Standardized Battery Test Results for the MacBook Air

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Anandtech provides (http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3220) more standardized battery results for their 1.8GHz MacBook Air (HDD).

They setup 3 tasks of varying intensity with the MacBook Air's display set at just above 50%, and not to go to sleep, though the hard drive was allowed to spin down if able. The tasks and battery life times are listed as follows:

1) Use Wifi to browse 20 pages in a loop, spending 20 seconds on each page, while playing MP3s in iTunes. 4hr 16min
2) Play a DVD image (off the internal hard drive) in a loop. 3hr 25min
3) Download 10GB of files, Web browsing loop from #1, play two 480p Xvid videos in a loop. 2hr 25min

As expected, the battery time varies greatly with use, and helps explain the discrepant battery life times seen by various users. Andantech summaries:Apple's 5 hour claim is laughable but not as much as I expected. If I wanted to I suspect I could hit 5 hours by making the web browsing test less stressful, but my focus was on real world usage scenarios, not proving Apple correct. Regardless, 4 hours and 16 minutes doing what I consider to be the intended usage model of the Air is respectable. It's not great, but it's not terrible either.



Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/02/07/standardized-battery-test-results-for-the-macbook-air/)

[michaelfengdayu]

But there's great difference among webpages. It drains the battery very fast when I watch Youtube and the computer becomes extremely hot.

[furious]

I could have told them the same thing.

The main factors I can see for battery life of a notebook computer is wifi access, disk read/write, and display brightness.

If you manage those three things efficiently you should be able to reach close to apples claim of 5 hours. Admittedly you would struggle to operate a computer like that day to day.

[lazydesi]

good work by Atech

S Jobs can you show 5Hrs battery life with more details

[a1016neo]

Hmmmmmm...

Apple under weights their ipod's battery life but over weights their laptop's battery life. :confused:

[CaptainScarlet]

Not sure how to take the tests,really. Does someone actually sit there and refresh a page every 20sec for over 4 hours? Never stopping to read an article? Never stopping to hit the can?

I'd like to see "Real World" testing and not just loops...

---Meh

[firstapple]

I would say these tests are pretty accurate. I don't tend to just sit on one site for very long when I am online. When I am online, I am searching the forums, looking up finance/business news, searching other sites... Yea, I do stay on some pages for more then 20 seconds, but when I search the forums for instance or I am doing research, I am constantly refreshing pages and booting up new ones.

[arn]

Not sure how to take the tests,really. Does someone actually sit there and refresh a page every 20sec for over 4 hours? Never stopping to read an article? Never stopping to hit the can?

I'd like to see "Real World" testing and not just loops...

The point is these are standardized tests. We've had "real world" results reported... you want to know what those were?

2hrs 30mins
3hrs 45mins
5hrs 00mins
4hrs 15mins
2hrs 50mins

With reported use being described as "typical" for all of them.

I think the browsing,mp3 playing test is very indicative of use for many people.

arn

[notjustjay]

4.5 hours on a charge with Wifi on, 50% brightness, playing mp3's on the speakers and actively browsing the web, in a device that small, and you people call that LAUGHABLE?!

I was happy when my 12" PowerBook got me 5 hours, and that was with Wifi and bluetooth off, 1 bar of brightness and speakers off, doing little more than taking notes with Microsoft Word.

Sounds pretty darned good to me.

[applefan69]

honesltyy i think 4+ hours is phenonomal... for the size of the device and size of battery.

Steve said that other ultra portables generally get 1-2 hours of battery life... and here apple is pwning ANOTHER aspect.

I have a regular macbook, and with listening to music, web browsing, Instant messanging, and downloading, i only get about 3 and a half hours.

[CaptainScarlet]

The point is these are standardized tests. We've had "real world" results reported... you want to know what those were?

2hrs 30mins
3hrs 45mins
5hrs 00mins
4hrs 15mins
2hrs 50mins

With user reported use being described as "typical" for all of them.

I think the browsing,mp3 playing test is very indicative of use for many people.

arn
Interesting...Not too bad for times...Just wait a few more years and 8 hours will be the norm.

[MacFly123]

I think that is a lot longer than I have ever gotten on any of my laptops including my MBP too.

P.S. The MacBook Air is cool, but I am sooo sick of all the stories about it. Can we get some real rumors please? Cinema Displays? Newton 2? Apple Televisions? MacBook Pro? Multi-Touch? iPhone 2.0? iPhone Nano? Etc?

[nagromme]

Any company's battery numbers are essentially "up to"--a BEST case. Many wouldn't even measure with WiFi on.

But these results look good to me--more life than I need. I think I'll spring for the 1.8 HDD :)

[ucfgrad93]

Over 4 hours for surfing the web and listening to music is pretty good I think.

[kuwisdelu]

I agree that these are pretty good times. I don't see what people are complaining so much about. These times own the current MacBook and MacBook Pro's.

15 min short of three hours while downloading 10GB, browsing, AND watching movies? That's damn good.

Turn the speakers off like I have in class and turn down the brightness in the first test, and I could get 5+ hours on this thing easy.

BTW, does anyone know how music through headphones vs. music through speakers drain the battery comparatively?

[MacTheSpoon]

These results look good to me. And I'll bet the author didn't even condition the battery first, either!

[Jiddick ExRex]

Steve said that other ultra portables generally get 1-2 hours of battery life... and here apple is pwning ANOTHER aspect.


Someone just made an Applefanboi stinker. Phew.

When Steve tells you something in his keynote is he per definition correct?

What kind of statement is this? :rolleyes:

[chrisbolt]

The quoted numbers are wrong. The graphs say 4.27, 3.42, and 2.43 hours, not 4 hours 27 minutes, etc. The time quoted at the end of the article, 4 hours 16 minutes, equals 4.27 hours.

