with a new rMBP, otherwise this would be a Fujis to Honeycrisps comparison (since they're both Apples, get it?????)

 

[Rakehellion]

It's an estimate.

 

[smackababy]

I think it is based on your current and recent workload. And the 'light workload' is pretty vague in most scenarios. I would think if they listed something like average processor load with peak load achieved and for how long, it would be a better indication, but that is very in depth and most people don't care as much as me. >_>

I'd say that it is fairly accurate for what you are currently doing, but only if you maintain that level of workload. If you take a break watching Netflix and read some websites, it will change.

 

[crash331]

It varies wildly depending on what you are doing. Dimming the screen and turning off the keyboard lighting will help the most. That and not launching anything that turns on the discrete graphics.

 

[TheStu]

It varies wildly depending on what you are doing. Dimming the screen and turning off the keyboard lighting will help the most. That and not launching anything that turns on the discrete graphics.

My understanding is that is harder than it sounds. A lot of things cause the 650 to spin up, and many of them are ones that you wouldn't expect. I don't have an rMBP, but my friend does. He often complains about some innocuous program causing the 650 to activate.

 

[crash331]

My understanding is that is harder than it sounds. A lot of things cause the 650 to spin up, and many of them are ones that you wouldn't expect. I don't have an rMBP, but my friend does. He often complains about some innocuous program causing the 650 to activate.

Some strange stuff does set it off. You can tell when it's on, though, because the all-aluminum case turns in to a hot plate.

 

[TheStu]

Some strange stuff does set it off. You can tell when it's on, though, because the all-aluminum case turns in to a hot plate.

*ahem* Al-u-min-EE-um

 

[Tyranicus]

The one that really bugs and drove me to use gfxCardStatus to force the computer to use the integrated GPU is VLC. I do not need to use the discrete graphics to watch a video file.