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Laptop computers have come a long way in battery life over the years. Even though the modern MacBook Pro has excellent battery life, there are still ways to extend the battery and save power if you have a need to do so.
Adjusting the display is one of the most efficient ways to save battery on MacBook Pro. You can also try to close apps that are not in use, turn off notifications, etc. I’ll go over the step-by-step guide on how to save Macbook battery life.
Old MacBook Pros could only last a couple of hours at best and today’s new MacBook Pro can last 17 hours or more before you have to connect it to a power source.
Longer battery usage life is great for a number of reasons from allowing you to work remotely or keeping your favorite entertainment on the screen longer. By learning a few tricks to save battery on Mac, you can optimize energy usage.
3 Efficient Ways to Save Battery on a MacBook Pro
There are many ways to save a little bit of battery life on your MacBook Pro. Combine a few of these tips (or all of them) together and you could see your laptop’s battery life increase quite considerably over the course of one cycle.
One of these tips alone may not make a considerable difference in MacBook’s battery life, but taking them all into consideration can get you the extra time you might need.
1. Adjust Your Display
The retina displays on MacBooks are amazing but can also eat up a lot of battery. You can save some battery by reducing the brightness of your screen when you are running on battery power or changing it to low power mode.
You can quickly control the brightness of your screen by pressing the F1 and F2 keys on your keyboard. Or if you have a touch bar, you can move the slider of the brightness option on the Control Strip (located at the right end of the touch bar).
For battery-saving reasons, I’d suggest keeping your display around 20-25% of brightness. That will give you enough light to see while not putting out too much to drain the battery quickly.
Step 1: Choose the Apple menu > System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) > Battery.
Step 2: Check Slightly dim the display while on battery power and Low battery mode.
That’s the setting that I have and I charge my MacBook Pro every 6 hours.
2. Turn of Services You Don’t Need
Another good battery-saving practice is to turn off any and all services on your computer that you don’t currently need. This can include things such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and location services.
Chances are you are probably using WiFi so we won’t really address turning that off here but turning off the other services is a simple process you should learn.
Step 1: Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) > Bluetooth.
Step 2: Click on the Turn Bluetooth Off button to turn this service off and save some Mac battery life.
If you have to use Bluetooth for your mouse or Airpods, turning off the Location Service will also save the MacBook battery.
Follow Step 1, instead of clicking Bluetooth, click Security & Privacy.
Click Privacy. You then need to click on the lock in the lower left-hand corner of this menu, enter your password and uncheck Enable Location Services.
Notifications are another non-essential service that you can disable to save a bit of battery.
To turn off notifications, go to the Apple menu > System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) > Notifications. From this menu, you can make your settings for Do Not Disturb which will keep any notifications from popping up and save some battery health while doing it.
3. Quit Apps That Are Not in Use
Apps consume energy even when they are not in use. The more app windows you leave open, the faster your battery goes away. A lot of people don’t have the habit to quit the applications that they finished using because it’s just more convenient to leave them open.
However, if you want to save battery aging, that’s something you should do. And Oh! Closing the app window doesn’t mean that you quit the app.
You can quickly quit apps using keyboard shortcuts. Hold Command + Tab, keep hitting tab until it selects the app you want to quit, and hit Q (with the Command key held). Or you can simply click the app on the deck and choose Quit.
Why You Should Save Your Battery Life
Everyone uses their MacBook for different reasons. Some use our computers just for work and others use them for entertainment like watching movies and playing games. In reality, most people use their computers for a variety of reasons but they can become very important to everyday life.
With so many of us living life on the go, whether that means commuting to and from work, traveling for work or for pleasure, or simply using a computer in a variety of different places, battery life is an important aspect of modern-day life.
It is really nice to feel untethered to charging chords and having the freedom to move your computer from place to place without worry is one of the main reasons we buy laptops in the first place.
In order to live this sort of mobile lifestyle with your computer, you want your battery to last as long as it possibly can.
It’s an obvious convenience to not have to plug into a power source very often but can also be a necessity for people who want to conduct business or correspondence from their computers.
Learning how to prolong the life of your battery will enable you to use your computer on the go for longer stretches of time without much worry of losing power.
FAQs
Here are more questions related to saving battery on MacBook Pro that can be helpful for you.
How do I find out what’s draining my Mac battery?
If you click on the battery icon on the top right corner of your desktop (together with the wifi, search, date & time, etc), the drop-down menu will show you which app is using significant energy.
Visit MacBook Pro Slow‘s article on how to fix battery issue.
Why is my MacBook Pro battery draining so fast?
Screen display, location services, heavy programs, videos are all factors that can affect your battery life. Overall, your display is one of the most power-demanding parts of your computer.
High-resolution graphics and lots of light can lead to quick battery drainage if you are watching a movie or other videos, which is common because of the quality of display your MacBook has.
How do I turn on the battery saver on Mac?
Choose the Apple menu > System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) > Battery. Check Slightly dim the display while on battery power and Low battery mode.
Does low power mode save battery on MacBook Pro?
Yes, low power mode saves MacBook battery life. Low battery mode dims your display accordingly and the display is a big factor that affects battery life. Besides that, it also reduces energy consumption.
Final Thoughts
Running out of battery power at the wrong time can be stressful, annoying, and potentially problematic if you lose any unsaved data. Luckily, with a few tips like the ones above, you can increase the life of your battery and have less risk of running out when you are not near a power source.
Have you ever run out of battery power on your MacBook Pro? Do you have any other battery-saving tips to share?
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