There are many factors that impact your battery life, and comparing with other users is pointless, as everyone has different computing habits, runs different apps, different settings, etc. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.I was wondering how many hours of regular use do you get from your MacAir. I heard many people complaining about poor battery life. I'm wondering what people really get from their MacAir. I usually get 3 hours from it.
The point is, you're not "doing the same stuff". There is a lot more running on your system than the apps you see on your Dock. There are many processes running in the background and some of these are different between 10.7 and 10.8. Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" to "All Processes" and you'll see what I'm referring to.Thanks for pointing out the obvious that it depends on how you use it. But it is funny how from the day I bought my Air I would do exactly the same things with it after I installed 10.8. Before I got 7 to 8 hours no sweat. The day I installed it to now doing the same stuff it's less than three hours. Bit of surfing, bit of word processing and screen at half brightness. Nothing from Apple obviously not effecting everyone so guess they don't give a ****.
Why not simply look at Activity Monitor and find out? You could have a single process that is putting high demands on system resources and draining your battery faster. Follow every step of the following instructions precisely. Do not skip any steps.So does that mean that now I've updraded to Lion 10.8 there is something that runs in the background that reduces my battery life from over 7hours to under 3 when I (me the human being using the computer) is doing the same things.
How much are you getting now?In the end, my issue was google drive, which my employer asked me to download. Had to do a clean install. All is right now. Google drive was creating (as best I can tell) multiple temp files.
After 3 months I'm starting to get like 2-3 hours of regular usage. This includes half brightness, lots of browsing, using word and powerpoint, skyping and light gaming. I guess it's pretty decent, but the thing that drains the battery the most is the wifi. If I turn it off I can get up to 5 or more hours of battery life.
But by using it the way that I do, I get 2-3 hours.
I've never heard of any 11" MBA getting anywhere near 7 hours - and I've gone through a few MBAs (11" and 13") over the years.So does that mean that now I've updraded to Lion 10.8 there is something that runs in the background that reduces my battery life from over 7hours to under 3 when I (me the human being using the computer) is doing the same things. Seems rubbish to me if that's true. Reminds me of having a windows machine always having to hunt around and tweek the bloody think to make it work half decently. I bought this machine as I need long battery life. Apple have taken that away and seem to be doing nothing about it.
I've never heard of any 11" MBA getting anywhere near 7 hours.