MBA 13 Ultimate Battery Life Question

[Buckeyes1995]

I just received my 13 in. MBA Ultimate yesterday and had some questions on battery life.

Still getting used to this thing and was curious on what kind of battery performance I should expect.

This morning, I've been using the laptop for about 30 minutes and the battery is already down to 81%. I've done some browsing, played about 5 mins of a movie to see how it looked via streaming, and played about 5 minutes of a game (WoW). Is this normal?

This seems to indicate to me that it would be hard for this laptop to get through a full two hour movie on the battery.

Any like experiences? Or thoughts?

Thanks

 

[iDisk]

I just received my 13 in. MBA Ultimate yesterday and had some questions on battery life.

Still getting used to this thing and was curious on what kind of battery performance I should expect.

This morning, I've been using the laptop for about 30 minutes and the battery is already down to 81%. I've done some browsing, played about 5 mins of a movie to see how it looked via streaming, and played about 5 minutes of a game (WoW). Is this normal?

This seems to indicate to me that it would be hard for this laptop to get through a full two hour movie on the battery.

Any like experiences? Or thoughts?

Thanks

In a nut shell....

• Playing games will decrease battery.
• I've watched 1 whole season of Doug on it (4.5hr TV cartoon) and still had battery left (as in black not the red).
• When I'm coding and doing pages doc or keynotes, and have a few browsers open with itunes music playing I get 7hrs.

***One thing of Note, always let your battery run down to at least 10% battery life before plugging back in... and NEVER leave the charger in all the time, your battery will become a juice addict.

I have the ultimate macbook air btw (see screenshot)

 

[aristobrat]

Read Apples battery guidelines:
http://www.apple.com/batteries
(you don't have to drain it before you recharge it)

Anything that you do that uses CPU is going to more quickly drain the battery. My guess is that WoW uses a lot of CPU and is what lowered your battery the most during your test.

You may also see your Air report estimated battery charge better after you calibrate the battery (explained in the link above).

 

[ECUpirate44]

This should answer most if not all of your battery questions. Compliments of GGJstudios. Apple Notebook Battery FAQ

 

[67bmer]

here is a link to an article that someone else posted in another thread that should give you some guidance.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed/9

I read the entire article and found it very useful. I did NOT agree with the battery life conclusions. I do not think the data supports them. They sound more like apple marketing that analysis. From what I could see, the MBA has a pretty good battery.

 

[Buckeyes1995]

I'm hoping my issue is a calibration issue.

At the moment, I'm at 90% battery life, with only a Time Machine backup running.. and of course this web browser.. and its reporting only 3hrs and 13 mins.

 

[topmounter]

I'm hoping my issue is a calibration issue.

At the moment, I'm at 90% battery life, with only a Time Machine backup running.. and of course this web browser.. and its reporting only 3hrs and 13 mins.

Try tweaking the brightness of you display... a tiny decrease in brightness seems to go a long way.

 

[DiamondGCoupe]

You need to cycle the battery ~5 times to achieve maximum performance. Give it a few days, if there were an issue with your battery it wouldn't hold a charge.

 

[namtaB]

I remember someone having this problem and all it took was the battery recalibration to fix it.

 

[ZipZap]

You cannot overcharge Li batteries so keep in on the charger when not in use.

You do not need to let it drop to 10%, these batteries have a certain number of full charge life cycles. Partial charges do not count as full cycles.

You may want to do a calibration every once in a while.

 

[GGJstudios]

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[Flake]

***One thing of Note, always let your battery run down to at least 10% battery life before plugging back in... and NEVER leave the charger in all the time, your battery will become a juice addict.

I've read that always draining your battery is a bad thing though

 

[GGJstudios]

***One thing of Note, always let your battery run down to at least 10% battery life before plugging back in...

I've read that always draining your battery is a bad thing though

Ignore that comment, as it's bad advice. You don't have to run your battery down to 10% before plugging it back in, and draining your battery isn't a bad thing, other than it uses up cycles. Just use your MBA on battery when you need to and plug it in when you can. Don't leave it plugged in all the time. Read the Battery FAQ I just posted for more details.

 

[monchiwai]

Ignore that comment, as it's bad advice. You don't have to run your battery down to 10% before plugging it back in, and draining your battery isn't a bad thing, other than it uses up cycles. Just use your MBA on battery when you need to and plug it in when you can. Don't leave it plugged in all the time. Read the Battery FAQ I just posted for more details.

Agree.
Also, the OS is smart enough (or is there a setting?) not to charge the battery when it is still 96% or above. I cannot verify it on OSX but at least in Windows 7 bootcamp it acts like that.

 

[GGJstudios]

Agree.
Also, the OS is smart enough (or is there a setting?) not to charge the battery when it is still 96% or above. I cannot verify it on OSX but at least in Windows 7 bootcamp it acts like that.

It's actually 93% and above. See the FAQ.

 

[gwsat]

Just use your MBA on battery when you need to and plug it in when you can. Don't leave it plugged in all the time. Read the Battery FAQ I just posted for more details.

This is just about the pithiest and most accurate MBA battery advice I have seen. I have found that when I limit myself to using the battery only when doing so is significantly more convenient than plugging it in, I never have to worry about the battery. In other words, you don't need to obsess over the matter.