[arn]

The quoted numbers are wrong. The graphs say 4.27, 3.42, and 2.43 hours, not 4 hours 27 minutes, etc. The time quoted at the end of the article, 4 hours 16 minutes, equals 4.27 hours.

Oops. apologies. corrected.

arn

[PeterSmith]

I wonder how these battery tests do translate into real `real world use'. Say by academics/students.

A couple of hours in the office/library, writing a lecture/writing an essay, consulting a couple of online resources along the way. Twenty minute coffee break in a campus cafe with wifi, checking emails. Lecture driving a data projector (just humdrum slides, no video)/taking notes. Back to the library ....

No vid watching while 'on the road', no iTunes, modest use of wifi ...

Now, that would be a realistic test for many potential MBA users. And if that sort of use gets around five hours battery use, then I'd be very tempted!

[Undecided]

This is a stupid test, and hardly standardized, if they're not going to compare it to other laptops, by Apple or others. Without that, what's the point? Apple's estimate is "laughable"? So what, if everyone else's is too, and in the end Apple's is "less laughable"?

[gnasher729]

This is a stupid test, and hardly standardized, if they're not going to compare it to other laptops, by Apple or others. Without that, what's the point? Apple's estimate is "laughable"? So what, if everyone else's is too, and in the end Apple's is "less laughable"?

The third of their test was designed to empty the battery and not related to real life in any way. You don't watch videos in a loop. You definitely don't watch _two_ videos in a loop. And you don't watch two videos in a loop while browsing the internet.

Now a big danger with a test like this is that people will say "this Apple laptop says 5 hours battery life but it only lasts 3 1/2, while this XXX laptop lasts 7 hours, that's twice as long", and they don't realise that the 7 hours is advertised with the extra says battery that adds two pound weight and costs extra, and that the 7 hours is an unchecked, advertised number. This test is pointless without putting the other laptop through an identical test.

[mdtsuk]

Does anyone have a comparison with the SSD model?

Should make some interesting results.

[quantumbits]

LOL. I love reading the subjective tripe.

Here's the deal: the TZ, which even Jobs himself admitted was the MBA's rival, has a real-world battery life ranging from 4-7 hours. Reports vary. For example, I remember one reviewer reporting a battery life of 6 hours using a screen brightness of 75%. I have yet to read any report of the MBA coming close to 6 hours.

So, let's call a spade a spade: the battery life of the MBA is nothing to boast about, especially when factoring in the price and compromised feature set. Oh yeah, one of those compromises is a readily swappable battery.

Objectively, this is yet another reason why the MBA is an overpriced, gimmicky piece of flair. Its not a sound investment; it simply enables another form of conspicuous consumption. Queue the litany of perfunctory, subjective responses (e.g. Its right for ME, not for YOU. Then don't buy one. Blah blah blah). :rolleyes:

[BongoBanger]

Good tests there and pretty fair - these are pretty standard light, medium and heavy usage stats. A 3 to 4 hour battery life is a realistic figure and comparable with its peers.

However, if it's just going to be used for browsing and playing tunes then why not just get an iPhone or iPod Touch and save yourself some cash? The more I think about it the more the Macbook Air seems to be a deluxe iPod rather than a functional notebook.

[maverick808]

The third of their test was designed to empty the battery and not related to real life in any way. You don't watch videos in a loop. You definitely don't watch _two_ videos in a loop. And you don't watch two videos in a loop while browsing the internet.

This isn't about watching two movies simultaneously, it's about putting some level of stress on the CPU. In actuality, watching two movies on my iMac simultaneously only uses about 18-20% CPU, which is obviously very little and I'd have expected more battery life at those levels of CPU use.

What these results tell us is that unless you are doing next to nothing with the CPU, and just browse the web, then the battery life is about 3 hours. I think this is pretty poor, although it is in line with the MB and MBP.

With that said, in my opinion, all the battery tests so far only give a vague idea because we don't know how much the machine was actually used. What's really needed is a test saying "here's how long the battery lasts with 10% CPU use, and here's 20, 50, 75, 100%." Then we could easily state "with 50% constant CPU use the battery lasts X minutes".

[iWizzard]

I Would like to se a test where the used nothing but a wordprocessor.

[Grasbak]

Probably been said before in the thread but.... I assume the point of a standardised test is that you can compare with other machines.

The numbers are meaningless unless used in comparison.

[Hattig]

This isn't about watching two movies simultaneously, it's about putting some level of stress on the CPU. In actuality, watching two movies on my iMac simultaneously only uses about 18-20% CPU, which is obviously very little and I'd have expected more battery life at those levels of CPU use.


I imagine that the continual streaming of data from the hard drive will drain a lot of battery as it won't be able to go to sleep.

Never mind that your iMac's decoding could be GPU assisted, whereas the Air has naff Intel X3100 integrated graphics.

Real world usage for students? Well, they shouldn't be spending money on an Air anyway, but at low brightness with wifi turned off, no music being played and taking notes (because a pen and paper isn't enough for some reason) might last 5 hours. I.e., it would get you through daily lectures and some more.

[wordmunger]

Probably been said before in the thread but.... I assume the point of a standardised test is that you can compare with other machines.

The numbers are meaningless unless used in comparison.

Yes, exactly. How does this compare to a MB and a MBP? If it's about the same, then that's good enough for me.

[koobcamuk]

...5 hours. I.e., it would get you through daily lectures and some more.

Not on the course I did! :)

Pen and paper all the way for me.

My 12" PowerBook with 2 batteries gives me about 9 hours useage with wifi on, browsing and MP3s.

