Trade macbook pro for macbook air (both 2010)

[kettlecorn]

Im thinking about trading my recently acquired MBP 13 for a MBA 13. I like that its lighter and smaller and more portable. i decided against it at first because of the no optical drive but turns out, i dont really use it. Like ever. I also would like the bigger screen resolution for my studies.

I want to know how the 2 compare in terms of real life battery life though.
I currently have a Macbook pro 13, 2.4 ghz with 4gb ram, a 128gb SSD. After the SSD, this thing is a killer with a boottime of 13 seconds, shutdown of 2seconds, battery life around 7-8 hours of light browsing or typing and around 4 or 5 hours of heavier use, 3 hours of flash and multimedia.

Will the macbook air 13 with 4gb ram have better or equivalent battery life? WHat if I get the ultimate with the 2.13 ghz processor?

 

[Jman14]

Well if you need the extra portability go for it. Otherwise, I think your better off with the MBP. But it is your call, obviously.

 

[alust2013]

Battery life likely won't be as good, and unless you bought the apple SSD with your pro, it won't be as fast, as the ones apple uses are kinda slow (relative to other SSDs). The only real benefit you would get is the resolution upgrade, which you can also solve in the form of a monitor.

 

[EspressoLove]

I'd say battery life is equivalent to 13MBP.
I never have 7-8 hours, as I never do "light browsing".
But with my heavy, several dozens of pages open in several browsers "browsing +", I get 5-6 hours easily.
Flash is enabled on demand only, so no flash ads flash my face
Though with sites like Engadget or worse TechCrunch you need only dozen pages to bog you down considerably, even with no flash in sight.

I've checked it now, and with 98% it promises me 6:44

 

[JasonR]

I'd say battery life is equivalent to 13MBP.
I never have 7-8 hours, as I never do "light browsing".
But with my heavy, several dozens of pages open in several browsers "browsing +", I get 5-6 hours easily.
Flash is enabled on demand only, so no flash ads flash my face
Though with sites like Engadget or worse TechCrunch you need only dozen pages to bog you down considerably, even with no flash in sight.

I've checked it now, and with 98% it promises me 6:44

What do you use to block Flash? I primarily use Firefox and Chrome.

 

[impulse462]

What do you use to block Flash? I primarily use Firefox and Chrome.

for firefox and chrome you can install an extension called "FlashBlock" This will allow flash content only to be loaded if you click on it.

 

[kettlecorn]

I'd say battery life is equivalent to 13MBP.
I never have 7-8 hours, as I never do "light browsing".
But with my heavy, several dozens of pages open in several browsers "browsing +", I get 5-6 hours easily.
Flash is enabled on demand only, so no flash ads flash my face
Though with sites like Engadget or worse TechCrunch you need only dozen pages to bog you down considerably, even with no flash in sight.

I've checked it now, and with 98% it promises me 6:44

Is this with full brightness or what are the other settings?

Currently, if I do a full charge and put my macbook pro at 5 bar brightness (around 40%), zero backlit keyboard, do only light browsing with Google chrome, have ichat open with 2 windows or so and Microsoft Word with a PDF open.... bluetooth OFF, Wifi ON, I get about ... anywhere from 5-7 hours estimated. When I just type, it recalculates and shoots up to 8-11 hours and when I move the mouse and go into browsing and stuff it'll say 3-5 hours or something in between. Basically I've never had a chance to actually time it with a stop watch but as long as the macbook air gets better than this or equal, I see it as better than my MBP because of the higher screen resolution, slightly worse processor but lighter and more portable.

My SSD uses the latest samsung controller and the idle and active power consumption is really impressive. I noticed significant battery life increase with the SSD and not to mention that boottime of 13 seconds is close to equal to the stock macbook air's boottime. I guess what i'm paying a premium on is the lightness, portability, higher resolution, and MAYBE better battery life. Still unsure.

 

[EspressoLove]

What do you use to block Flash? I primarily use Firefox and Chrome.

I use Flashblock of course for FireFox.
And I use ClickToFlash with the rest (all WebKit based browsers)
Though it glitches a bit with latest 10.2 Flash Player which [supposedly] runs on GPU.

 

[EspressoLove]

Is this with full brightness or what are the other settings?

Currently, if I do a full charge and put my macbook pro at 5 bar brightness (around 40%), zero backlit keyboard, do only light browsing with Google chrome, have ichat open with 2 windows or so and Microsoft Word with a PDF open.... bluetooth OFF, Wifi ON, I get about ... anywhere from 5-7 hours estimated. When I just type, it recalculates and shoots up to 8-11 hours and when I move the mouse and go into browsing and stuff it'll say 3-5 hours or something in between. Basically I've never had a chance to actually time it with a stop watch but as long as the macbook air gets better than this or equal, I see it as better than my MBP because of the higher screen resolution, slightly worse processor but lighter and more portable.

My SSD uses the latest samsung controller and the idle and active power consumption is really impressive. I noticed significant battery life increase with the SSD and not to mention that boottime of 13 seconds is close to equal to the stock macbook air's boottime. I guess what i'm paying a premium on is the lightness, portability, higher resolution, and MAYBE better battery life. Still unsure.

When it first recalculated when I've unplugged again.



When I've let it recalculate again.



When I was editing in Preview and uploading.

