macOS 10.12.2 update

by Volker Weber

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Before and after the 10.12.2 update. Apple removed the time remaining indicator because people weren't happy with the numbers they were seeing on the new MacBook Pros.

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Cannot find that change in the release notes though.

Comments

I had no problems with the time estimations so far. It was fairly accurate most of the time and I could estimate the *current* energy consumption without checking CPU activity. That’s no longer possible. (Okay, it still is possible if you replace macOS’ battery menubar item with the excellent iStat Menus battery item. But normal™ users lost a useful status information.)

And as Marco Arment wrote:

„At the start of a long flight, for instance, I can check the time estimate, and if it only says I have 2 hours left at 90%, I know something’s burning a ton of power and I can go do something about that. A percentage only tells you the current state, not the rate of change“

https://marco.org/2016/12/13/apple-removes-battery-time-remaining

Dennis Frank, 2016-12-14

You find the "Time Remaining" still in the "Activity Monitor App" under Energy in the bottom of the window

Leif Jensen-Pistorius, 2016-12-14

I think the real information is first of all the rate of change / consumption and then to put this into context with the remaining capacity.

In particular when you see (a) going up this could be an actionable insight. Maybe you are really doing a compile or something that needs CPU, or parentscontrold or another app/service runs amok and you need to kill it to extend your battery life.

Very unfortunate that Apple didn't take the challenge, but instead dumbed it down for everybody.

I feel it shows a lack of trying on Apple's part, but function wise it's also not a huge deal. The alternative is to run the activity monitor dock icon that shows the CPU consumption. Together with the understanding that the screen eats battery, this is a good enough proxy for energy consumption. The absolute percentage of the remaining battery is sufficient then.

Mariano Kamp, 2016-12-14

ps. I read comments in my RSS reader and somehow missed Dennis' comment. Otherwise I would'nt have contributed a seemingly re-write of his one.

;)

Mariano Kamp, 2016-12-14

I am pretty sure there is a yet undocumented plist setting to enable the old behavior.

Volker Weber, 2016-12-14

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