Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Apple Cuts macOS ‘Time Remaining’ Estimate Amid Battery Life Complaints

Apple has gotten rid of the “time remaining” battery estimate in the newest version of macOS Sierra in the wake of an investigation sparked by battery life complaints for the new MacBook Pro.

Cupertino’s latest flagship notebook has seen a slew of media coverage concerning the disparity between time remaining estimates and actual battery life. Notably, consumers and reviewers found that the actual battery life on the 2016 MacBook Pro was oftentimes much lower than the “time remaining” estimate showed, The Verge reported.

Apple reportedly launched an internal investigation and found that the new computer’s battery was operating as expected. In response, the company has decided to get rid of the inaccurate “time remaining” status in macOS 10.12.2 in an effort to address consumer concern, according to TechCrunch.

The disparity is apparently caused by the modern processors in the 2016 MacBook Pro, sources familiar with Apple’s investigation said. The efficient processors quickly switch between high- and low-power depending on what tasks were being performed. The aging “time remaining” estimate seems to be unable to keep up with the fluctuations — the result is trouble providing accurate battery life estimates.

And apparently, part of the problem with the consumer backlash is the misunderstanding of how the “time remaining” estimate actually works, 9to5Mac reported. It’s only an estimate, and is meant to provide a quick prediction of the computer’s remaining battery life. Combine that with the fact that newly set-up Macs usually have power-intensive tasks running in the background — such as iCloud indexing photo collections — and you have a recipe for consumer complaints.

Apple boasts a 10-hour maximum battery life for the new MacBook Pro computers — of course, based on a very specific setup and configuration. Many consumers had trouble getting their MacBook Pros to last that long, Mashable reported. A Verge reviewer got his MacBook to last around 6 hours, on the other hand, writers at 9to5Mac were able to get an 8-hour lifespan out of one charge.

macOS Sierra 10.12.2 is now available to download.

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