[BongoBanger]

If you look at notebookreview.com it has battery compaisons for equivalent units.

[Zadillo]

LOL. I love reading the subjective tripe.

Here's the deal: the TZ, which even Jobs himself admitted was the MBA's rival, has a real-world battery life ranging from 4-7 hours. Reports vary. For example, I remember one reviewer reporting a battery life of 6 hours using a screen brightness of 75%. I have yet to read any report of the MBA coming close to 6 hours.

So, let's call a spade a spade: the battery life of the MBA is nothing to boast about, especially when factoring in the price and compromised feature set. Oh yeah, one of those compromises is a readily swappable battery.

Objectively, this is yet another reason why the MBA is an overpriced, gimmicky piece of flair. Its not a sound investment; it simply enables another form of conspicuous consumption. Queue the litany of perfunctory, subjective responses (e.g. Its right for ME, not for YOU. Then don't buy one. Blah blah blah). :rolleyes:

I think it's funny to bring up the TZ and then call the MBA an overpriced gimmicky piece of flair.

I'd argue the TZ fits that bill much more; yes, it gets 4-7 hours of "real world use"... although again, that 7 hour claim is just as theoretical as the MBA's 5 hour claim; actually getting 7 hours of battery life out of a TZ requires minimal screen brightness, no wi-fi, almost no real activity, etc.... but anyway, it does so with a very tiny screen, an incredibly slow processor, and a small keyboard that is uncomfortable to type on compared to the fuller keyboard of something like the SZ or MBA.

So basically, the TZ realistically gets in the 4-5 hour range with "typical" use, but doing a lot of things on the TZ is more unpleasant because of a) the smaller screen b) the smaller keyboard and c) the slower CPU.

This isn't just fanboyism, btw; you can find plenty of TZ owners (or former owners) who will tell you the same thing.

I think I'd personally take an hour or two less of "real world use" if it means the experience of using that computer is more pleasant.

-Zadillo

[wordmunger]

If you look at notebookreview.com it has battery compaisons for equivalent units.

I looked around on that site for quite a while and couldn't find similar battery benchmarks. Do you have a link?

[BongoBanger]

I looked around on that site for quite a while and couldn't find similar battery benchmarks. Do you have a link?

There's no direct link, you have to look at individual reviews. Here's one of the Dell XPS M1330 for example:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3898&review=Dell+XPS+M1330+%28Core+2+Duo+1%2E5GHz%2C+2GB+RAM%2C+120GB+HDD%2C+Vista+Home+Premium%29

[milo]

I think those results are actually pretty decent. While they call 5 hours "laughable" it definitely seems like reaching that point would be possible on their machine. The five hour number is a best case, just like every other computer company states.

Glad to see that they've clarified their results, and shown that their original test wasn't the max the machine could last.

So what does the rating mean on this one? Negative that the battery doesn't last longer? Or negative that these guys came to questionable conclusions on their first test?

[Stella]

I think that is a lot longer than I have ever gotten on any of my laptops including my MBP too.

P.S. The MacBook Air is cool, but I am sooo sick of all the stories about it. Can we get some real rumors please? Cinema Displays? Newton 2? Apple Televisions? MacBook Pro? Multi-Touch? iPhone 2.0? iPhone Nano? Etc?

You want rumours?

I was told by my pet spider, who has an uber secret source at Apple HQ:
* MacBook Pros are being discontinued in favour of pink coloured MacBooks
* Multi-touch on the next cinema displays, announced tomorrow
* iPhone 2 will be CDMA for the american market only. On Apple's ultra expensive forthcoming cell network

;-)

[mrJnC]

Doesn't a LiIon battery require a few charge cycles before it gets up to optimum capacity? I'm not really surprised that the numbers are so low out of the box.

After 4 or 5 charge cycles, it would be interesting to run the benchmark again.

[irnchriz]

LOL. I love reading the subjective tripe.

Here's the deal: the TZ, which even Jobs himself admitted was the MBA's rival, has a real-world battery life ranging from 4-7 hours. Reports vary. For example, I remember one reviewer reporting a battery life of 6 hours using a screen brightness of 75%. I have yet to read any report of the MBA coming close to 6 hours.

So, let's call a spade a spade: the battery life of the MBA is nothing to boast about, especially when factoring in the price and compromised feature set. Oh yeah, one of those compromises is a readily swappable battery.

Objectively, this is yet another reason why the MBA is an overpriced, gimmicky piece of flair. Its not a sound investment; it simply enables another form of conspicuous consumption. Queue the litany of perfunctory, subjective responses (e.g. Its right for ME, not for YOU. Then don't buy one. Blah blah blah). :rolleyes:

Anyway....
TZ spec in the review:
Windows Vista Business (32-bit)
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor U7600 (1.20GHz, 2MB L2, 533MHz FSB)
Mobile Intel 945GMS Express Chipset
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (802.11a/g/n)
Sprint Mobile Broadband (EV-DO Rev. A)
2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM (1 slot, maximum capacity 2GB)
32GB Samsung SSD Ultra-ATA HD
8x DVD (+/-R double layer) drive
11.1" diagonal widescreen XBrite TFT LCD display at 1366x768 (WXGA, Glossy, LED Backlit)
Premium Carbon-Fiber Casing
Intel GMA950 w/ up to 224MB
MOTION EYE camera and microphone
Bluetooth version 2.0 plus Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)
ExpressCard slot (ExpressCard/34)
5-in-1 media card reader
Memory Stick PRO (with MagicGate functionality) Secure Reader
VGA, Modem, 1Gb LAN, IEEE 1394, Dock, and Mic/Headphone connectors
IEEE-1394s (FireWire)
Two USB 2.0 ports
Dimensions (WxDxH Front/H Rear): 10x7.8x0.9/1.2
Weight: 2lbs 10.5oz actual, 3lbs 4oz travel weight
60W (19V x 4.62A) 100-240V AC adapter (10oz)
Standard Lithium Ion battery (11.1oz)
1-Year Standard Limited Warranty

So, the TZ makes no compromises?? slow CPU, weak GFX chip, little screen

Its got a 32GB SSD drive which saves power. Oh and BTW they were never able to get to the magic 7 hours on a production model, the 7hr figure was only achieved on prototypes therefore not real world.

