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GadgetGeek407

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2009
994
61
florida
I charged the battery full im using sprint usb data card with brightness on 50% all iv done since 11am eastern n 3.5 hours later im down to 10 mins left....i thought people were easily 4.5 to 5 hours....all iv done literally is web surf n leave it idle lol
 

nutman

macrumors regular
May 19, 2006
159
0
Please, this is not twitter. Use some caps and periods. The wireless connection is probably what is killing the battery life. I usually only get the advertised battery life when i have very low brightness and simple things like pages open. No internet, no wifi, no extra dongly things.
 

GadgetGeek407

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 26, 2009
994
61
florida
Please, this is not twitter. Use some caps and periods. The wireless connection is probably what is killing the battery life. I usually only get the advertised battery life when i have very low brightness and simple things like pages open. No internet, no wifi, no extra dongly things.

haha Sorry lol, charging time says 3 hours, some people said 2 hours. Same reason?
 

King t.

macrumors regular
Oct 31, 2007
195
0
i charged my MBA rev:C as well for 3+ hours and it only lasted 3:30 hours max. all i did was surf and was running skype, adium and imail in the background, my brightness was set to 65%.
I thought they improved the battery, I'm currently very disappointed in REV:C :(
 

Scottsdale

Suspended
Sep 19, 2008
4,473
283
U.S.A.
I am consistently getting 4:30 when setting display on third from lowest setting. I get more like 3:30 when turned up. It actually is an improvement over my last MBA which was a rev B 1.86 with SSD.

I do a lot of writing (typing), and I have gotten used to turning the display brightness way down for that, but when I am doing other things like Internet, video and etc I get around an hour less. I use a 3G card also, and it does drain I am sure.

BTW, what 3G service do you use? I use AT&T, and it's seriously fast and very nice to always have Internet access without worrying about "hot spots." Definitely worth the $60 per month... BUT, I wish I could just share (tether) my iPhone 3G connection which I pay $30 for the data for it. I would happily pay an extra $30 for tethering and save $30 per month, but I wonder what that would do to the iPhone??? Would it wear out sooner?
 

Mactagonist

macrumors 65816
Feb 5, 2008
1,108
199
NYC - Manhattan
I am consistently getting 4:30 when setting display on third from lowest setting. I get more like 3:30 when turned up. It actually is an improvement over my last MBA which was a rev B 1.86 with SSD.

I do a lot of writing (typing), and I have gotten used to turning the display brightness way down for that, but when I am doing other things like Internet, video and etc I get around an hour less. I use a 3G card also, and it does drain I am sure.

BTW, what 3G service do you use? I use AT&T, and it's seriously fast and very nice to always have Internet access without worrying about "hot spots." Definitely worth the $60 per month... BUT, I wish I could just share (tether) my iPhone 3G connection which I pay $30 for the data for it. I would happily pay an extra $30 for tethering and save $30 per month, but I wonder what that would do to the iPhone??? Would it wear out sooner?

You would drain your battery like crazy! :) Otherwise it would be just fine.

4-4:15 was about right for surfing over wifi when I had my Rev B Air FWIW.
 

caonimadebi

macrumors regular
May 7, 2009
216
1
I am consistently getting 4:30 when setting display on third from lowest setting. I get more like 3:30 when turned up. It actually is an improvement over my last MBA which was a rev B 1.86 with SSD.

I do a lot of writing (typing), and I have gotten used to turning the display brightness way down for that, but when I am doing other things like Internet, video and etc I get around an hour less. I use a 3G card also, and it does drain I am sure.

BTW, what 3G service do you use? I use AT&T, and it's seriously fast and very nice to always have Internet access without worrying about "hot spots." Definitely worth the $60 per month... BUT, I wish I could just share (tether) my iPhone 3G connection which I pay $30 for the data for it. I would happily pay an extra $30 for tethering and save $30 per month, but I wonder what that would do to the iPhone??? Would it wear out sooner?

Jailbreak your iPhone and install the Pdanet app. Once app is installed tethering 3G internet on your MBA is as easy as turning on wifi on both devices. Battery life on iPhone seems to be on par with heavy safari EDGE browsing (on the 2G iphone), battery drains quicker but it's acceptable.
 

tsubikiddo

macrumors regular
Mar 15, 2008
170
69
Melbourne, AUS
Yea, I tend to agree with the OP that the MBA battery has still got quite a fair bit of room for further improvement

I'm like Scott who type a lot, and I put brightness on 1 block, just enough to see what's going on the screen and quick typo checks
with BT & WiFi off, I managed to squeeze 4hrs of battery life

I have been in scenarios where I have to let the ambient light sensor to tune up the brightness and the battery only lasted ~3hrs

it's very disappointing, i agree
this is also the reason I am very committed to all means to extend the battery life (i.e. fan rpm control, thermal paste, brightness...etc)
The battery does not last long enough when I am working 'full-on',
still it's still capable in most of the other, normal-use situations
 

xparaparafreakx

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2005
1,273
1
but with battery life like this (among other non-functionalities) who cares if the thing's light? :rolleyes:

People like us who did fork over the money for lightness. We know its limits and love how nice the machine is. Just leave us alone.

3.5 hours seems normal. Bluetooh, wifi and keyboard lights off? If hard drive Rev. C did you allow the hard drive to speed down?

I must be the poor one here, T-Mobile tethering for me, $25 a month. 3G in some places but lots of Edge. Fine for email and crap.
 

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
I get constantly 4 hours on normal use, stuff without flash sites or pounding my speakers everywhere. Bluetooth is off, wifi is always on though. Brightness is 1/3 from left -> right.

Heck, I get 2 hours of gaming on battery from a full charge on Vista with High Performance and 1/2 brightness (sometimes full, then my life drops to ~1 hour 15-30 minutes). I've been doing that a lot lately, put on 10 charge cycles in 2 days cause of that.
 

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
First full charge? Batteries have a charge lifespan that is a little like an elastic band - they need to 'flex in'. This means that your first couple of charges will not see the best battery life but after it has warmed up (say after 5-10 full charges), you will start to see much better performance.

Don't write it off yet.
 
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