Why Does Apple Sabotage the MacBook?

Why Does Apple Sabotage the MacBook?(magnatecha.com)

43 points by autotravis 12 years ago

dljsjr 12 years ago |

The reason, at least in my experience, is a lot less conspiratorial than that. Most modern MacBook Pros actually have the ability to ramp up the CPU's draw when on AC power so high that even when plugged in, they will cause battery drain. By allowing MacBooks to run with no battery in them, it would be possible to cause the machine to shut down.

I have been told that this is a feature, not a design flaw. Some have told me that it's simply required for burst processing. Others have told me that it's related to battery health; it's bad for LiIon batteries to remain fully charged without discharging on occasion. I have no idea what the real reason is.

I do know that current rMBPs have issues with throttling based on thermals, but this has nothing to do with battery life.

nwh 12 years ago | |

This is completely correct. At full load I can draw 100W+ from my MacBook, which does indeed drain the battery. It's just a side effect of them having a small lightweight charger, and it's never affected me in the slightest. This is just some wild fantasy dreamed up by the original articles author.

mbell 12 years ago | |

To use an example: the RMBP comes with an 85W power supply but it's CPU has a TDP rating of 47W and GPU a rating of 45W for a total of 92W. Without even getting to powering other circuitry, the display, or including conversion efficiency, it's pretty obvious that it can't run full bore off the wall supply alone.

onebaddude 12 years ago | |

>MacBook Pros actually have the ability to ramp up the CPU's draw when on AC power so high that even when plugged in, they will cause battery drain

So why not limit the CPU to: (Speed at which batter drains) - 1%?

iSnow 12 years ago | |

> Most modern MacBook Pros actually have the ability to ramp up the CPU's draw when on AC power so high that even when plugged in, they will cause battery drain

Sounds like a major design flaw. Imagine you want to go on a flight and do something really CPU & GPU intensive and afterwards discover you have drained your battery.

Apple should buy beefier power supplies if this is the cause of the problem - probably they are trying to shave 3% off the unit price by ordering whimpy power plugs.

mbell 12 years ago | | |

> Apple should buy beefier power supplies if this is the cause of the problem - probably they are trying to shave 3% off the unit price by ordering whimpy power plugs.

Apple has not historically been one to skimp on power supply costs, to the contrary the supplies they provide are some of the highest quality I've seen in terms of build quality and part selection.

The actual problem is more one of form factor. Apple has a certain expectation for size/weight/usability of their laptop supplies and meeting those goals with a 150W supply just isn't realistic.

nwh 12 years ago | | |

Major? It's been that way since 2007 at least, it's just a side effect of the way they design their machines. It's not as if this is a recent thing that Apple has just introduced.

dljsjr 12 years ago | | |

This hi-draw mode is actually only available when on AC power. Doing anything CPU and GPU intensive will obviously increase battery draw, but these exceptionally high CPU speeds are only possible when the MagSafe connection is active.

corin_ 12 years ago | |

Surely the CPU at 55% wouldn't draw more power than it can draw from AC? If that was the cause couldn't they just cut off the very top end of CPU usage?

beloch 12 years ago |

A lot of PC laptops are used as desktops long after they go off warranty. It's one of the reasons why PC laptop sales have stagnated. If a laptop can still handle media, browsing etc. and still works, it often won't be replaced.

Apple deliberately combats stagnation of their market in several ways. Their fashion forward approach and sensationalistic marketing are one way to make people want to upgrade sooner. Lack of support for DIY upgrades, soldered batteries, and crippling the CPU are another. Aggressively driving prices down to the point where laptops are almost disposable is yet another.

Consider what happens when you bring your Mac into an Apple store with a bad battery. The laptop is quite probably off warranty, especially if you didn't buy extended Applecare coverage. You will be told the repair will take a while and will be quoted a price that is going to be distressingly close to the price of a shiny new mac, whose prices have likely dropped since when you bought your old laptop. You're already committed to spending some money, and the feeling that you can buy a new, cheaper macbook for not a lot more than the new battery, plus the instant gratification of walking away with a functional laptop now will put the hook in you.

People generally pick up Apple products and make the mistake of thinking they're built to last. They're not. They're built to feel good in your hand and be replaced within 2-3 years.

EdwardMSmith 12 years ago | |

My personal experience is very different.

In 2011-ish (don't remember the exact date), we noticed that the battery on my wife's white (2006) Macbook had started to swell.

I looked into it and realized that there was a recall on the battery, and you could have gotten a free replacement, but the recall timeframe had expired.

I took the macbook to the Apple store anyway, as the computer worked perfectly otherwise (in fact, we didn't really notice any significant battery life issues anyway), and asked them about the recall.

They said, yes, the recall had expired, but they could do a one-time special thing and replace the battery for free anyway. They did that, and also replaced the keyboard "tray" which had started to crack a little bit.

The macbook still works perfectly today - 7+ years after purchase.

Second, the replacement cost for the "un-replaceable" battery in my 2012 Macbook Air is $129[1]. That is not "distressingly close to the price of a shiny new mac", and really not that far off of the cost of any other replacement battery for a machine in its class.

[1] http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=United...

mhielscher 12 years ago |

This is not an OS feature, and it's not completely new. My original black MacBook (2006) is limited in a similar way - if the battery is removed and the computer is running on AC power only, the 2 GHz processor is limited to 1 GHz. This happens even under Ubuntu.

I don't believe that it happened when my previous near-dead battery was in place and recognized, but more and more often the MacBook would refuse to recognize it, and I'd get the "AC power only" symbol in the menu and a slowed-down CPU.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120803114641/http://support.app...

bnastic 12 years ago | |

Fwiw, the same happens on my old Thinkpad x200. Remove the battery and the CPU drops to 800Mhz.

Hello71 12 years ago |

> This, obviously, is a ploy to bring MacBook owners into an Apple store to pay to have their battery replaced.

This is a joke, right?

misframer 12 years ago | |

"The battery, like an AC unit, is a convenience."

Made me chuckle.

stephencanon 12 years ago |

> This, obviously, is a ploy to bring MacBook owners into an Apple store to pay to have their battery replaced. One cannot do this himself because it will void the warranty on a MacBook.

If the battery is bad and the machine is under warranty, it will be replaced under warranty. If the battery is bad and the machine is not under warranty, then you can't very well void the warranty no matter what you do to the battery. Similarly poor logic saturates the rest of the article.

X-Istence 12 years ago |

The power adapter simply isn't able to provide the full power required to run the entire laptop with the CPU at full speed. The battery in that case is acting as a large capacitor and in most cases when running at full tilt is actually discharging even when plugged in.

When the battery goes bad and a notice pops up stating that it should be serviced they don't want to cause any possible issues such as the battery catching fire or exploding. Better safe than sorry.

Also, this is all hardware controlled, and happens not just on MacBook's but on plenty of other machines too. Had an old Toshiba that when the battery was removed it would limit itself from 2.4 Ghz to 1.2 Ghz max.

ctdonath 12 years ago |

Might be worth finding out "why?" before declaring the designers of a brilliant piece of engineering "stupid" just because you don't understand one very deliberate decision.

fr0ggerrr 12 years ago |

If you don't know the difference between you're and your, you probably don't know what you're talking about.

kbutler 12 years ago | |

I have a bunch of beautiful book covers to sell you.

xlayn 12 years ago |

This post doesn't add anything to the original one. End of the story....

qwerta 12 years ago |

The reason is simple: If power suddenly dies, there is no energy to keep fan running. So laptop would take much longer to cool down, possibly damaging some sensitive parts.

tiernano 12 years ago |

Is this OS independent or limited to just OSX?