MBA
1.6ghz core 2 duo with 4MB cache
Intel X3100 gfx
80GB HDD (1.8")
This got 4 and a quarter hours, so how much extra time will an SSD drive add? And you also have a much cleaner looking bit of kit with more oomph!

Also, price wise they are roughly the same if you spec the 1.6ghz MBA with the 64GB SSD drive. So for the same money you get:
A bigger screen
Slimmer more attractive design
More CPU grunt
Double the storage
Better graphics performance

[cbauer1439]

I must say i really dont see why everyone has to know the exact time the battery will last. The way i see it is that every battery is a little different. Shoot for an estimate such as 3 hrs. and go with that.

[DPGX]

Not to flame anyone but try typing reports, excel sheets or anything else on an ipod... This thing is great where it should be, for an executive or someone who frequently travels and might need to get work done on a notebook. It doesnt appeal to everyone, but if you're constantly on the go, that extra couple pound weight difference is a huge convenience.

[bigmc6000]

LOL. I love reading the subjective tripe.

Here's the deal: the TZ, which even Jobs himself admitted was the MBA's rival, has a real-world battery life ranging from 4-7 hours. Reports vary. For example, I remember one reviewer reporting a battery life of 6 hours using a screen brightness of 75%. I have yet to read any report of the MBA coming close to 6 hours.



That's because no one has even bothered to use it like it normally would be used. I've got a 12" PB and I honestly can't ever remember sitting there listening to music through my speakers for 4+ hours. You'd be surprised how much of a drain that is. Plug in some freakin headphones at least! The fact that he had it on max bright with everything on and had the speakers blaring and 20 second refreshes (much shorter time than it even took me to write this) is anything but "real world." A "real world" test would be leave Mail open, have Adium going, and surf the web a little bit. Change the refresh rate to about once every 1 to 2 mins to get a more accurate reading. Honestly - do people actually sit around with their laptops listening to music on the speakers???? I hardly EVER listen to music on my laptop - it's more of a tool to get them onto my iPods/iPhone and to watch videos when I'm a plane or something. So, honestly, I wouldn't be even remotely surprised to see average Jo-Schmo get 5.5-6 hrs of actual use. Personally I'm sure I'd get at least that given my experiences with my PB and exceeding the Apple rated battery life to this day (3 years later).

[smockonallama]

I don't understand why some people get upset about an advertised battery life. I am sure with the lowest power consumption settings activated there would be a possible 5 hours of battery life. That being said, do you think an auto manufacturer would sell you a car if they advertised the worst rating of mpg. If it wasn't regulated they would only tell you the mpg for the highway rating. However, as most of you should know, you will rarely hit that rating the sticker on a car tells you. I feel that battery life advertisements on laptops should be treated as such as well.

[wordmunger]

There's no direct link, you have to look at individual reviews. Here's one of the Dell XPS M1330 for example:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3898&review=Dell+XPS+M1330+%28Core+2+Duo+1%2E5GHz%2C+2GB+RAM%2C+120GB+HDD%2C+Vista+Home+Premium%29

Okay, so that one looks about the same as the MBA. I looked at a MBP review and didn't see a similar test -- just some general impressions about battery life.

[dahcheet]

I'm a newbie to the whole Mac world and I made my jump with the MBA. Yes, I'm one of those crazy guys who likes to have the latest and greatest if/when I can and I was in need of a new laptop. Flame me if you will, I don't really care.

I got my MBA Monday and got it all setup. So far I love it. Tuesday night I used it off the cord for the first time and got a decent amount of time out of it while I was downloading a large file, chatting, and surfing the web. All the settings were on default (display brightness, volume, what not) and my web surfing was pretty "intense" because I was going through my feed reader and visiting a number of different sites (this one included). I can't give you an exact amount of time I got on the battery because I didn't take note but it was enough time for me to go through my reader and all the subsequent articles I opened. For me, that's perfect.

[Virgil-TB2]

Interesting...Not too bad for times...Just wait a few more years and 8 hours will be the norm.I agree. Also, the way I read the article, this was an "I hope I can make bad news for Apple" kind of test, and the man utterly failed in his mission.

It's also the first test I have read about that comes close to replicating the set-up that Apple claims will give you five hours in the first place. All the other tester's so far have taken their own road and made up what they considered to be a fair test, all the while ignoring what Apple actually states.

The first test done here, (with the exception of the fact that the brightness was above the 50% "out of the box" setting), replicates the usage Apple describes and (surprise?) comes very close to what Apple say's the batteries life actually is.

The fellows bias is also showing in the last test where it not only simulates nothing even close to a real-life use, he particularly picks a movie with a non-apple, non-standard codec. It's safe to assume that even a standard mpeg would have done at least slightly better.

[offwidafairies]

Oops. apologies. corrected.

arn

that doesnt seem like it would make much difference

[twoodcc]

like they said, it's not great, and not terrible.

i don't think i could buy the air with only that much battery though

[swingerofbirch]

I don't think that these tests make Apple's 5 hours claim laughable at all. Some people will be using the MacBook Air for typing Word documents, iChatting, and sending e-mail, and with the screen at 50%, I would guess the MacBook would make 5 hours doing those things given its performance loading the pages and playing MP3s in the first test. I'm not aware of any magic advances in battery technology as of late, so I'm never sure why people expect so much.

