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How long should a Macbook Air battery last?

S

slobizman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 16, 2008
111
9
My early-2014 Macbook Air battery had finally gotten to old, so I purchased a replacement last week, a 5-star rated third party Temark battery. Turns out it really sucked. I am going to return it. So, I went and purchased a Macsales (Newertech) battery, because they have a good reputation and I have always had great luck with Macsales memory over the years. Well, it's sucks just as bad.

I just tested this last battery, after booting in Safe Mode, disabling browser extensions, I ran a youtube video in a tab. Only. Brightness was down to about 60%. In 90 minutes, it ran down the battery from 79% to 17%--a 62% loss of battery capacity!

So now I think I'll return this one as well, and then go to Apple and get them to install one of their own. I don't think I can order one anywhere online, and have to go to the Apple store (where they will likely have to order the battery).

Anyway, with that backdrop, can someone tell me just how much battery life I should expect from a real Apple battery? 7-8 hours right?

I'm really shocked at how bad these off-brand batteries are.

P.S. It took 10% of my battery just to write this post.
 
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slobizman said:
My early-2014 Macbook Air battery had finally gotten to old, so I purchased a replacement last week, a 5-star rated third party Temark battery. Turns out it really sucked. I am going to return it. So, I went and purchased a Macsales (Newertech) battery, because they have a good reputation and I have always had great luck with Macsales memory over the years. Well, it's sucks just as bad.

I just tested this last battery, after booting in Safe Mode, disabling browser extensions, I ran a youtube video in a tab. Only. Brightness was down to about 60%. In 90 minutes, it ran down the battery from 79% to 17%--a 62% loss of battery capacity!

So now I think I'll return this one as well, and then go to Apple and get them to install one of their own. I don't think I can order one anywhere online, and have to go to the Apple store (where they will likely have to order the battery).

Anyway, with that backdrop, can someone tell me just how much battery life I should expect from a real Apple battery? 7-8 hours right?

I'm really shocked at how bad these off-brand batteries are.

P.S. It took 10% of my battery just to write this post.
Click to expand...
Crap. I just bought a NewerTech battery for my 11" MBA but haven't put it in yet. I hope it works out ok. I'd complain to OWC about it, and see if they have any advice.

I guess it's just possible at this point that some (all?) aftermarket MBA batteries out there have been sitting on a shelf for a while and may be suffering from that?

If you downlod CoconutBattery, it will tell you the manufacture date of your battery and a bunch of other info which might be helpful. (It will also give you detailed info on your iPhone's battery as well, if you hook it up to your computer via USB).
 
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Macdctr said:
Have you tried buying your battery from ifixit.com? Just a thought...
Click to expand...

I did think about it, since they are located less than a mile from my home. But I'd had so much success with MacSales I went for that. Maybe it would have been a better choice, I don't know...
[doublepost=1517863683][/doublepost]
Audit13 said:
Not sure if calibration of the battery, NVRAM reset and/or PRAM reset would help.
Click to expand...

I did a SMC reset just this morning, and it didn't help.

This is my second battery from Macsales, the first one did not work (at all, no power). At that point, along with the Macsales rep, I did an SMC reset and a PRAM reset. Didn't help. I don't know if should do a PRAM reset again or not, now that there is a new battery installed.
[doublepost=1517863832][/doublepost]
ignatius345 said:
Crap. I just bought a NewerTech battery for my 11" MBA but haven't put it in yet. I hope it works out ok. I'd complain to OWC about it, and see if they have any advice.

I guess it's just possible at this point that some (all?) aftermarket MBA batteries out there have been sitting on a shelf for a while and may be suffering from that?

If you downlod CoconutBattery, it will tell you the manufacture date of your battery and a bunch of other info which might be helpful. (It will also give you detailed info on your iPhone's battery as well, if you hook it up to your computer via USB).
Click to expand...

I ran Coconut and the battery looks good, and it's manufacture date is Dec 2017. Everything else on it looks good. I don't know if this means it should perform as well as an Apple battery nor not.

Please let me know what you think about your NewerTech battery after you install it.
 
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I am typing on a early 2014 MacBook Air base model. My battery info is as follows:

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 5801

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6441

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 269

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -872

Voltage (mV): 8260

Seems to still be going strong. Not sure if those numbers are good or not, but I use the laptop everyday, and a charge lasts all day while I am in the field.
 
