M1 MBA battery runtime test

[Quackers]

Just a FYI.
Brand new M1 MBA after a full day on the charger I thought I'd see how long the battery ran for.

Total runtime on battery 18 hrs 42 mins - showing 9% left equalling 1 hr 7 mins (in energy tab on Activity Monitor).
This includes only light use, as follows
11 hrs and 11 mins using Safari with 3 to 4 tabs open - MR, another forum, a google result site and watching 4 or 5 HD videos on YT and a few checks on Mail.
7 hrs and 31 mins asleep.

Once reconnected to charger (standard Apple 30W) it's showing 3hrs 5 mins to charge fully.

Very liveable numbers for me

I'll see if things get better or worse in the coming weeks.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Your use is fairly commiserate with what I have experienced on my M1, albeit I didn't let my battery get that low.

 

[4k78]

Another forum? How dare you.

 

[Zazoh]

This includes only light use, as follows
11 hrs and 11 mins using Safari with 3 to 4 tabs open

This is going to make the natives restless. Everyone ‘round here doesn’t use bookmarks and keep 30 tabs open across 3 browsers. ?

 

[Ybersetzer]

Just a FYI.
Brand new M1 MBA after a full day on the charger I thought I'd see how long the battery ran for.

Total runtime on battery 18 hrs 42 mins - showing 9% left equalling 1 hr 7 mins (in energy tab on Activity Monitor).
This includes only light use, as follows
11 hrs and 11 mins using Safari with 3 to 4 tabs open - MR, another forum, a google result site and watching 4 or 5 HD videos on YT and a few checks on Mail.
7 hrs and 31 mins asleep.

Once reconnected to charger (standard Apple 30W) it's showing 3hrs 5 mins to charge fully.

Very liveable numbers for me

I'll see if things get better or worse in the coming weeks.

You left out one of the most important factors: screen brightness. What was your setting?

 

[Quackers]

You left out one of the most important factors: screen brightness. What was your setting?

Very true! An oversight on my part.
Screen brightness was (and is) on about three quarters of max. No truetone and no auto adjust brightness.
The fact that I could use it at that brightness level on a MBA was a nice surprise. I thought I'd be on full all the time but not so.

 

[Ybersetzer]

Very true! An oversight on my part.
Screen brightness was (and is) on about three quarters of max. No truetone and no auto adjust brightness.
The fact that I could use it at that brightness level on a MBA was a nice surprise. I thought I'd be on full all the time but not so.

Thanks for filling in that bit, appreciated.
Generally I think consumer report magazines and tech magazines etc. should hold manufacturers to higher standards. Some have standardized on tests at around 200 nits, which I think is way too low. Another example is the iPad Pro (i have a 2018 12.9), all things considered (how thin it is!) it has excellent battery life. The screen is very nice and bright but if you use it at high settings and actually work with it you might struggle to have it going for 8 hours.

So, good to hear that you get a very decent runtime out of your MBA at brightness levels that are fine with you and that there's even some headroom for conditions where more screen brightness would be called for. Glad to hear it! (Eying a M1 Air myself, if you have not guessed already ;-), I am running a 2015 model which is getting a bit long in the tooth.)

 

[mj_]

That pretty much more or less mirrors my own experience with the M1 Air, although I have both True Tone and auto brightness enabled, not disabled. I work a lot during the day and reguarly at full brightness because there's a bright window behind me when I sit on the couch, but also in the evenings or in other places where auto brightness works its magic and reduces screen brightness to much more manageable levels all by itself.

I can see why one would disable True Tone but fail to understand why you would disable auto brightness, care to elaborate?

 

[Quackers]

That pretty much more or less mirrors my own experience with the M1 Air, although I have both True Tone and auto brightness enabled, not disabled. I work a lot during the day and reguarly at full brightness because there's a bright window behind me when I sit on the couch, but also in the evenings or in other places where auto brightness works its magic and reduces screen brightness to much more manageable levels all by itself.

I can see why one would disable True Tone but fail to understand why you would disable auto brightness, care to elaborate?

I'm in a pretty stable situation regarding light and one setting seems to suit me all the time.

 

[Toutou]

11 hrs and 11 mins using Safari with 3 to 4 tabs open - MR, another forum, a google result site and watching 4 or 5 HD videos on YT and a few checks on Mail.

So, that's twelve hours of very light usage? That actually doesn't sound like much, my 2013 MBP used to be able to last that long when used for PDFs and note-taking in college. My Air feels like it could last a bit longer (I've already gotten something like 56 % battery left after 7 hours).

 

[Quackers]

So, that's twelve hours of very light usage? That actually doesn't sound like much, my 2013 MBP used to be able to last that long when used for PDFs and note-taking in college. My Air feels like it could last a bit longer (I've already gotten something like 56 % battery left after 7 hours).

Yes, plus seven and a half hours sleep.

 

[mj_]

Oh wait, I missed that sleep part, my bad. I can easily get 15+ hours of battery life from this thing.
Battery drain during sleep is practically non-existent. I lose maybe 1% over night if even.

 

[Quackers]

Oh wait, I missed that sleep part, my bad. I can easily get 15+ hours of battery life from this thing.
Battery drain during sleep is practically non-existent. I lose maybe 1% over night if even.

Yep, I didn't log the battery percentages pre and post sleep unfortunately.
I should have because many have reported abnormally large losses during sleep. Though it doesn't seem like mine is affected by that.
I'll get around to it

 

[abhi182]

Very similar experience here.

Subjectively speaking - I have got to say that I have never, ever got the kind of battery life that reviewers, let along manufacturers state.
Probably something to do with the predominantly burst loads (browsing/productivity apps) that most regular users end up doing with their PCs.
This one has turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Semi objectively/quantitatively - My battery cycle count after 1.5 months of regular usage is 9.
This would have been close to 30 with any of my earlier laptops.

 

[Mistborn15]

Same here. Around 11-12 hours of usage. Initially I was disappointed because Tech unboxers had promised a lot more. Then when I realized it was twice as much as my previous macbook and that I'd never be needing 11 hours of usage on a single day, it hit me how awesome it was