The MacBook Pro 14 drains its battery even when plugged in
Apple hasn’t fixed the power issue in the MacBook Pro 14 with a touch-enabled OLED display. Under heavy loads, the laptop drains its battery even when plugged into an outlet. In Notebookcheck’s test, a model with the M5 Pro chip lost about 15% of its charge in an hour.
The laptop limits power draw
Notebookcheck specialists discovered the issue while testing the new MacBook Pro 14 with an OLED display. The publication received a 140W power adapter with its review unit, but the laptop drew no more than about 96W from the outlet.
As a result, the laptop doesn’t get enough power from the outlet under heavy loads. It draws the shortfall from its built-in battery, which gradually drains. The 140W adapter can’t overcome the laptop’s own power limit.
About 15% of the charge lost in an hour
During a stress test with the processor under full load, the screen at maximum brightness, and high-performance mode enabled, the battery lost about 15% of its charge in an hour. The laptop was plugged into the 140W adapter the entire time.
This behavior may become noticeable during prolonged periods of heavy use. Notebookcheck estimates that many owners may not encounter it during normal use.
The issue persisted after the update
Notebookcheck previously found similar behavior in earlier 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. In the new 14-inch model, the power limit when plugged in remained at roughly the same level.
In Notebookcheck’s test, however, the new MacBook Pro 14 lasted 16 hours and 37 minutes while browsing the web over Wi-Fi with the screen set to 150 nits—more than an hour longer than the previous model, which had a Mini-LED display and a battery of almost the same capacity.