So, in an attempt to rule out other things, I've just now quit Firefox Quantum and am using Safari. I have also just now turned off Location Services, which I heard can be a drag on the battery. However, I had already ran a test using Safari rather than Firefox on the Temark battery last week, and no difference.

I wish I could remember when I Air was updated to High Sierra. I wonder if it is messing with my battery too. I know I updated to it prior to replacing my original Apple battery a couple weeks ago. I wonder if it has coincidentally impaired by battery life. Because my original battery (about 800-900 cycles) life was going downhill about, roughly, the same time I started running High Sierra. I would normally not attribute the battery life to this, but it's just so odd that two replacement batteries now, from two difference third party customers, are not working out well. If one of the companies was not Macsales/Newertech, I wouldn't really give this much consideration.
[doublepost=1517864647][/doublepost]Interestingly, I called AppleCare (I'm not on warranty, but was directed to call them) to see how I would get a new Apple battery for the Air. They will not sell one, I have to go to the Genius Bar to have them order and install one. I told them I had tried a third-party battery, and the guy said then Apple will not replace the battery. Even if I'm not using AppleCare warranty, doesn't matter.

I do have a Genius appt, and I think I'll pop the old Apple battery in, and not say anything about having replaced it. The AppleCare guy I was speaking with, said yes, Apple will still know I've replaced it. But I don't see how--it was just some screws that held it in and I didn't see any glue or anything. What do you guys think? Would they know? Would they really care?
[doublepost=1517864758][/doublepost]
bopajuice said:
I am typing on a early 2014 MacBook Air base model. My battery info is as follows:

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 5801

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 6441

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 269

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -872

Voltage (mV): 8260

Seems to still be going strong. Not sure if those numbers are good or not, but I use the laptop everyday, and a charge lasts all day while I am in the field.
Click to expand...
And this is my Macsales/NewerTech battery:

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 2200

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 7250

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 3

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -851

Voltage (mV): 7522
 
slobizman said:
So, in an attempt to rule out other things, I've just now quit Firefox Quantum and am using Safari. I have also just now turned off Location Services, which I heard can be a drag on the battery. However, I had already ran a test using Safari rather than Firefox on the Temark battery last week, and no difference.

I wish I could remember when I Air was updated to High Sierra. I wonder if it is messing with my battery too. I know I updated to it prior to replacing my original Apple battery a couple weeks ago. I wonder if it has coincidentally impaired by battery life. Because my original battery (about 800-900 cycles) life was going downhill about, roughly, the same time I started running High Sierra. I would normally not attribute the battery life to this, but it's just so odd that two replacement batteries now, from two difference third party customers, are not working out well. If one of the companies was not Macsales/Newertech, I wouldn't really give this much consideration.
[doublepost=1517864647][/doublepost]Interestingly, I called AppleCare (I'm not on warranty, but was directed to call them) to see how I would get a new Apple battery for the Air. They will not sell one, I have to go to the Genius Bar to have them order and install one. I told them I had tried a third-party battery, and the guy said then Apple will not replace the battery. Even if I'm not using AppleCare warranty, doesn't matter.

I do have a Genius appt, and I think I'll pop the old Apple battery in, and not say anything about having replaced it. The AppleCare guy I was speaking with, said yes, Apple will still know I've replaced it. But I don't see how--it was just some screws that held it in and I didn't see any glue or anything. What do you guys think? Would they know? Would they really care?
[doublepost=1517864758][/doublepost]
And this is my Macsales/NewerTech battery:

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 2200

Fully Charged: No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 7250

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 3

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): -851

Voltage (mV): 7522
Click to expand...

When I opened up my Mac mini I noticed some of the screws had marks on them for alignment. I don't recall seeing any of that on the Air. Just be careful when handling the screws. If you go easy with the screwdriver and don't leave any marks on the screws you might be OK.
 
Audit13 said:
Did you provide the serial # for the Macbook? If yes, the AppleCare agent may have made notes under the Macbook's service log?
Click to expand...

I didn’t provide serial# but he would know it because my phone number provided the match to my account and he knew what equipment I had.
 
Last edited:
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Audit13 said:
I'd still take it in and let them have a look at the battery issue.

Edit: I needed a battery for a mid-2013 MBA so I ordered this battery from Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01HT6NN88/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I purchased a battery from this company for a Dell netbook with very good results.

