Is OS X Mountain Lion Crippling Laptop Battery Life?

**Michael Essany** · 08-03-2012, 01:37 PM

Shortly after OS X Mountain Lion was released, a number of users began posting on Apple Support Communities that their laptops had started experiencing inexplicable battery life issues. Specifically, battery life is being drained exponentially faster with Mountain Lion.

Given the millions of new Lion tamers out there (my pet name for the bazillion people that nabbed Mountain Lion immediately upon its release), the criticisms are loud and growing louder with each passing day.

Most of those reporting the issue say that battery life has dropped by one or two hours. Other cases are more severe, with claims of laptops dying after just two hours of operation with OS X Mountain Lion installed. Making matters worse, hotter machines have even been reported.

Apple is now aware of the issue and is believed to be investigating the matter in hopes of quickly locating and resolving the offending culprit.

Source: Apple Support Communities

**DreamAce** · 08-03-2012, 02:01 PM

happening to me, and temperature hotter than my recent Lion OS.

**LittleJob** · 08-03-2012, 02:18 PM

you have a SSD? i do, and i see no batery issues with mine.

**feidhlim1986** · 08-03-2012, 02:22 PM

I can't tell, cos Apple stupidly removed the "Time Remaining" Battery view in the Menu Bar.

**s0ulp1xel** · 08-03-2012, 02:38 PM

I had the beta of and there were no issues with my battery life.

**DarwinThorne** · 08-03-2012, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by feidhlim1986

I can't tell, cos Apple stupidly removed the "Time Remaining" Battery view in the Menu Bar.

Really dude???

**PokemonDesigner** · 08-03-2012, 02:52 PM

I'm having heat and battery problems with my 2011 13-inch MacBook Pro ever since I downloaded and updated. I really hope they fix this in 10.8.1

**bmwraw8482** · 08-03-2012, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by feidhlim1986

I can't tell, cos Apple stupidly removed the "Time Remaining" Battery view in the Menu Bar.

That time remaining was about as useful as the miles to E in my car. A nice reference but not really accurate

And my 2007 iMac has no
Battery issues after updating to mountain lion!

**Agent929** · 08-03-2012, 03:03 PM

Mine doesn't have any issues at all.

**iTouch-Warrior** · 08-03-2012, 03:12 PM

Well, I installed it on my 27" iMac I noticed a huge difference in temperature. Back with Lion my machine ran hot, even on cold days. Now it runs cool and smooth. I obviously can't report on battery life since it doesn't have one, but I'm pretty happy with Mountain Lion so far.

My guess is that all the iCloud-based apps and push notifications are draining battery in the background.

**p1mpdog1** · 08-03-2012, 03:26 PM

Using the new mac book pro 512GB 16GB ram and not having any issue at all running great!!!!

**2k1** · 08-03-2012, 03:38 PM

Not having issues with mine at all loving it.

**WaLLy3K** · 08-03-2012, 04:01 PM

I've been using 10.8 since the GM release on my Mid 2010 MBP (Upgraded with a Samsung 830 SSD) and haven't had any issues. In fact, I believe the estimated time remaining has become more accurate as it'll say I'm going to have 5 hours of life with Safari/Mail/Messages/Adium/Steam/iTunes and a few other apps open… and Steam isn't particularly friendly on the battery life, I've found.

Closing Steam, it estimates about 6 hours battery life on 97%. Lion wasn't that good, in comparison.

**pakitos** · 08-03-2012, 04:02 PM

No problem on an early 11 MBP 13"

I did a fresh install thou and its very cool, been using it now for 3hours and still 62% left (4 hours)

I got rid of the default battery indicator and choose to use iStatMenu for battery which shows the remaining time.

**ajo610** · 08-03-2012, 04:16 PM

when i do my school stuff (typing and taking notes) its fine but when i watch youtube and stuff like that it gets mad hot

**pakitos** · 08-03-2012, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by ajo610

when i do my school stuff (typing and taking notes) its fine but when i watch youtube and stuff like that it gets mad hot

Most laptops will do that due to the very limited cooling setups.

**Cer0** · 08-03-2012, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by iTouch-Warrior

Well, I installed it on my 27" iMac I noticed a huge difference in temperature. Back with Lion my machine ran hot, even on cold days. Now it runs cool and smooth.

Hmmm this little bit info I may just go ahead and grab it this weekend. I have 27in i5 iMac.

**xhazex9x** · 08-03-2012, 04:57 PM

HELL yea butt raping my battery

**xbreathexgx** · 08-03-2012, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by ajo610

when i do my school stuff (typing and taking notes) its fine but when i watch youtube and stuff like that it gets mad hot

It has to do with Flash. That's not an Apple or Mountain Lion problem/fault.

**iYeow** · 08-03-2012, 05:01 PM

I have no issue , LOVING IT on my Dual Boot Machine.

Your favorite Apple, iPhone, iPad, iOS, Jailbreak, and Cydia site.

Thread: Is OS X Mountain Lion Crippling Laptop Battery Life?

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General Apple/Mac

Shortly after OS X Mountain Lion was released, a number of users began posting on Apple Support Communities that their laptops had started experiencing inexplicable battery life issues. Specifically, battery