Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Will Haswell finally give the 11" Air acceptable battery life?

W

waa1futs

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 2, 2012
379
0
I love the 11" form factor and would vastly prefer it over the 13" version except for one thing: the horrible battery life :(

3.5 - 4 hours of battery life during medium usage is completely unacceptable for a $1000 machine. Especially since using it over time that number will get worn down ever more.

Will the 2013 versions with Haswell chips finally give the 11" Air the 5-7 hours of medium usage battery life it deserves? :)
 
krspkbl

krspkbl

macrumors 68020
Jul 20, 2012
2,111
5,173
Obviously I can't give you an exact number but the haswell architecture will improve battery life for sure. From what I've read on here it could only be between 30-60 minutes extra battery life. That's 4-5 hrs life. Still no where near the 13" battery life on ivy bridge (6.5/9hrs)
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
Nope, they will make it still thinner and even lighter with a smaller battery... ;)

Kidding!


Hey lately am seeing lots of people with iPad + Physical keyboard, and is Office IOS out yet?
 
T

The-Pro

macrumors 65816
Dec 2, 2010
1,453
40
Germany
Mrbobb said:
Nope, they will make it still thinner and even lighter with a smaller battery... ;)

Kidding!


Hey lately am seeing lots of people with iPad + Physical keyboard, and is Office IOS out yet?
Click to expand...

Funny thing is your right. Apple wont just make a product thicker and heavier then a previous generation model. Just not going to happen. If not thinner and lighter they will keep it the same. Unlike the iPad to iPad retina where the HAD to make it minimally thicker they don't have to do that with the air. I am very sure they will keep have the same battery life in the new model. Maybe they will say it has 6hrs if we are lucky. Problems is they wanted to make the air so thin that there is little space for a battery. They could have just made the the entire computer 1-2mm thicker, and fitted a much bigger battery.

You can also look at external battery solutions or even build one yourself. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1385372/

I too see that a lot lately. I have one aswell. Its quite convenient actually. I wish you had more control with the keyboard though. I hate having to reach up to tap something.
 
R

Robyr

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2010
226
0
msjones said:
I concur. I get about this from my 2012 11"MBA. Though I am mainly working in a terminal or text wrangler. But always with a wifi connection, half brightness.
Click to expand...

There is something to be said for the charge-time too. It take ~1.5 hours to go from 10% to 100% on the 11", and that is fine by me. Realistically, the 11" is fine for me now, but I would like a real increase in battery runtime.

11-12 hours with a Retina Pro styled casing, but the same LCD thickness and a 2mm reduction in the base thickness would be the perfect chassis.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,030
7,870
The-Pro said:
Funny thing is your right. Apple wont just make a product thicker and heavier then a previous generation model. Just not going to happen. If not thinner and lighter they will keep it the same. Unlike the iPad to iPad retina where the HAD to make it minimally thicker they don't have to do that with the air. I am very sure they will keep have the same battery life in the new model. Maybe they will say it has 6hrs if we are lucky. Problems is they wanted to make the air so thin that there is little space for a battery. They could have just made the the entire computer 1-2mm thicker, and fitted a much bigger battery.
Click to expand...

That said, they did introduce the 13" rMBP, which in many respects is like a thicker 13" MBA with a bigger battery. I'm wondering how much more battery life they might have gotten had they used the ULV chips from the 13" Air.

I recently lost my 2012 11.6" MacBook Air and replaced it with a 13" rMBP, but the Retina Display, rather than the battery life was my primary motivation. I had owned 11.6" models since 2010, and was reasonably pleased with the battery life. Apple is one of the few manufacturers that sells an 11.6" notebook in large volumes. It isn't reasonable to expect 13.3" notebook battery life out of something that small.

Haswell will help, but then people will be complaining that the 11.6" Air gets 6-7 hours of battery life while the 13.3" gets 8-9 hours.
 
R

Ray Brady

macrumors 6502
Dec 21, 2011
296
255
I get more than 7 hours out of my Air's battery, though I only turn on Wi-Fi when I'm actually using it.
 
chrisrosemusic1

chrisrosemusic1

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2012
696
21
Northamptonshire, England
The-Pro said:
Funny thing is your right. Apple wont just make a product thicker and heavier then a previous generation model. Just not going to happen. If not thinner and lighter they will keep it the same. Unlike the iPad to iPad retina where the HAD to make it minimally thicker they don't have to do that with the air. I am very sure they will keep have the same battery life in the new model. Maybe they will say it has 6hrs if we are lucky. Problems is they wanted to make the air so thin that there is little space for a battery. They could have just made the the entire computer 1-2mm thicker, and fitted a much bigger battery.

You can also look at external battery solutions or even build one yourself. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1385372/

I too see that a lot lately. I have one aswell. Its quite convenient actually. I wish you had more control with the keyboard though. I hate having to reach up to tap something.
Click to expand...

I'd like to correct you on this. The retina iPad is heavier and thicker than the 2!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom