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Retina Display MacBook Pro Q&A
Update Published August 14, 2014
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What is the "real-world" battery life of the "Late 2013" and "Mid-2014" 13-Inch and 15-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro? How does the battery life compare to earlier models?
Please note that the "Late 2013" and "Mid-2014" MacBook Pro models have been discontinued. However, this Q&A is up-to-date and can be quite useful for anyone buying or selling one of these models on the used market.
In the company press release for the "Late 2013" 13-Inch MacBook Pro models -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.4 13", "Core i5" 2.6 13", and "Core i7" 2.8 13" -- as well as the 15-Inch MacBook Pro models -- the MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.0 15" (IG), "Core i7" 2.3 15" (IG), "Core i7" 2.6 15" (IG), "Core i7" 2.3 15" (DG), and "Core i7" 2.6 15" (DG) -- Apple boasts that the systems provide "even longer battery life" than their predecessors.
The "Mid-2014" MacBook Pro models -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.6 13", "Core i5" 2.8 13", "Core i7" 3.0 13", "Core i7" 2.2 15" (IG), "Core i7" 2.5 15" (IG), "Core i7" 2.8 15" (IG), "Core i7" 2.5 15" (DG), and "Core i7" 2.8 15" (DG) -- have the same batteries as the "Late 2013" models that came before them.
More precisely, Apple estimates, for both lines, that the 13-Inch models provide "up to nine hours of battery life, two hours more than the previous generation" and the 15-Inch models provide "up to eight hours of battery life, one hour more than the previous generation." These estimates are the same whether for "wireless web" use or iTunes movie playback.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. ("Late 2013" MacBook Pro -- 13" Left, 15" Right)
Official Battery Life Testing Criteria
In the finest of print, Apple explains that the estimated battery life numbers originally were made using preproduction versions of the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.6 13", "Core i7" 2.0 15" (IG), and "Core i7" 2.3 15" (DG).
For the "Mid-2014" models, Apple used preproduction versions of the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.8 13", "Core i7" 2.2 15" (IG), and "Core i7" 2.5 15" (DG).
Apple further explains that the company's "wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%" and the "HD movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 720p content" with display brightness set to the same settings.
In recent years, Apple's official battery life numbers have been reasonable. However, impartial third-party tests still can be quite worthwhile.
Independent Battery Life Test Results (Late 2013)
Specifically, third-party battery test results vary and can be helpful for a more nuanced perspective of battery life for different usage scenarios.
Macworld hit both the 13-Inch and 15-Inch models with its own "wireless web" test similar to Apple's own and reported even longer runtimes than Apple did:
The new low-end [15-Inch] lasted 9 hours and 36 minutes on a single charge. The new high-end [15-Inch] lasted 9 hours and 26 minutes, about two hours longer than the Early 2013s 7 hour and 30 minute result. The new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro lasted a little longer: 10 hours and 11 minutes. . . For its part, the [Mid-2013] MacBook Air lasted 12 hours, 42 minutes.
In its own review, Engadget tested the 13-Inch model under conditions that were designed to drain the battery more quickly than the official tests -- using both OS X and Windows -- and still was impressed:
We were able to eke out an impressive 11 hours and 18 minutes of continuous video playback. Mind you, that was with some pretty taxing system settings, including auto-brightness off, display brightness fixed at 9/16 bars (no dimming), the screen saver turned off and instructions to never put the disk to sleep.
So, the battery life is even better than expected -- not to mention, better than on last year's model, which only managed 6:07 on the same test. . . In case you were wondering, we also ran the same video-looping test on the Windows partition, with the power-management settings set exactly the same as on any PC we test (brightness at 65 percent, no dimming, Wi-Fi on, machine never goes to sleep, et cetera). Under those conditions, the battery lasted seven hours and 47 minutes.
Finally, Slashgear tested the 15-Inch model and reported results quite similar to Macworld:
In a basic test of browsing over Wi-Fi with the screen at mid-brightness, we saw an impressive 9 hours and 14 minutes of runtime before the Pro shut down. Opt for more mixed use, and the runtimes are trimmed somewhat. With a video continuously running looped in iTunes, and roughly ninety minutes of browsing over Wi-Fi and various other OS X apps, the Pro ran for just over six hours before the meter was down to 2-percent. Switching instead to just video playback, we saw 7 hours 18 minutes from the Mac.
Independent Battery Life Test Results (Mid-2014)
The differences between the "Late 2013" and "Mid-2014" MacBook Pro models are so minor that most of the blogosphere did not provide detailed evaluation.
Macworld did perform battery testing for the "Mid-2014" models and found numbers to be essentially the same as their predecessors, unsurprisingly:
The 2.6 GHz 13-inch model lasted just over 10 hours in this test while the 2.8 GHz model lasted just under nine and a half hours. The 15-inch models lasted a respectable seven hours. The most recent MacBook Air, for comparisons sake, lasted over 12 hours in this test.
Battery Life Summary
Ultimately, Apple's battery life estimates for the 13-Inch and 15-Inch "Late 2013" and "Mid-2014" Retina Display MacBook Pro models definitely are reasonable, and perhaps even are underestimated. However, battery life can vary depending on "real-world" use as the above tests soundly demonstrate.
It's certainly unfortunate that Apple has used adhesive to glue these batteries in place, but when it comes to runtime, it's hard to not be impressed with the battery performance gains Intel's "Haswell" architecture provides compared to earlier systems.
Of course, the Haswell-based MacBook Air models provide even better battery life than the MacBook Pro line and the batteries are not glued in place either, which likely will mean less expensive battery replacement options in the future. One who places more emphasis on performance no doubt will be happy with the battery life of the MacBook Pro, but for one who views battery life as the number one priority, the MacBook Air is the best choice.
Also see:
- What are all the differences between the 13-Inch and 15-Inch "Late 2013" Retina Display MacBook Pro models? Which is ideal for my needs?
- How fast are the 13-Inch and 15-Inch "Late 2013" MacBook Pro models compared to one another? How fast are they compared to the models replaced? How fast are they compared to the 13-Inch MacBook Air?
- How do you replace the battery in the 15-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro? Is it even possible?
- How do you replace the battery in the 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro? Is it more or less difficult than the 15-Inch Retina Display models? Is it possible?
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