Battery draining on MacBook Pro M4 Max with original charger

Brand new 14" M4 Max with original 96w power supply + cable is draining battery while plugged in during heavy use. I have tried two of these power supplies. Is it possible for this machine to use more power than the supply can provide? I'm doing the same work on this that I was on my old Intel 16" on which this never happened.


The heavy usage comes from Resolume Arena, a GPU-heavy VJing software.



[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.0

Posted on Oct 20, 2025 4:45 PM

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5 replies

Oct 21, 2025 7:08 AM in response to snark77

...draining battery while plugged in during heavy use.


Before useful Apple Knowledge Base articles were dumbed down before the Altar of Minimalist Design, Apple had an excellent and detailed battery article. Part of it explained that, when resource demand was high, a laptop Mac could draw power from BOTH the battery and wall power. I can't say if that is still the case today, but your evidence suggests it is. If this does not happen with low-demand tasks like word processing or checking Mail, that further intimates what is at play


Your energy chart shows Arena as practically, well, off the charts. High demand can include using an external monitor. Is that the case here?

Oct 21, 2025 7:08 AM in response to snark77

Your computer performs best when connected to AC power, such as the power adapter. It can use the full output of the Power Adapter AND when doing especially challenging work could also freely "borrow" power from the battery. In some cases, even with the power adapter connected, the charged state may decline during very stressful work.


You appear to be doing work so challenging, it is using all available power adapter power, AND draining the battery at the same time.

Battery draining on MacBook Pro M4 Max with original charger

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