When you think of gaming laptops, we don’t tend to think of MacBook Pro’s, but over the last 5 years Apple have invested heavily in gaming technology in their laptops. Even though they aren’t specifically made for high performance gaming, Apple is starting to make waves with their laptops and how well they work with games. But on slightly older Mac’s it is the battery that can let you down. So how can you improve the battery life on a MacBook Pro while you game? Don’t worry; we’ve got the answers you need.
Gaming On A Mac
Games are intensive on our machines, be it the demands on the CPU, graphics card and in the case of laptops, the battery. Before you start gaming on your Mac, check the battery condition. If it is a new laptop, you won’t need to do this, as the battery will be pristine, but if you have been using it for a while, it is worth checking how many cycles it has been through and whether or not it is functioning normally. If it isn’t functioning normally, your laptop will tell you, so it is always worth checking before you start gaming on your mac.
Turn The Brightness Down
One of the best things about a MacBook Pro is the retina display; it really is an absolute work of art. What makes it even better is that you don’t need the brightness at 100% in order to benefit from the colour gamut that the Mac has to offer. To extend out your battery life, reduce the brightness by 50%, this small change alone can give you an additional 30% battery life.
Kill The Keyboard Back Light
This is one way to really extend out the battery life, simply turn it off. Press F5 repeatedly until there is no light left and watch your battery life go through the roof. If you like having your keyboard lights on when you are playing at night, you can select to only have the keyboard illuminated in low light. This reduces the chance of you forgetting it is on in the day and extends out your battery time.
Quit Apps That Are Running In The Background
Apple makes it very easy to see which apps are drawing most of your power and what background apps are draining it. Open up battery preferences and work through the list of what is draining your battery, you might be surprised at how battery intensive some of these apps are.
Show The Battery Percentage On The Desk Top
By showing the battery percentage you can keep an eye on how quickly it is being drained through game play. There also won’t be any nasty surprises either when the laptop simply dies because you were so involved in the game you didn’t see the warning notifications come up. This will also give you a good idea of how long the battery will last when you are playing a game.
Use Headphones
If you are out and about or traveling, you want to make sure your battery power lasts as long as possible and one way to do this is use headphones instead. You can use either Bluetooth or ones with a jack, but either way they will use less battery than using a speaker. It will also give you more immersive game play and you won’t be distracted by what is going on around you.
Play Games Designed For MacBook’s
We appreciate that this one is more difficult, especially since Apple have only recently started dipping their toes into the realm of gaming. But if you can find games that are optimised for use on Mac’s or there is a version available, use that one. This is because games developers will take the system into account when they are developing and that includes the battery life of the laptop. You may not be able to do this just yet but give it a few years and you won’t have an issue finding good, Apple optimised games.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to extending out battery life on your MacBook Pro, it really is little changes that make all the difference. If you are using an older mac, check the condition of the battery before you start to make sure it is up to the task. From there, small changes make all the difference, from the brightness of the screen to the back lit keyboard. Keep the battery percentage on display so you can see how fast you are going through your battery so you can make improvements where necessary.
