2012 MBA - only holding 2 hour charge

[nsbane]

Hey, for some reason my MBA is only lasting for 2-3 hours before it dies. Also, the fan seems to be running more often.

It's my first Mac, bought it in July 2012. I used Windows for years, even built my own tower once. But I'm still a Mac novice. So I don't know about any basic diagnostic tools or steps, even system restores, that I would normally do with a windows machine.

Any advice?

[sostoobad]

I would call Apple I think it is 1 800 my apple, doesn't sound right, I have a 2011 11" air...no issues, battery lasts in the 4-5hr range.

I also have a 2011 mac mini and a 2006 15" MB Pro also no issues.

It is under warranty plus you can still by applecare for an additional 2yrs warranty.

[Mrbobb]

Originally Posted by nsbane

Also, the fan seems to be running more often.

That's a sign that *something* is running in the background perhaps and eating up batt.

Computers are computers no matter whether PC or Mac, basic troubleshooting technique u learned from Windows still apply.

Download a app, like istat (free) that will tell you what your machine is doing at a given time, then u will find out what's eating up your cpu cycles + batt.

Conversely if you don't want to bother, can always reload OSX from scratch. I hope u saved the clean install executable.

ps.: I myself have a current similar issue, and I can actually feel the palmrests getting warm when normally it's room-cold, look at my iStat and sure enough the cpu has shot up to 70+ degree when normally it stays on the 40s. So that's a troubleshooting technique for ya.

[nsbane]

Took your advice - Dropbox was eating up 95% of my cpu. Closed it, and everything is fine. My CPU temp was over 200 deg f. Now it's 114 deg.

Anyone else having similar problems w/Dropbox? This only started happening in the last week I think. I even updated to the latest release, and it was still using up all my CPU.

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by nsbane

Took your advice - Dropbox was eating up 95% of my cpu. Closed it, and everything is fine. My CPU temp was over 200 deg f. Now it's 114 deg.

Anyone else having similar problems w/Dropbox? This only started happening in the last week I think. I even updated to the latest release, and it was still using up all my CPU.

That's certainly not normal, but several have reported similar issues. I'd try uninstalling and reinstalling again. The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program

[Mrbobb]

Certain any app that does things on his own (background) tasks, should have a setting that says "Only do this task on AC power." It it doesn't have such feature, then I would be wary of running it on a laptop.

Or if they let you manually schedule the tasks, say evening time, when u know you are always home on AC would work too, not as nice as paragraph#1 but OK.

[micrors4racer]

Probably just something wrong with your dropbox installation. It works fine on mine and doesn't cause any drainage issues.

[Puevlo]

Apple reports a minimum of 5 hours on the 11-inch and 7 hours on the 13-inch so anything less than that is faulty.

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Puevlo

Apple reports a minimum of 5 hours on the 11-inch and 7 hours on the 13-inch so anything less than that is faulty.

I hope you're being sarcastic, because that is completely false. Read the actual claim on Apple's site:

Get up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge on the 11-inch model and up to 7 hours on the 13-inch model.

How much time you get on a charge is dependent on your settings and workload. If you get less than 5 or 7 hours, your battery is NOT faulty.