MBA charge time - ridiculous

[SoSII]

I have been listening to this ongoing saga and have seen various reports/fixes etc. Bottom line is that my MBA of three weeks vintage is showing 68% charge and predicting a further 1:48 to full charge. I tried charging yesterday and it took about 6 hours from 10% to 92%..

This is not right...
I have seen people suggesting that with age, the charge times get better. I'm not a Li-ion battery expert but this seems like complete BS to me.

Either its a firmware issue, or the brick isnt up to it, or Apple have buggered the whole thing up because the battery isnt user-replaceable (I mean the total trickle-charge theory).

What a crock..

 

[Scottsdale]

Mine did the exact same thing.

Use it until completely discharged and turns off. Do this several times... then completely recharge it. Apple actually has a page on battery conditioning or calibration, it's called something like that. I am sure a bunch of people will reply and say exactly what it is called.

Anyways, my rev B MBA did the same thing for several weeks. It is now several months old... It completely charges in less than 2.5 hours now, as long as I am not using it while it charges and I turn it off. I have specifically drained the battery, and then let charge for just over two hours, then turn it on and it is 99% or 100% charged. That is acceptable, now.

While using it, or it is powered on, remember that it is using part of power to charge and part to run...

It will get much better soon. Everyone experiences this with their MBAs.

I am no battery expert either, but I can say that mine took a full night to recharge at first, and now it can completely recharge in a few hours.

Best wishes with it. How is everything else with your MBA?

 

[SoSII]

Thanx for the el rapido reply.

I guess I am comparing with my old Macbook pro which seemed to charge in seconds and have almost infinite battery life (well, we all remember the best bits..). That used to charge quickly even when in use (but I guess it has a full whack 45W power brick). Nonetheless, it's a bit of a pain that we have to power off the damn thing to get a decent charge rate. For me, this may be one compromise too many in fact - and it isnt an advertised 'feature'.

Apart from that all ok and basically happy with it - although the reduced weight difference with the new macbooks makes it a pretty marginal decision now and if i'd waited a couple of weeks, I would probably have gone the other way.

ps. now its reporting 2:23 to charge from 75%...as i said - ridiculous...

 

[Scottsdale]

Thanx for the el rapido reply.

I guess I am comparing with my old Macbook pro which seemed to charge in seconds and have almost infinite battery life (well, we all remember the best bits..). That used to charge quickly even when in use (but I guess it has a full whack 45W power brick). Nonetheless, it's a bit of a pain that we have to power off the damn thing to get a decent charge rate. For me, this may be one compromise too many in fact - and it isnt an advertised 'feature'.

Apart from that all ok and basically happy with it - although the reduced weight difference with the new macbooks makes it a pretty marginal decision now and if i'd waited a couple of weeks, I would probably have gone the other way.

ps. now its reporting 2:23 to charge from 75%...as i said - ridiculous...

I don't know if this will help, but I have heard others use a more powerful charger like a MBP charger for a MB or MBA... Maybe you could buy a charger from one of those. But definitely search some threads to make sure that actually works. I have never tried my MBP charger on my MBA, but seems like it is different (the connector)... but I think others have written about it here on Mac Rumors.

BTW, my usage pattern is, work at home office until lunch, leave the MBA plugged into 24" ACD while working. Leave work and do not plug in at one or two client offices in the afternoon. Plug back in when I get home usually on the couch (I actually have second charger I leave at couch). Then before bed, I turn it off and plug into the 24" ACD again, whether it is fully charged or not.

I think that second MBA charger cost me $79, which I think was same price as double power charger for MBP. Something to consider.

Good luck.

 

[fr4c]

Keep in mind the MBP charger is 85W, compared to the Air's 45W.

 

[Scottsdale]

Keep in mind the MBP charger is 85W, compared to the Air's 45W.

Why I said this:

, which I think was same price as double power charger for MBP. Something to consider.

Also note, they both cost $79 from Apple.