2012 MBA Battery Life on Windows

lemanoosh said:

Hi all,

I know that because the battery drivers for Apple batteries are not optimized under Windows, MBAs and MBPs typically get 1 - 2 less hours of battery life while running Windows. For those of you who have the new 2012 MBA and are running Windows through Boot Camp, how does the battery life under Windows compare to the battery life under OSX?

Thanks!

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There's a few reviews online that show windows lasting
4:30 long. You can't change it. It is what it is.

Battery drivers?

lemanoosh said:

I'm not sure if drivers is the correct technical term but it's because of the lack of some type of software optimization when running Windows that results in a shorter battery life.

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That sounds better to me.
I wonder if it has to do with the intel drivers. I know turboboost doesn't work on the i7, but maybe low level states aren't supported. It's also possible that windows toggles speeds more aggressively than osx (as in runs at faster speeds "just in case").

I've been running Win7 almost exclusively on my new MBP 2012 non-retina and it's definitely suffering from poorer battery life. I'd say I get about 3.5 hours with normal use at best which is about half of the 7 hours it's supposed to be. From what I've read the biggest reason for this is the inability of windows to be able to switch between on board and discreet graphics on the fly the way OSX does. In Win7 it's always using the discrete graphics card which uses a lot more power than the on-board. This also creates more heat and makes the fans run more. Overall, the hardware drivers just aren't as optimized for battery life in win7 the way they are in OSX. Not surprising that it's not a priority for Apple really.

Disable transparency aka "aero" aka "glass" and you'll have battery life that's maybe 15 min less than in OSX. at least that's my experience with my 2010

3-3:30 hours through parallels (Win 7). I use 70-80% screen brightness, so YMMV.