[eastcoastsurfer]

I don't think that these tests make Apple's 5 hours claim laughable at all. Some people will be using the MacBook Air for typing Word documents, iChatting, and sending e-mail, and with the screen at 50%, I would guess the MacBook would make 5 hours doing those things given its performance loading the pages and playing MP3s in the first test. I'm not aware of any magic advances in battery technology as of late, so I'm never sure why people expect so much.

I think it's b/c the lack of a swappable battery make battery life that much more important. Before I could just take a spare with me...now I have to know if the MBA will really last as long as it says for what *I* need it to do.

[jettredmont]

1. I have an iPod for music. I use it for such when on the go.
2. In my most ADD-induced frenetic browsing states, I never open new web pages at a sustained 20-second rate. One minute or so is probably more accurate. And, I'm assuming this is an "average" size web page with mostly text (ie, not YouTube, not pulling up massive Wikipedia entries).
3. H.264 instead of XVid would be a more valid stress-test comparison for Apple's claims. Specifically, rent a friggin movie and run it in a loop to see how far you get!
4. Brightness at 100%? If I'm on the go, I'm most often in dimly-lit locations (airplane, bus, airport); the 50% setting would be used, and likely reduced to more like 20%. Oh, and WiFi is typically off entirely on airplanes and buses, where battery life is critical, but we all know that, right?
5. No "input" test here. Typical use for me is to be writing something down, because I have old fashioned dead-trees media to read as necessary. I would prefer some sort of test with Word open, random keys being pushed in short bursts, and a save (because Word tends to crash) once per minute. If you wanted to get fancy and customize this for me, use DevonThink instead and cut the save operation down to once per 10 minutes (because DT has never crashed on me, yet Word has left my save-button reflex itching to be scratched). I'm hoping such a usage pattern would yield more than the 1.5 hours I typically saw on my PowerBook (seems like I get about 2.5 hours in this mode on my MacBook Pro). This test should be run with WiFi on (business meeting mode) and with WiFi off (airplane mode).

On the guy saying battery tech hasn't advanced recently: battery tech isn't the point here. You can read the capacity of any battery right off its packaging. What differs between computers is the set of components in the box needing power, and how well the "unused at the moment" components get powered down when not needed. There is definitely a difference between well-designed hardware and thrown-together hardware here.

All that having been said, this gives us a data point. Anandtech is quick to jump on the anti-Apple train, so their dismissal of 4:16 results being nowhere near 5:00 is typical. IMHO, 4:16 versus 5:00 is about the best I've seen come from any hardware company's battery life claims! The sole exception here is Apple with its iPods, where real-world testing often beats their claims by a few minutes.

[deathshrub]

I think that is a lot longer than I have ever gotten on any of my laptops including my MBP too.

P.S. The MacBook Air is cool, but I am sooo sick of all the stories about it. Can we get some real rumors please? Cinema Displays? Newton 2? Apple Televisions? MacBook Pro? Multi-Touch? iPhone 2.0? iPhone Nano? Etc?

QFT.

[caf9128]

I think it's b/c the lack of a swappable battery make battery life that much more important. Before I could just take a spare with me...now I have to know if the MBA will really last as long as it says for what *I* need it to do.

Bingo!! Some people don't seem to comprehend that there is no back-up. If one finds that the MBA doesn't have adequate battery life for their usage, they're stuck. You can't just buy a spare battery, you have to buy a new laptop.

I have two MacBooks and a Sony TZ series. I like the MBs just fine, but when I want portability, I'd take the TZ over the MBs or a MBA anyday. Sure the Sony has a slightly slower processor, but it has a great resolution screen, a CD/DVD drive, multiple USB ports, an ethernet connector, true stereo speakers, it fits more easily in my bag, amazing battery life (frequently more than 6 hours in my usage), it has a replaceable battery AND it's actually lighter! Who cares if the MBA is thin--that's only a show-off feature with no real value in real life.

The Sony has been available for 3 years. It's disappointing that the MBA is the best Apple can do in 2008!

[granex]

It doesn't really matter if these are "real world" numbers are off by a bit one way or another, the fact remains that they show that this is not enough battery life for me. I need to be able to watch at least two movies during cross country travel. This translates into at least 6 hours of time. This means having to have a replacable battery.

On my old G4 Powerbook with pre-recall batteries, I would get about 4 hours per battery. With my newer 15" MacBook Pro, I get about 3 hours with each battery (only 2.5 with wifi on), which is not great, but serviceable. I really want to move back down to a more portable solution for travel. The Airbook seems perfect, but with this limitation, I won't be getting one.

Because of where I live, I always have to have a stop over, so my total travel time across the country (especially east to west) is more like 9-12 hours with layovers. I can usually plug in during a layover, but if you are using the computer it doesn't charge enough for full use on the next leg.

Some people have suggested having a plug in battery power back up like exists for iPods. To me, this is an ideal solution because then people can choose how big a backup power system they need for the usage that they have, and Steve doesn't have to compromise on the styling of the Airbook. Note, however, that Apple has a patent on the Magsafe power connector and, last I heard, they had not licensed this to anyone. This means no third party solutions for now. So, if Apple wants to sell me one of these, they had better either come out with their own solution or license Magsafe to a third party vendor.

[jragosta]

1) Use Wifi to browse 20 pages in a loop, spending 20 seconds on each page, while playing MP3s in iTunes. 4hr 16min

Apple claims 5 hours in normal use. 4.25 hours with continuous disk access and wifi and continuously browsing pages pretty much justifies Apple's claim - since no one is going to be refreshing pages ever 20 seconds for 4 hours while continuously running their hard disk.

