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13" MBA = 11.2 hours of battery life

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drjsway

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Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
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Jobs said they are using better battery tests now and the following test confirms that. This test was done at 50% brightness and equivalent to Apple's old battery test:

31585.png


If we convert the entire current MacBook line to the new battery tests, we would get roughly:

white MacBook/13" MacBook Pro: 6.5 hours.
15-17" MacBook Pro: 5-6 hours
 
aleni

aleni

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2006
2,560
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interesting.. that's why my early 2009 17" never got 7 hours as promised. only got 5-5.5 hours which is exactly stated as in the review's benchmark.
 
nylon

nylon

macrumors 65816
Oct 26, 2004
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According to Anandtech that test was done with no flash rendering on web pages. Don't know how much of a real world scenario that is.
 
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drjsway

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Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
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aleni said:
interesting.. that's why my early 2009 17" never got 7 hours as promised. only got 5-5.5 hours which is exactly stated as in the review's benchmark.
Click to expand...

But it makes me wonder why Apple decided to do these new tests. Since it's become standard in the industry to provide optimistic battery claims, people would only assume the MBA's 7 hours translates into 5 hours real world usage.

I know many people who cite the 13" MBP's 10 hour battery life as a major advantage over the MBA. Apple would've sold a lot more units if they stuck to the old tests and advertised it with 11 hours of battery life and 7 hours for the 11.6"
 
sparkie7

sparkie7

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Oct 17, 2008
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What I'd like to see is heavy use, like photoshop, indesign, illustrator, word, excel, entourage, itunes, skype all open doing a real world project. I bet that 11.2 hours would be half that > around the 5 to 6 hr mark :rolleyes:
 
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drjsway

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
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kkapoor said:
According to Anandtech that test was done with no flash rendering on web pages. Don't know how much of a real world scenario that is.
Click to expand...

The point is not that it represents real world usage. The point is that since the 13" MBP got almost 10 hours, this test is likely very similar to the old battery test Apple used. The 13" MBA would've likely been rated 11.5 hours using the old test and switching it only creates confusion by customers thinking the 13" MBP get 3 hours more battery life.
 
M

mrklaw

macrumors 68030
Jan 29, 2008
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there is no way my 2008 15" MBP gets anywhere near 250 minutes of use. And thats safari only (flashblocked) no itunes running.

2 hours maybe.
 
J

jamesta1

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2010
7
0
According to Anandtech that test was done with no flash rendering on web pages. Don't know how much of a real world scenario that is.
Click to expand...

What I'd like to see is heavy use, like photoshop, indesign, illustrator, word, excel, entourage, itunes, skype all open doing a real world project. I bet that 11.2 hours would be half that > around the 5 to 6 hr mark.
Click to expand...

Anandtech's full review has multiple battery life tests, only the 'ideal' results are above.
 
sparkie7

sparkie7

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Oct 17, 2008
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tests are pointless unless they reflect real world user type scenarios, otherwise its more BS
 
D

drjsway

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
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mrklaw said:
there is no way my 2008 15" MBP gets anywhere near 250 minutes of use. And thats safari only (flashblocked) no itunes running.

2 hours maybe.
Click to expand...

jamesta1 said:
Anandtech's full review has multiple battery life tests, only the 'ideal' results are above.
Click to expand...

I'm not arguing what any MacBook gets in real usage.

What I'm saying is that every PC company uses optimistic tests and switching to a new "better" test will create confusion among customers who think that even the white MacBook gets over 40% more battery life than the new MBA.
 
PBG4 Dude

PBG4 Dude

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Jul 6, 2007
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mrklaw said:
there is no way my 2008 15" MBP gets anywhere near 250 minutes of use. And thats safari only (flashblocked) no itunes running.

2 hours maybe.
Click to expand...

You do realize that 2 hours is 240 minutes, or near 250 minutes??? :D

I am surprised at your low battery life as I have a base late 2008 15" MBP (last model with EC/34), and I get closer to 4 hours of battery life, but I'm only doing coding and web surfing.
 
rockyroad55

rockyroad55

macrumors 601
Jul 14, 2010
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Phila, PA
PBG4 Dude said:
You do realize that 2 hours is 240 minutes, or near 250 minutes??? :D

I am surprised at your low battery life as I have a base late 2008 15" MBP (last model with EC/34), and I get closer to 4 hours of battery life, but I'm only doing coding and web surfing.
Click to expand...

WTH. 2 hours is 120 minutes.

You do realize you are wrong?
 
J

jamesta1

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2010
7
0
drjsway said:
What I'm saying is that every PC company uses optimistic tests and switching to a new "better" test will create confusion among customers who think that even the white MacBook gets over 40% more battery life than the new MBA.
Click to expand...

I applaud their forthrightness but as a stock holder I agree, they should publish equivalent results as the 'sales line' battery-life. It's not like they're restricted to one or the other.
 
I

iKennett

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Nov 22, 2007
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jetjaguar

jetjaguar

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Apr 6, 2009
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somewhere
in that article when the websites had flash .. the time lowered to 5 hours and when they did heavy multitasking .. the time dropped to 3 hours .. and the difference between both the 11 and 13 inch was like 30 min
 
aleni

aleni

macrumors 68030
Jun 2, 2006
2,560
858
drjsway said:
But it makes me wonder why Apple decided to do these new tests. Since it's become standard in the industry to provide optimistic battery claims, people would only assume the MBA's 7 hours translates into 5 hours real world usage.

I know many people who cite the 13" MBP's 10 hour battery life as a major advantage over the MBA. Apple would've sold a lot more units if they stuck to the old tests and advertised it with 11 hours of battery life and 7 hours for the 11.6"
Click to expand...

apple has been honest since the iPad release. my ipad can hold more than 10 hours. you know when first i saw apple said 5 hours for the 11" MBA, i thought it was only going for 3 hours in real usage, but after the reviewers said it can last to 6-7 hours, i was like amazed and totally gonna buy it! lot of people read reviews before buying a laptop, so i guess this is a positive point for apple to be honest about battery life.
 
C

CaoCao

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2010
783
2
PBG4 Dude said:
You do realize that 2 hours is 240 minutes, or near 250 minutes??? :D

I am surprised at your low battery life as I have a base late 2008 15" MBP (last model with EC/34), and I get closer to 4 hours of battery life, but I'm only doing coding and web surfing.
Click to expand...

:(
 
F

Fanboyofnothing

macrumors member
Oct 25, 2010
60
0
Well as a real world, in-the-flesh 13 owner, I can safely say the 11.2 hour claim is junk. Just browsing and listening to itunes I'm getting 7. Perhaps if I just turned it on and let it sit there it might do 2-4 hours better. But who does that?
 
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