MBA: Can it stay on / ready to work all the time like an iPhone?

[Kay_Ess]

Hi!

I’m considering getting an MBA instead of a Windows laptop. Generally Windows laptops will go to sleep or hibernate to avoid unnecessary battery drain. A downside of that is that every time I want to use the laptop I can’t just open the lid and work, I have to press a button, wait for Windows to boot, log in and wait for the desktop environment to load before I can actually start working. You can set it to sleep and use it quickly but then you’ll be lucky to have more than a few hours of battery life.

Now of course this is a major first world issue, but I was wondering how Macs deal with this. Can you open the lid and press the touchID button and go or does it hibernate too and take 30-60 seconds from opening the lid to being able to start a program? Because for example my iPhone is always ready for me and my dad’s iPad can just be grabbed and used. I love that concept and am hoping there is something similar on the MBA. I’ve heard they have like 18 hours of battery life so I’m hoping there is a function that aims more at readiness than at longevity.

Thanks!
Bye!

K.

 

[AlmightyKang]

They are instantly ready unlike PC laptops. You literally open the lid and touch the touch ID and it's ready to go.

 

[Kay_Ess]

They are instantly ready unlike PC laptops. You literally open the lid and touch the touch ID and it's ready to go.

Oh snap that sounds really good. Thanks!

 

[za9ra22]

Every morning, when I open my MBA, it wakes, and because I have my Apple Watch set to unlock it, it returns me to exactly where I was at last use within the time it takes to get the screen fully up.

If I disable the option for the watch to unlock it, it gives me the Lock Screen where I can either enter my password, or use the touchID button, which then takes me to exactly where I was previously.

 

[Kay_Ess]

Every morning, when I open my MBA, it wakes, and because I have my Apple Watch set to unlock it, it returns me to exactly where I was at last use within the time it takes to get the screen fully up.

If I disable the option for the watch to unlock it, it gives me the Lock Screen where I can either enter my password, or use the touchID button, which then takes me to exactly where I was previously.

Omg I didn’t even know that! I have an Apple Watch!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[joeblow7777]

Hi!

I’m considering getting an MBA instead of a Windows laptop. Generally Windows laptops will go to sleep or hibernate to avoid unnecessary battery drain. A downside of that is that every time I want to use the laptop I can’t just open the lid and work, I have to press a button, wait for Windows to boot, log in and wait for the desktop environment to load before I can actually start working. You can set it to sleep and use it quickly but then you’ll be lucky to have more than a few hours of battery life.

Now of course this is a major first world issue, but I was wondering how Macs deal with this. Can you open the lid and press the touchID button and go or does it hibernate too and take 30-60 seconds from opening the lid to being able to start a program? Because for example my iPhone is always ready for me and my dad’s iPad can just be grabbed and used. I love that concept and am hoping there is something similar on the MBA. I’ve heard they have like 18 hours of battery life so I’m hoping there is a function that aims more at readiness than at longevity.

Thanks!
Bye!

K.

They are instantly ready unlike PC laptops. You literally open the lid and touch the touch ID and it's ready to go.

I have to say, if you're using a decent PC with a proper SSD it should wake from sleep just about as fast as a Mac. Even starting my Surface Laptop from fully powered off doesn't take 30-60 before it's ready to go. If a modern PC takes that long to wake up/boot up, look into what processes and programs it's running at start up.

 

[G5isAlive]

Oh snap that sounds really good. Thanks!

You lift the MBA screen and it's good to go. So fast that some people complain that they want an option to turn that off so they know it really closes down when the lid is put down.

 

[AlmightyKang]

I have to say, if you're using a decent PC with a proper SSD it should wake from sleep just about as fast as a Mac. Even starting my Surface Laptop from fully powered off doesn't take 30-60 before it's ready to go. If a modern PC takes that long to wake up/boot up, look into what processes and programs it's running at start up.

I’ve got one of those. No it doesn’t.

Sometimes it goes into a coma. Sometimes the battery is flat. Sometimes i open my bag and it’s so hot it’s on fire almost.

Never any of that with an ARM based Mac.