[jragosta]

LOL. I love reading the subjective tripe.

Here's the deal: the TZ, which even Jobs himself admitted was the MBA's rival, has a real-world battery life ranging from 4-7 hours. Reports vary. For example, I remember one reviewer reporting a battery life of 6 hours using a screen brightness of 75%. I have yet to read any report of the MBA coming close to 6 hours.


Let's see if we can figure this out.

The above test shows that the MBA gets 4.27 hours with continuous WiFi, continuous hard disk access, and continuous web browsing. You're bragging about '4-7 hours' with no test conditions defined, considering that the computer you're bragging about has a tiny screen and a dirt slow processor -- and costs $800 more.

Sorry, I'll take the $800 savings, bigger screen, and faster processor - considering that there's no evidence that the TZ would have greater battery life under these conditions.

[jragosta]

What these results tell us is that unless you are doing next to nothing with the CPU, and just browse the web, then the battery life is about 3 hours. I think this is pretty poor, although it is in line with the MB and MBP.

Where did you get that? The test you're referring to shows that you get 4.27 hours battery life with CONTINUOUS web browsing, WiFi, 100% screen brightness, and continuous hard disk access and mp3 decoding. Where did you come up with 3 hours?

[AidenShaw]

Note, however, that Apple has a patent on the Magsafe power connector and, last I heard, they had not licensed this to anyone. This means no third party solutions for now.

Yes, but Apple has the MBA Airline Adaptor.

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/regional/amr/macbook-air/img/accessories-magsafe.jpg

+

EmPower adaptor for UPB70 (http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=UPB70)

+

http://www.apcmedia.com/resource/images/500/Detailed/2B808D37-5056-AE36-FEE58F88F09A0473_pr.jpg

=

MBA rescue pack

[milo]

Bingo!! Some people don't seem to comprehend that there is no back-up. If one finds that the MBA doesn't have adequate battery life for their usage, they're stuck. You can't just buy a spare battery, you have to buy a new laptop.

There will probably be external batteries for it.

[jragosta]

I think it's b/c the lack of a swappable battery make battery life that much more important. Before I could just take a spare with me...now I have to know if the MBA will really last as long as it says for what *I* need it to do.

You can take a spare with you for the MBA, as well. There are MagSafe battery packs which work with the MBA.

[jragosta]

Bingo!! Some people don't seem to comprehend that there is no back-up. If one finds that the MBA doesn't have adequate battery life for their usage, they're stuck. You can't just buy a spare battery, you have to buy a new laptop.

Not correct. There are external battery packs.

[Mac21ND]

You can take a spare with you for the MBA, as well. There are MagSafe battery packs which work with the MBA.

People are also forgetting too that you can still plug in your MBA. I know carrying power cord isn't ideal, but if you're going someplace for a presentation, studying, or similar, you can do it. Not really an apology for not having a user replaceable battery, but still, you have options.

[notjustjay]

Not correct. There are external battery packs.

There are other options beyond even this. Canadian Tire (an automotive/hardware/housewares type chain store in Canada) sells a portable power inverter that you can plug things into (including your laptop power adaptor). It's a battery about the size of an external hard drive. Should be good for a few extra hours of running time including charging up the MBA internal battery while you're running off it. $70.

[caf9128]

Not correct. There are external battery packs.

Link?

[caf9128]

Let's see if we can figure this out.

The above test shows that the MBA gets 4.27 hours with continuous WiFi, continuous hard disk access, and continuous web browsing. You're bragging about '4-7 hours' with no test conditions defined, considering that the computer you're bragging about has a tiny screen and a dirt slow processor -- and costs $800 more.

Sorry, I'll take the $800 savings, bigger screen, and faster processor - considering that there's no evidence that the TZ would have greater battery life under these conditions.

You can get a MBA for $1000? I paid $1800, brand new, for my TZ last year. Remember, unlike Apple, vendors are allowed to set the price for other products at something other than MSRP.

[maokh]

1) Use Wifi to browse 20 pages in a loop, spending 20 seconds on each page, while playing MP3s in iTunes. 4hr 16min
2) Play a DVD image (off the internal hard drive) in a loop. 3hr 25min
3) Download 10GB of files, Web browsing loop from #1, play two 480p Xvid videos in a loop. 2hr 25min

If I wanted to I suspect I could hit 5 hours by making the web browsing test less stressful, but my focus was on real world usage scenarios, not proving Apple correct

If your focus was "real world usage scenarios", you must be from a different planet. None of these tests are close to "real world usage". Who the heck watches two movies at once, downloads 1/8 of their hard drive capacity, and spends 20 seconds per web page?

Even #1 is a stretch ...

I could understand #2, but only in bizarre-o-world would someone watch a DVD image when they could have compressed it.

These are real world tests:

1) college kid typing up final in word processor, occasionally checking websites for references

2) person casually surfing various websites, but probably not at a crack-addicted pace.

3) person watching a compressed movie (H.264, divx, etc.) with headphones
while on a plane

But, then, if we actually did real world tests like the above, you probably would hit pretty close to 5 hours and your blog post would go unread. Oh and dare anyone admit that an apple statistic is correct.

Now, mind you, i dont have a macbook air and have no intention of buying one. I could care less if its the worst apple laptop in existence and the product flops. What I do care about is that you at least take an unbiased look at the piece of hardware.

[bretm]

Gas mileage is the same thing. Give it a try. Your car may advertise 30 hwy, 25 city. But guess what? That's in a vacuum going downhill. :)

In real life you get maybe 75% of that. More like 24/19. Supposedly the numbers are going to be real world this year with new specs by govt on gas mileage.

