This is maximum CPU power usage, more than almost anything else you do with software. Lightroom Classic is good about using every available CPU core to export those images in bulk we want it to do that so that finishes exporting all of the images as quickly as possible. If you export many images in Lightroom Classic, you step up power drain even further. Those bursts use more battery than simply watching a video. If you edit a photo, there will be frequent bursts of high hardware usage, then it rests for a bit while you decide what to do next. When you actively edit media, that engages CPU, GPU, and storage to a much higher level than web browsing or video playback. Now contrast this with intensive photo or video editing. Because of that, your computer does not need to use the CPU and GPU very much to play back video or audio. When you watch HD video, the reason battery life is so long is because today’s computers and mobile devices have hardware optimized for efficient, low power media playback, even HD video. Because it would be unrealistic to claim that. In other words, Apple does not claim 10 hours for intensive photo/video editing. The Apple TV app movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 8 clicks from bottom. If you look at how Apple talks about battery life on the Tech Specs web page for the M1 Pro, it says: If I work with Lightroom and Photoshop, then it's over after about 3 hours.

I can watch movies on the computer (HD + full brightness) for about 10 hours without interruption. Apple advertises incredible battery performance, I wonder if this is normal.

Lightroom on m1 macbook pro