 

[krspkbl]

I've never been a person to leave devices on if I'm not using it except my phones. I'm too used to shutting down my computers when I'm away from them but I've been treating my M3 Air same my iPhone and it's been on almost 24/7 since launch day except for a couple times I've had to restart (software update).

The Air wakes up super fast. The screen will be on before you lift it up fully. Tap the touch ID, which is also very quick, and you're in ready to go. The odd time it might ask you for your password but usually that's just if you don't use it for a while.

I just tried 5 times to see how quick I could tap the stopwatch on my iPhone, wake up and unlock the Air, and stop the timer. I got an average of 2.98 seconds. The longest was the first time at 3.68 where I had to use the Touch ID to log in. The other times I didn't need to log in and shortest time was 2.58 seconds. The screen turns on faster than this but there is obviously time I need to move my hand from my phone, get a grip, and stop the timer.

For battery life it hardly drains in sleep. I use my Air pretty much every day and it'll probably only drain 2-3% between usage. My uptime is currently at 10 days 18 hours.

I've started putting my desktop PC in sleep mode. My drives are faster than what's in the Air but due to a combination of Windows been a bit slow and my particular set up it can't come close to the Air. I just timed it 3x and it took 12.9 seconds to turn on from sleep and log in. the next 2 times were about 16 seconds. My PSU doesn't even click on until about 3-4 seconds so yeah the Air would be on and ready to go by the time my PC even "powers on" never mind getting into the lock screen or desktop.

For whatever it's worth, my PC takes about 1m 40 seconds to do a cold boot but I have 64GB DDR5 and an AMD AM5 board which is known for doing memory tests during boot.

 

[curnalpanic]

One of the many perks of Apple silicon Macs, is that they are even faster than Intel Macs to wake from sleep. Same with switching display resolutions.

 

[joeblow7777]

I’ve got one of those. No it doesn’t.

Sometimes it goes into a coma. Sometimes the battery is flat. Sometimes i open my bag and it’s so hot it’s on fire almost.

Never any of that with an ARM based Mac.

As I said, you may want to look into what it's running either during start-up or in the background. Until I got an MBA a month ago, a 2nd Gen Surface Laptop was my main computer for almost 5 years, and a Dell XPS 13 for about 4 years before that. They were my only Windows PCs with SSDs. Neither of them had any issues waking from sleep instantly, or starting up from powered off in less than 30 seconds.

They did lose a bit more power in sleep than my current Macbook, but nothing outrageous, just a few percent overnight. They definitely didn't get hot while in sleep/standby. That's a sign right there that somethings going on that you probably want it to stop.

 

[EdwardC]

As I said, you may want to look into what it's running either during start-up or in the background. Until I got an MBA a month ago, a 2nd Gen Surface Laptop was my main computer for almost 5 years, and a Dell XPS 13 for about 4 years before that. They were my only Windows PCs with SSDs. Neither of them had any issues waking from sleep instantly, or starting up from powered off in less than 30 seconds.

They did lose a bit more power in sleep than my current Macbook, but nothing outrageous, just a few percent overnight. They definitely didn't get hot while in sleep/standby. That's a sign right there that somethings going on that you probably want it to stop.

Agree, I have both, my current Win laptop is a ThinkPad T-14 and it's instant to wake up just the same as my MacBook.

 

[AlmightyKang]

Agree, I have both, my current Win laptop is a ThinkPad T-14 and it's instant to wake up just the same as my MacBook.

I have a T14 gen 3 that does not.

There is nothing running at all on it. Stock configuration with Lenovo garbage. Latest BIOS.

Lenovo forums are full of people with the same problems.

It's going on eBay because I don't need it any more.

 

[shakopeemn]

Hi!

I’m considering getting an MBA instead of a Windows laptop. Generally Windows laptops will go to sleep or hibernate to avoid unnecessary battery drain. A downside of that is that every time I want to use the laptop I can’t just open the lid and

My top reasons for choosing the MBA over a PC were battery life and running cool to the touch. Another unexpected benefit was how little juice they use when the screen is closed and quick to come to life.

Just received a new HP Elitebook I7 at work and the BIOS is incredibly slow to boot on waking.