[NYCMacFan]

Hmmmmmm...

Apple under weights their ipod's battery life but over weights their laptop's battery life. :confused:

Well I have the old Nano, but I suspect that battery life playing music is some multiple of the battery life doing video. Not sure, but that may be at play.

[sterlingindigo]

So, MBA owners may have to use the power adapter on the airplane or at home a little more often. All laptops need to be plugged in eventually. May want to put a car charger in the manilla envelope too. ...probably fit. If you're using more than a couple hours battery life at the coffee shop without getting picked up, it's not the machine's fault. :p

[kuwisdelu]

1) college kid typing up final in word processor, occasionally checking websites for references

2) person casually surfing various websites, but probably not at a crack-addicted pace.

3) person watching a compressed movie (H.264, divx, etc.) with headphones
while on a plane

But, then, if we actually did real world tests like the above, you probably would hit pretty close to 5 hours and your blog post would go unread. Oh and dare anyone admit that an apple statistic is correct.

I agree with this. Too many "battery tests" seem to be aiming for "let's see if we can disprove what the advertised expected life is..." than "what would a normal person get?"

The (1) version that they did seems somewhat reasonable... if they used headphones. Who listens to music on their laptop speakers for 4 hours?

Your suggested tests describe my usage pretty well, except for those times I need to use Windows in Fusion to get to a few idiotic programs not developed for Mac, just to get my homework done...

What about a test that just has the laptop playing a Keynote presentation in a continuous loop, going to a new slide every minute or so? That would seem like a pretty important one to business travelers, but no one's tried that one.

[kuwisdelu]

So, MBA owners may have to use the power adapter on the airplane or at home a little more often. All laptops need to be plugged in eventually. May want to put a car charger in the manilla envelope too. ...probably fit. If you're using more than a couple hours battery life at the coffee shop without getting picked up, it's not the machine's fault. :p

No more often! I don't see where anyone is getting this at all. From the tests in this article, it seems to me that the MacBook Air's battery life blows away the regular MacBook's and certainly the MacBook Pro's. Nothing amazing, certainly, but it seems better than what most MacBook's get and hours better than a Pro.

[NYCMacFan]

These are real world tests:

1) college kid typing up final in word processor, occasionally checking websites for references

2) person casually surfing various websites, but probably not at a crack-addicted pace.

3) person watching a compressed movie (H.264, divx, etc.) with headphones
while on a plane[/QUOTE]

I am a college prof and so would clearly fall into number 1. I got the 1.6 with SSD. I hope to get five hours of word processor and occasional web access (wifi on, bluetooth off, reasonable brightness).

Will see, but my ship date is late Feb so I won't be seeing it soon...

[NYCMacFan]

There are other options beyond even this. Canadian Tire (an automotive/hardware/housewares type chain store in Canada) sells a portable power inverter that you can plug things into (including your laptop power adaptor). It's a battery about the size of an external hard drive. Should be good for a few extra hours of running time including charging up the MBA internal battery while you're running off it. $70.

For people that travel by road, these really are simple and ideal...

[clevin]

lol, 20 pages in a loop, so browser only read from cache? wifi not in use after all?

[NYCMacFan]

I Would like to se a test where the used nothing but a wordprocessor.

Me too. Or with occasional web referencing (say having Firefox open on wikipedia, but not doing much).

[NYCMacFan]

Doesn't a LiIon battery require a few charge cycles before it gets up to optimum capacity? I'm not really surprised that the numbers are so low out of the box.

After 4 or 5 charge cycles, it would be interesting to run the benchmark again.

Oddly the reviewers themselves often mention this, but we forget when we read it.

[nemaslov]

But there's great difference among webpages. It drains the battery very fast when I watch Youtube and the computer becomes extremely hot.

If you watch Youporn, it would get even hotter and your battery would only last 2 or 3 minutes :cool:

[shawnce]

lol, 20 pages in a loop, so browser only read from cache? wifi not in use after all? It depends on the pages they are visiting. If they are news site pages they would change fairly often and require downloading... or those with ads that are rotated, etc.

[blahblah2much]

How come they didn't test the use of bluetooth and usb and the external usb cd/dvd drive and isight camera. The air already has a few i/o's and they couldn't test those. It would be nice to know how much power these things would suck even for a moment of use. People do sync their iPhone and other iToys with iTunes.

[AidenShaw]

It depends on the pages they are visiting. If they are news site pages they would change fairly often and require downloading... or those with ads that are rotated, etc.

Or flush the cache at the top of the loop.

[bmk]

Most people complaining about how unreal the 'real world' tests are are making the simple mistake of thinking that the reviewers are even vaguely interested in the results and how pertinent they are to real users. They are journos! - what they are interested in is scamming and blagging the latest product - the MBA in this case - and showing it off to their mates. They are certainly not going to waste valuable bragging time by giving you a comprehensive real world test - what do they know about the real world anyway?

[GoodWatch]

Most people complaining about how unreal the 'real world' tests are are making the simple mistake of thinking that the reviewers are even vaguely interested in the results and how pertinent they are to real users. They are journos! - what they are interested in is scamming and blagging the latest product - the MBA in this case - and showing it off to their mates. They are certainly not going to waste valuable bragging time by giving you a comprehensive real world test - what do they know about the real world anyway?

Yes, how dare they make any negative comment about an Apple product! Tar and feathers! :rolleyes:

[ompus]

The lack of control between different tests and different brands has been pointed out.

However, skimming the comments, I see little attention being paid to simple planning ahead. Regardless of the computer, If I'm on battery and away from a power source, I take that into account at all times. Clearly, you kill wi-fi, and bluetooth plus lower the screen brightness to an absolute minimum every time you can. Taking a few minutes to talk on the phone, kill the screen or even sleep. The point is that I'll end up with 2x the battery life of my wife who can't be bothered.

