Apple removes 'time remaining' battery life estimates from MacBooks

Scorpus

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Apple's latest MacBook Pros, particularly the 15-inch model, don't have the greatest battery life. Since their launch last month, buyers and reviewers have complained that battery life has regressed compared to previous-gen models, and that Apple's estimate of 10 hours of usage is a bit optimistic.

Apple's solution? They've removed the 'time remaining' battery life estimate in the newest version of macOS Sierra.

The reason for this is that, in the eyes of Apple, it's too hard to create an accurate battery life estimate for laptops that use Intel's latest processors. Modern CPUs aggressively change their clock speeds and power states to match the performance requirements of tasks, which can lead to fluctuating and inaccurate battery life estimates.

Even though battery life estimates can fluctuate, they are still a useful feature in some circumstances, and this change doesn't actually address the issues with MacBook Pro battery life. Those that download macOS Sierra 10.12.2 will probably end up complaining not just about the battery life of their MacBook Pro, but also about the removal of 'time remaining' estimates.

Perhaps Apple should have spent the last month optimizing the battery life of their MacBook Pros, rather than coming up with a software change that only hides their poor performance.

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Geez, I swear there's some one on the inside intentionally destroying Apple...everything they do makes you question them more.
It's been coming. When Steve Jobs left the company in the 90's, the powers that be at the time drove the company almost to extinction. When he came back, he brought a sense of order back and they flourished (I admitt that even though I'm an Android guy). Unfortunately, that option is no longer viable so history is just repeating itself.
 
Geez, I swear there's some one on the inside intentionally destroying Apple...everything they do makes you question them more.
It's been coming. When Steve Jobs left the company in the 90's, the powers that be at the time drove the company almost to extinction. When he came back, he brought a sense of order back and they flourished (I admitt that even though I'm an Android guy). Unfortunately, that option is no longer viable so history is just repeating itself.

Solution: find Steve Jobs reincarnation, and put them in charge of the company. They would have just turned 5, so it will obviously be a step-up management-wise.
 
Many people have come to this analogy but I think it's more apt to compare it to the "estimated mileage" indicator as the OS will still have the percent battery remaining.

True, Though most of my cars are to old to have such fancy things :)
 
Geez, I swear there's some one on the inside intentionally destroying Apple...everything they do makes you question them more.
It's been coming. When Steve Jobs left the company in the 90's, the powers that be at the time drove the company almost to extinction. When he came back, he brought a sense of order back and they flourished (I admitt that even though I'm an Android guy). Unfortunately, that option is no longer viable so history is just repeating itself.
Agreed. Jobs would have had somebody's head for this. Although I doubt the new macbook would have even released under jobs. Removing the USB A and magsafe ports was the second dumbest thing they could do, with first place being removing the headphone jack from a phone (oh wait a minute...).

Apple is going from a botique manufacturer that satisfies creative niches to a hip company relying on fashion trends. Ever since jobs dies, apple has been moving away from creative works, power users, and quality machines.
 
Agreed. Jobs would have...

rendered the ham-fisted hack incapable of reproduction and made them stand in the corner of future weekly meetings in a dunce-cap.

You were being overly kind, as a member of an early team, I decided to fix that for you, lol.
 
Geez, I swear there's some one on the inside intentionally destroying Apple...everything they do makes you question them more.
It's been coming. When Steve Jobs left the company in the 90's, the powers that be at the time drove the company almost to extinction. When he came back, he brought a sense of order back and they flourished (I admitt that even though I'm an Android guy). Unfortunately, that option is no longer viable so history is just repeating itself.
Agreed. Jobs would have had somebody's head for this. Although I doubt the new macbook would have even released under jobs. Removing the USB A and magsafe ports was the second dumbest thing they could do, with first place being removing the headphone jack from a phone (oh wait a minute...).

Apple is going from a botique manufacturer that satisfies creative niches to a hip company relying on fashion trends. Ever since jobs dies, apple has been moving away from creative works, power users, and quality machines.

Easy to think, very far from reality. They are simply switching business goals. Macs are not anymore just for typographies and graphic artists.
Magsafe was a hassle. USB-C is a better standard, get used to it, or go back to PCs which still have serial I/O ports. Or ADB.
 
In fairness, there are few things more useless than the battery time remaining indicator in Windows as well. Except maybe explorer's guestimations for file transfer times.
 
In fairness, there are few things more useless than the battery time remaining indicator in Windows as well. Except maybe explorer's guestimations for file transfer times.
Would you prefer to have a mildly accurate estimate or no estimate at all? Even the battery percentage is correlated to how much time is left, the only thing is that the user doesn't know how much the computer is consuming power (activity monitor does it though). Removing the "time remaining" is like removing the battery meter, just worse because the normal user doesn't have a clue about how much the mac has to live. Apple should think about an algorithm that predicts heuristically the "normal" computer usage and then creates a duration based on that. Instant power consumption is not enough meaningful anymore.
 
Would you prefer to have a mildly accurate estimate or no estimate at all? Even the battery percentage is correlated to how much time is left, the only thing is that the user doesn't know how much the computer is consuming power (activity monitor does it though). Removing the "time remaining" is like removing the battery meter, just worse because the normal user doesn't have a clue about how much the mac has to live. Apple should think about an algorithm that predicts heuristically the "normal" computer usage and then creates a duration based on that. Instant power consumption is not enough meaningful anymore.

Exactly, you hit that right on the head. Removing it completely seems so counterproductive. Apple, instead of looking like a tool, use the big brains of the folks you employ and create a better one.
 
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