 

[Kay_Ess]

I have to say, if you're using a decent PC with a proper SSD it should wake from sleep just about as fast as a Mac. Even starting my Surface Laptop from fully powered off doesn't take 30-60 before it's ready to go. If a modern PC takes that long to wake up/boot up, look into what processes and programs it's running at start up.

Not really, computers have just changed. A few years ago motherboards were all about rapid booting but nowadays they are more about security, flexibility and reliability. Like most AMD systems will check RAM a tiny bit but it does take them twice as long to boot as an Intel system that doesn’t do the checks. They can all do SMART checks. Motherboards nowadays can even do antivirus and firewall checks. My desktop motherboard also has like 3 BIOS I can choose from. It auto-overclocks my RAM. And if I make changes to the system it will try to optimize itself.
Windows also gets bigger over time. Probably can’t notice it with 1 patch or update but over time everything gets bigger and less efficient.

And on my laptop I have a Linux version installed. My BIOS doesn’t like that and tries and fails to do something when I start it. Easily takes 10-20 seconds. That’s not something I can fix myself.

It’s not black and white and modern systems are simply not focused on rapid booting. And since there are a million different hardware combinations possible with other OSs I can see why.

You lift the MBA screen and it's good to go. So fast that some people complain that they want an option to turn that off so they know it really closes down when the lid is put down.

Haha brilliant. I’m so easily distracted that half the time I get my laptop I want to do something else by the time it’s ready. This alternative sounds great!

I've never been a person to leave devices on if I'm not using it except my phones. I'm too used to shutting down my computers when I'm away from them but I've been treating my M3 Air same my iPhone and it's been on almost 24/7 since launch day except for a couple times I've had to restart (software update).

The Air wakes up super fast. The screen will be on before you lift it up fully. Tap the touch ID, which is also very quick, and you're in ready to go. The odd time it might ask you for your password but usually that's just if you don't use it for a while.

I just tried 5 times to see how quick I could tap the stopwatch on my iPhone, wake up and unlock the Air, and stop the timer. I got an average of 2.98 seconds. The longest was the first time at 3.68 where I had to use the Touch ID to log in. The other times I didn't need to log in and shortest time was 2.58 seconds. The screen turns on faster than this but there is obviously time I need to move my hand from my phone, get a grip, and stop the timer.

For battery life it hardly drains in sleep. I use my Air pretty much every day and it'll probably only drain 2-3% between usage. My uptime is currently at 10 days 18 hours.

I've started putting my desktop PC in sleep mode. My drives are faster than what's in the Air but due to a combination of Windows been a bit slow and my particular set up it can't come close to the Air. I just timed it 3x and it took 12.9 seconds to turn on from sleep and log in. the next 2 times were about 16 seconds. My PSU doesn't even click on until about 3-4 seconds so yeah the Air would be on and ready to go by the time my PC even "powers on" never mind getting into the lock screen or desktop.

For whatever it's worth, my PC takes about 1m 40 seconds to do a cold boot but I have 64GB DDR5 and an AMD AM5 board which is known for doing memory tests during boot.

Really helpful thanks! I always tend to shutdown stuff too but this just allows an entirely different way of starting work / getting into a workflow.

My top reasons for choosing the MBA over a PC were battery life and running cool to the touch. Another unexpected benefit was how little juice they use when the screen is closed and quick to come to life.

Just received a new HP Elitebook I7 at work and the BIOS is incredibly slow to boot on waking.

I know it’s all just first world problems but great battery life + it running cool just sounds good. Thanks!

___

I haven’t decided yet but I think I’ll go for either a used M1 13” or a new M4 15”. I think either would really improve my life. Thanks for all the insights, people!

 

[Tagbert]

One of the many perks of Apple silicon Macs, is that they are even faster than Intel Macs to wake from sleep. Same with switching display resolutions.

It’s still only a matter of a few seconds difference on wake.

Switching displays is much faster on AS than on the Intel Macs that had to do multiple screen mode switches before they settle down. I never see that Flash/black/flash/black/flash that you get with an Intel Mac plugged into an external monitor.