The long and the short is that I have NEVER run out of juice since I bought my iBook or with my current MacBook. I suggest 90% of people could accomplish the same if they stayed vigilant.

[Stella]

Most people complaining about how unreal the 'real world' tests are are making the simple mistake of thinking that the reviewers are even vaguely interested in the results and how pertinent they are to real users. They are journos! - what they are interested in is scamming and blagging the latest product - the MBA in this case - and showing it off to their mates. They are certainly not going to waste valuable bragging time by giving you a comprehensive real world test - what do they know about the real world anyway?

They wouldn't be very good reviewers if they 'scammed and 'blag'. Quite a broad and overreaction IMO.

[noodle654]

The battery is pretty good. I would expect more but hey...its a Rev. A. I am sure the battery will be great in later models.

[ikm19]

There is a spelling mistake of ANANDTECH...

[milo]

Yes, how dare they make any negative comment about an Apple product! Tar and feathers! :rolleyes:

Nice strawman there. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[jragosta]

Link?

I did a quick search and it looks like I jumped the gun a little. There are external battery packs using Magsafe for MB and MBP and at least one supplier has said that they'll be releasing an external battery pack for MBA soon.

So it's not available yet, but it will be - for the infinitesimal number of people who need more than 5 hours away from any power outlet, car power adapter or airplane power adapter.

[BongoBanger]

Honestly, I don't see what people are crying about. These are perfectly acceptable tests to determine battery life under light, heavy medium and heavy loading.

It's not a personal attack, you know. It's just a fact of life - the amount of life you get out of your notebook battery depends on what you use it for and Steve Jobs' figure of 5 hours is an optimal figure - i.e. the best it can get. Every other laptop manufacturer does the same thing and all their battery tests show the same thing - less battery life under heavier loading.

People should chill out a bit. I don't think anyone really believed the Air had a 5 hour battery life in reality and these figures aren't actually that bad.

[targat]

its very obvious that all laptops battery life always varies on its usage.:)

[clevin]

its very obvious that all laptops battery life always varies on its usage.:)

what usage do you get 5 hours from MBA?

[jragosta]

what usage do you get 5 hours from MBA?

Some people are reporting 5 hours. Ask them.

But Anandtech gets 4.27 hours with continuous web usage, continuous hard disk access, continuous mp3 decoding, continuous wifi and high screen brightness. It isn't too hard to believe that more reasonable usage will get you 5 hours.

[Tara Davis]

Honestly, it's no big deal. If you're a "heavy" user, and on a trans-continental flight, just bring along a second battery to pop in.

Oh wait. Never mind.

Guess I'll be enduring those whole two extra pounds of the MacBook in my carry-on bag after all.

Gosh, I hope I can find room for that extra quarter-inch of THICKNESS! :rolleyes:

[gnasher729]

Gas mileage is the same thing. Give it a try. Your car may advertise 30 hwy, 25 city. But guess what? That's in a vacuum going downhill. :)

In real life you get maybe 75% of that. More like 24/19. Supposedly the numbers are going to be real world this year with new specs by govt on gas mileage.

One problem is that the "hwy" (I suppose it means "Highway") test cycle actually runs at speeds between I think 25 and 45 mph. I'd love to have a number for running at continuous 70 mph as well.

And that brings me to the subject of benchmarks: Cars will be optimized for this benchmark, not for real-life usage. To optimize for the official test, I would adjust the gears so that you can just about drive smoothly at 45 mph in the highest gear. This will give you best fuel consumption in the benchmark. It will increase fuel consumption at 70 mph because at that speed your revs will be higher than necessary.

Same can happen with computer benchmarks. Apple has often been criticized for example for "bad thread performance" in some benchmark, and keeps replying that they optimize their code for real-life tasks, not for benchmarks.

[cowpaintings]

I got more than 5 hours the other night. I was working exclusively in iwork(pages), switched wifi on and off a couple of times to upload files/check email. Screen was dimmed yet bright enough for me since I was in a darker room.

Is this a "real world" scenario? Probably not-but neither are the tests where they're listening to music while editing a movie while internet surfing with wifi while downloading 100mb files until the battery empties out.

[maverick808]

And that brings me to the subject of benchmarks: Cars will be optimized for this benchmark, not for real-life usage. To optimize for the official test, I would adjust the gears so that you can just about drive smoothly at 45 mph in the highest gear. This will give you best fuel consumption in the benchmark. It will increase fuel consumption at 70 mph because at that speed your revs will be higher than necessary.

Whilst I completely agree that all manufacturers optimise as much as they can get away with for tests, I believe for mileage tests on cars the manufacturers must use the cars as they are when they come off the line and go for sale. That is, they aren't allowed to adjust the gears any differently to the ones they sell.

[gr8tfly]

Some people are reporting 5 hours. Ask them.

But Anandtech gets 4.27 hours with continuous web usage, continuous hard disk access, continuous mp3 decoding, continuous wifi and high screen brightness. It isn't too hard to believe that more reasonable usage will get you 5 hours.

I got 4:13 in testing on the very first full discharge (cal cycle). Web page refreshing every few minutes, continuous audio play in iTunes, Mail checking every few minutes and about an hour of intermixed Screen Share. Display brightness at about 60%.

I felt this was very close to, if not better than Anandtech's (considering the screen sharing overhead, both CPU & wifi).

This was actually better than I expected, especially for the very first cycle.

I'll try another one in a couple of days (have to give my wife some time on her new machine, after all ;) ).

[galstaph]

You'd think they could squeeze a wee bit more life out of it... too bad