Is the battery on the M1 MBP really that much better than the M1 MBA?

[justinf77]

Joanna Stern from the WSJ ran a battery test comparing the M1 MBA and MBP, and the MBP lasted almost 50% longer on a video playback test.

The Pro lasted 16 hours while the Air lasted 10 hours 45 minutes.

Have any other reviews shown this much of a difference?

 

[Zazoh]

In my own observations, many things go into battery life. I can’t get consistent results doing same task at different times. Apple claims a few hours difference.

 

[Gnattu]

If you just look at the capacity Air has 49.9Whr and Pro has 58.2Whr, and 16-17% higher capacity would not translates to 50% longer video playback time magically.
I would think they are either not using the same brightness(measured in nit) testing the video playback or they did use the same brightness but Air's screen need higher power to achieve the same level brightness.

 

[Sanpete]

That's surprising to me. Wonder if the screen is less efficient. (I suppose she set them to the same brightness.)

 

[Gnattu]

That's surprising to me. Wonder if the screen is less efficient. (I suppose she set them to the same brightness.)

Air's screen has 400-nits and Pro's has 500, which means when Air is set to the highest brightness possible, Pro still have pretty room left to be as bright as Air. This is very possible to impact battery life.

 

[russell_314]

With the reviews I've seen they seem to be very close. Perhaps there was an anomaly causing this? Apple lists them as pretty close too.

I've went back and forth over Air vs Pro and the only two things I see different that matter are the beveled design of the Air might make it easier to type on and the slightly brighter screen might make the Pro easier to use by a window with sunlight.