Now when I'm typing it with 4 tabs open, in Firefox 3.6.x, it's back to 7:48

All on WiFi, with brightness 7/16 (43.75%)
No keyboard blacklist

 

[EspressoLove]

Yeah, I suck at email

 

[EspressoLove]

 

[kettlecorn]

sweeeeet.
can you post how it does when you load up like 3 youtube videos and/or download something with word open?

 

[DarwinOSX]

I think the MBA SSD will be faster than what you have from a benchmark point of view because of the way Apple has integrated it with the OS. But maybe not enough to really notice in day to day use. The MBA screen res will be better but then the MBP screen has better colors. In the end it comes down to do you want something lighter and do you care about the additional cost of the MBA. Personally I would get the 13" MBA over the Pro in a heartbeat but the cost differential is not significant to me now what I would lose by eBaying the MBP and then buying an Air. Check out these Air prices on Apple Insider btw. Fully loaded with no shipping and no tax at MacMall for $1696.53. Better price than the education discount which is pitiful these days. Education discount was 40% off list when I went to school but that was a long time ago.

 

[EspressoLove]

sweeeeet.
can you post how it does when you load up like 3 youtube videos and/or download something with word open?

1:22 @ 63% battery



Note how the load is above 100%
<strike>Forgot to download something, make correction for that if you must</strike>.
Youtube was still downloading - I'm sitting in Starbucks, so that counts for something

 

[kettlecorn]

1:22 @ 63% battery



Note how the load is above 100%
<strike>Forgot to download something, make correction for that if you must</strike>.
Youtube was still downloading - I'm sitting in Starbucks, so that counts for something

Awesome thanks. This was at full brightness?


So I pulled a trigger on a MBA today. It was actually bit of a hasty buy cause i sold the MBP last night, last minute. I got my full asking price so I just said what the hell Ill deal with not having a computer later. I found a MBA Ultimate fully loaded with 4gb, 2.13ghz, 256gb SSD and brand new and got it at a great deal. I'm still working with it i literally just got home and I'm in the middle of a factory default boot. Im actually really happy with the screen resolution and size and weight. All what i expected. The screen resolution is however better than i expected. Coming from the 1280X800 from the MBP, this is really breath of fresh air. The biggest test for me would be to test out the battery life after I calibrate it properly and see how it holds up. I can always go back to a MBP cause I really dont mind selling and buying to find the right computer to use anyway. Its kind of fun.


I'm getting 6:40 right now typing this with 5 bar brightness, and just safari open with 3 tabs (at 63%). Hopefully once i calibrate itll go up to 8 or 9 but that might just be wishful thinking.

 

[EspressoLove]

Awesome thanks. This was at full brightness?


So I pulled a trigger on a MBA today. It was actually bit of a hasty buy cause i sold the MBP last night, last minute. I got my full asking price so I just said what the hell Ill deal with not having a computer later. I found a MBA Ultimate fully loaded with 4gb, 2.13ghz, 256gb SSD and brand new and got it at a great deal. I'm still working with it i literally just got home and I'm in the middle of a factory default boot. Im actually really happy with the screen resolution and size and weight. All what i expected. The screen resolution is however better than i expected. Coming from the 1280X800 from the MBP, this is really breath of fresh air. The biggest test for me would be to test out the battery life after I calibrate it properly and see how it holds up. I can always go back to a MBP cause I really dont mind selling and buying to find the right computer to use anyway. Its kind of fun.


I'm getting 6:40 right now typing this with 5 bar brightness, and just safari open with 3 tabs (at 63%). Hopefully once i calibrate itll go up to 8 or 9 but that might just be wishful thinking.

Welcome to the club
I doubt you'll be able to forgo this screen, once you get hooked
But worst case scenario you look at 80% of MBP's runtime (50Wh vs. 63.5Wh).
I'd imagine it would be on par under heaviest load (SL's 17W should shine against T or P rated CPU in MBP (25W or 35W)).
And slightly less under middle of the road loads.
Unless we have next stepping with further power-states tweaks, idle power should be about the same

 

[Jman14]

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Congrats on your purchase! Keep us updated with the battery life!

 

[Nachos]

I have a MBA Ultimate and its battery life is really impressive. It last for about 7-8 hours. I use iCal, MS Word, Safari (with flash on all the time).

If i use xcode, pixelmator or stuff like that it only last for about 6-7 hours.

 

[kettlecorn]

Thanks! Im calibrating it right now and it should be done by tomorrow morning. So far, loving it. Miss the backlit keyboards but i'll live without it. The screen makes up for it And the weightloss. And the size. And the 256gb SSD... haha

 

[DarwinOSX]

Enjoy your new MBA. I'm sure you will.

 

[GGJstudios]

When it first recalculated when I've unplugged again.
When I've let it recalculate again.
When I was editing in Preview and uploading.
Now when I'm typing it with 4 tabs open, in Firefox 3.6.x, it's back to 7:48
All on WiFi, with brightness 7/16 (43.75%)
No keyboard blacklist

Be aware that the time remaining, as indicated on the Menu Bar, is a constantly-changing estimate, based on the current power demands of your system. If your battery isn't properly calibrated, that reading can be grossly inaccurate. Also, just because it currently indicates X hours, that doesn't always mean your battery will actually last that long.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions: Apple Notebook Battery FAQ

 

[EspressoLove]

Be aware that the time remaining...

I'm aware, and I'm calibrated, thanks.
Do you have better metrics ?

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

I didn't say I had questions

 

[GGJstudios]

I didn't say I had questions

The first paragraph of my post was in response to your post. The second was for the benefit of others who read this thread.