Having the Apple store replace the battery would cost me CAD $169 + taxes.
Click to expand...

Do you think it's even worth stepping up to the Genius Bar with a NewerTech battery in my Mac Air, and being honest about it? It's not under warranty and it's been opened. Feeling like they'll just tell me to go home. I don't feel like replacing this battery with the original battery just to go there--I don't want to keep replacing batteries and messing with the screws so much (so far, so good).
 
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If you are going to bring it in, I recommend installing the original battery. I know the battery screws in the Air are pretty flimsy. You don't want to give Aplple a reason to refuse warranty service for the battery.
 
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slobizman said:
I ran Coconut and the battery looks good, and it's manufacture date is Dec 2017. Everything else on it looks good. I don't know if this means it should perform as well as an Apple battery nor not.

Please let me know what you think about your NewerTech battery after you install it.
Click to expand...

Weird. I wonder if you have another hardware issue that's causing battery or power management problems. If it's that new and has (I presume) just a few cycles on it, it should be working. I guess if you get an OEM Apple battery in there, you'll be able to isolate that.

Is CoconutBattery telling you what your power draw is? One of its options is to display the number of watts the machine is drawing as it runs. I find it a useful indicator of something amiss if I see higher numbers up there suddenly.
 
ignatius345 said:
Weird. I wonder if you have another hardware issue that's causing battery or power management problems. If it's that new and has (I presume) just a few cycles on it, it should be working. I guess if you get an OEM Apple battery in there, you'll be able to isolate that.

Is CoconutBattery telling you what your power draw is? One of its options is to display the number of watts the machine is drawing as it runs. I find it a useful indicator of something amiss if I see higher numbers up there suddenly.
Click to expand...


It's discharging between 5.05 - 6.66 Watts over the last few minutes.
 
slobizman said:
It's discharging between 5.05 - 6.66 Watts over the last few minutes.
Click to expand...
That's lower than my MBA (11"), which seems to be pulling 10+ W much of the time. I'm also getting pretty abysmal battery life, FWIW. I was hoping that a new battery would help things out, as mine has about 400 cycles on it. But now I'm wondering if that is true.
 
So, I just returned my second MacSales NewerTech battery. The first one didn't work at all and it was exchanged. The second one worked, but gave me about the same life as the first third-party one I bought from Temark.

Support at MacSales has been very responsive, and wants to give me a third battery. But I told them I'm kind of burnt out on this and simply want a refund, and have placed my original 800 cycle-old Apple battery back in.

It's funny, now that I have my original battery back in, what felt like short life now feels like long life. compared to the replacements! This battery discharges about 15% an hour on average, based on initial observations; both the NewerTech and the Temark burned about 30% of battery life per hour.

Nothing like third party batteries to make me appreciate my old original battery, albeit an almost exhausted one.

So, I have a Genius Bar appointment tomorrow night. Thinking of canceling it and living with this battery for a while longer (Coconut app still shows it as "Good" even though it's at 800 cycles); maybe it'll be good for another year. But I don't know, maybe I'll go. But I bet the Apple rep I called on the phone this week probably made notes that I had changed out my battery, so even if I go in and say "what? No, I didn't open the MacBook" I think they'll know, and not let me buy a new battery. Frustrating though, because I'm not on warranty any more and will pay for it. Hell, I'll put it in myself (if they'd let me).

What a waste of time this has been. Drives me crazy that Apple products don't have user-replaceable batteries, and also that I cannot order a battery for Apple so I can install it myself. Why do they need to control me so much?

One bright spot: it's caused me to really learn how to use my iPad Pro, to see what I can do it in instead of my MacBook Air. Surprisingly, I'm able to, productively, do about 80% of my tasks on the iPad. And it's more pleasurable, actually. :)
 
My 2012 MBA's battery lasted until a few days ago. I changed it yesterday and it works just as new as from the first day I bought it, couldn't be any happier.
 
I received this battery for $65 CAD from Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01HT6NN88/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Installed yesterday and it seems to be working perfectly.

Battery drains at about 15% per hour which I expected as I am running an Intel 600p 256 GB nvme drive in my early 2015 8 GB MacBook Air. This is about the same amount of battery drain I got with an original Apple battery with 300 cycles. I'm pretty happy since I paid less than 1/3 of the price for an original Apple replacement.
 
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