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Retina MacBook Q&A
Published April 29, 2016
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What is the "real-world" battery life of the "Early 2016" 12-Inch Retina Display MacBook? How does it compare to the "Early 2015" MacBook models replaced and the MacBook Air?
Please note that the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook has been discontinued. However, this Q&A is up-to-date and can be quite useful for anyone considering one of these models on the used market.
In the company press release for the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook models -- the MacBook "Core m3" 1.1 12-Inch, "Core m5" 1.2 12-Inch, and "Core m7" 1.3 12-Inch -- Apple brags that these notebooks provide "all-day battery life" as well as that that the battery life is longer than the "Early 2015" MacBook models replaced.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (2016 Retina MacBook)
Official Battery Life Estimates & Battery Specs
More specifically, Apple notes that the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook line provides "an additional hour of battery life" than their predecessors, or up to 10 hours of "wireless web" and up to 11 hours of "iTunes movie playback."
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (Retina MacBook Battery Design)
Like their predecessors, the battery in the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook line is "layered in individual sheets that are precisely contoured" to fit in the MacBook housing. Unfortunately, this battery effectively is in pieces and is glued in place, as well. Self-replacement is particularly unlikely.
Although the "Early 2015" and "Early 2016" Retina MacBook models share a common design, the earlier models have a 39.7 watt-hour battery and the latter models have a 41.4 watt-hour battery.
With a battery that provides around 4% more watt-hours, it would be hoped that the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook would provide at least 4% more runtime, but an official estimate of 10% more runtime is impressive.
For the 11-Inch and 13-Inch "Early 2015" MacBook Air models, Apple estimates 9-10 hours and 12 hours of battery life, respectively.
Also, the "Early 2015" MacBook Air models do not have batteries that are glued in place, so fairly simple self-replacement is quite possible.
Official Battery Life Testing Criteria
Apple notes that preproduction versions of standard models were used and details the testing methodology accordingly:
The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The iTunes movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The standby test measures battery life by allowing a system, connected to a wireless network and signed in to an iCloud account, to enter standby mode with Safari and Mail applications launched and all system settings left at default.
For several years now, Apple's battery life estimates have been reasonable, but third-party test results still can be useful.
Third-Party Battery Life Test Results
Independent battery life tests tend to use different methods from the official ones and can provide a more thorough "real world" evaluation accordingly.
In a fairly simple video playback test designed to mimic Apple's own, Engadget found the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook to perform slightly worse than the official results:
I saw the MacBook notch almost exactly an extra hour in Engadget's rundown test, which involves looping video in iTunes and setting the screen to 10 bars out of 16, with no dimming. . . Like last year, though, the MacBook's battery life fell short of Apple's promise, even when I attempted to replicate the company's own testing conditions.
After performing a pair of tests to simulate different usage conditions ArsTechnica reported:
The 2016 MacBook outlasted 2015's version by about half an hour [in a Wi-Fi browsing test]. . . In the more intensive WebGL test, which puts a light but continuous load on both the GPU and CPU, both the 2015 and 2016 MacBooks last for around the same amount of time (3:36 for the 2016 and 3:31 for the 2015). You'll see the battery life gains if you're leaving the processor idle for longer periods of time.
Finally, LaptopMag performed detailed testing, including a helpful heavy use scenario:
On the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing at 100 nits of screen brightness, the system lasted a strong 9 hours and 38 minutes. That's about an hour longer than last year's MacBook. . . However, the 13-inch MacBook Air lasted an astounding 14:40.
With the screen on full brightness and when running multiple programs, the [Early 2016] MacBook was down to 53 percent after 2.5 hours, so you'll want to keep it on half brightness or less to squeeze out extra juice.
The battery life gains for the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook are impressive, albeit perhaps not quite as great as Apple's test results.
Battery Life Summary
Ultimately, based on the independent tests above, Apple's estimated battery life for the "Early 2016" Retina MacBook models is reasonable, although runtime varies significantly depending on the tasks performed.
The "Early 2016" Retina MacBook provides excellent battery life overall, but if battery life (as well as the option of replacing the battery yourself as well as price) is more important to you than screen quality, the MacBook Air is a better choice.
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