The M1 MacBook Pro is fighting a perpetual battle with browsers, unlike other laptop platforms.
tl; dr: While my M1 MacBook Pro gets better battery life than the new Windows laptops I’m testing, it can’t get over the battery drain of Firefox and Chrome browsers.
Don’t think for a minute that the new MacBook Pro running on Apple’s M1 processor may rise above * browser battery drain. Here is what I found.
Based on the Big Sur Activity Monitor, Firefox and Google Chrome are the two main battery drain cultures.
And if I actively use a handful of tables (12+) in both browsers, my M1 MBP becomes warm. It usually stays pretty cool.
The third largest energy pig is SpeakerAmp, a third-party Equality essential for me because it delivers a great boost to sound quality.
Safari, on the other hand, draws very little power.
MacBook Pro M1 Activity Monitor shows Firefox as a key driver for battery drain, not just … [+]
Credit: Brooke Crothers screenshot
Big Sur also gives you a quick snapshot of what is draining the battery if you click on the battery icon (bottom photo).
The moral of the story is that third-party programs (the ones that Apple doesn’t control) are potential battery hogs.
The flip side is, Apple programs like Safari, Messaging, and Photos won’t hit your battery life as hard.
This may be another reason to take another look at Safari if you are using a MacBook.
As a footnote … while my 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro (16GB) delivers better battery life than the latest Windows laptops. Gap is not as big as I expected when I got the MBP two months ago.
The M1 MBP can usually go a full strong day, beating the HP Specter x360 14 (13.5-inch OLED), which uses Intel’s latest 11th Gen processor, before 1.5 hours .
Special but not mind blowing.
The Big Sur battery drop box will give you a snapshot of energy drainage.
Credit: Brooke Crothers screenshot
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NOTES:
* This blog discusses battery drainage on Intel-based MacBook Pro.
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