What battery life are you getting on your 2011 MBA?

amitdoc2b said:

In a real-world scenario, what type of battery life are you getting doing light tasks like web browsing (mix of any websites including flash-based), writing e-mails, etc?

Here's mine...

Screen Size = 13-inch
Processor = 1.7GHZ i5
Screen Brightness = 100% (all bars)
Cycle #= 1
Battery life = 4 hours, 45 min

If everyone can post in a similar format, it would be greatly appreciated

Click to expand...

turn that brightness down to 50%, and cycle it a couple more times, as in the thread not too far down...

amitdoc2b said:

I think 50% is way too low! The absolute minimum I would work with is 5 bars from max, with 3 bars from max being acceptable, but full brightness optimal. How much of a jump are you getting in battery doing the same tasks at each of those 4 settings (50%, 5 bars below max, 3 bars below max, and full brightness)?

Click to expand...

ok...why would you not go to 50%....funny ....I just checked it and it was 2 bars from the left end!!! I will try it now at 50%....

Screen Size = 13-inch
Processor = 1.7GHZ i5
Screen Brightness = 50%
Wi-Fi = ON
Cycle #= 2
Battery life = 7 hours, 20 min

Doing mostly Xcode work, browsing, flash content was going onto Restaurant City on FB because my gf wanted to trade stuff and a couple of shows on iPlayer.

Screen Size = 13-inch
Processor = 1.7GHZ i5
Screen Brightness = 100% 13/16 bars
Cycle #= 1
Battery life = 6 hours, 19 min according to dashboard widget, turned off sleep as this resets the widget.

Will post for my 11 inch MBA when it dies, which should be an hour and a half apparently, but its not calibrated.

13" i7

I have been using my MBA today pretty much my normal use...Web, mail.. etc... for the last 3 hrs... the battery clock is now saying 2:27 left... (38%).. its keeps going up and down though... interesting... will report in, a bit later...

______Edit_____

Ok.. the MBA just ran out of juice... makes it about 5 hrs..

I watched some flash and non flash video (I was trying out the Safari and Chrome no-flash extensions recommended on one of the threads here). I also had the screen on all but 1 bars..

Not sure what to tell you. For me the battery is not the issue as I am not really expecting to use it without power cord that much. This was just a test to have a wee looksie.

On the 11 inch... with little flash content, just the same game on FB for 5 minutes again and one 28 minute episode.

Screen Size = 11-inch
Processor = 1.6GHZ i5
Screen Brightness = 12/16 bars
Cycle #= 1
Battery life = 5 hours, 19 min

I have a 13" i5...last night at home started with 100% charge. Used on the web (no Flash) for 2 1/2 hours...when I closed it was down to 69% battery life. So, I guess that's about right, that would make the "full drain" a little over 7 hours. Still seems short.

What widget are you using to tell you the usage time between charges? The stuff that I've found only tells me the hours/percentage remaining, charge cycles, and battery health, but my battery seems to be losing about 20% overnight when the Air is completely shut down. I'd like an app/widget that gives me info like my iPhone that shows Usage Time and Standby Time.

Does screen brightness affect battery life significantly?

13 inch
1.7 GHz
Brightness: 14/16
Cycle: 2
Batt. life: Around 5 to 5.5 hours



I'm another user who can't use my Air at 50% brightness level. It's not bright at all. The meager battery life is probably the biggest disappointment of my new Air. I'm surprised really. Hopefully a few more cycles and Lion updates will fix this. It's nowhere near 7 hours.

I haven't done a full charge to full drain timed test, but my 2011 MBA 11" seems like it's usually on course for about 6 hours of battery life

This is for light web w/o flash, only 1 app running (Safari 1 window but 4-6 tabs), 4 bars of brightness, keyboard lighting off, wifi ON, and Bluetooth OFF.

My experience is totally consistent with Anand's timed test.

Battery on my i5 13 has been terrible thus far. Currently at 52% and has an estimated time of 1:58.

Only 2 cycles so far.

7 cycles so far, average 4-5 hours. At work so no breaks, brightness between 5-9 bars depending on the work, Chrome (no videos/ maybe some flash from webpages but not much), Excel, maybe an hour of music or so, two skype calls. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: wifi on, bluetooth off, backlit keyboard off. Would slower internet decrease battery life since the MBA has to work harder? When I'm off wifi it predicts about 6 hours.

whats the best way to maintain your batterY?

amitdoc2b said:

In a real-world scenario, what type of battery life are you getting doing light tasks like web browsing (mix of any websites including flash-based), writing e-mails, etc?

Here's mine...

Screen Size = 13-inch
Processor = 1.7GHZ i5
Screen Brightness = 100% (all bars)
Cycle #= 1
Battery life = 4 hours, 45 min

If everyone can post in a similar format, it would be greatly appreciated

Click to expand...

Screen Size: 11"
Processor: i5 1.6
Screen Brightness: 50% (8 bars)
Cycles: 5
Battery Life: 3 hours 10 minutes- watching 480p videos, on Wifi.
3 hours 55 minutes- Safari w/ 10 tabs in one full screen window, Mail Application w/ 6 email accounts syncing, Calendar Application w/ 4 diff. synced calendars. Minor Excel work with 10 sheets. Wifi and Bluetooth OFF, Using 4G LTE usb modem (Verizon)

Slightly disappointed though. I might buy the 13" MBA for the better battery and keep the 11" for when I'm flying.

meaty said:

whats the best way to maintain your batterY?

Click to expand...

I believe amitdoc2b just answered that question for you "So it appears lowering the brightness 5 bars led to a 2 hour increase in battery life."

From my brand spanking new MBA purchased yesterday:

Screen Size: 11"
Processor: i5 1.6
Screen Brightness: 50% (8 bars)
Cycles: 1 (from when I bought from store)
Battery Life: 5 hours, strictly internet browsing. iChat, Mail, Finder, Safari open.

Screen Brightness: 80%
Cycles: 2
Battery Life: 2.5 hours, internet browsing and watching Youtube. iChat, Mail, Finder, Safari, Chrome, and iTunes open.

s.hasan546 said:

Screen Size: 11"
Processor: i5 1.6
Screen Brightness: 50% (8 bars)
Cycles: 5
Battery Life: 3 hours 10 minutes- watching 480p videos, on Wifi.
3 hours 55 minutes- Safari w/ 10 tabs in one full screen window, Mail Application w/ 6 email accounts syncing, Calendar Application w/ 4 diff. synced calendars. Minor Excel work with 10 sheets. Wifi and Bluetooth OFF, Using 4G LTE usb modem (Verizon)

Slightly disappointed though. I might buy the 13" MBA for the better battery and keep the 11" for when I'm flying.

Click to expand...

I must say I'm impressed - those 3G/4G USB modem are battery eater!

13", i7
Screen Brightness 80%
Battery cycles 2
Backing up iphone to itunes
3 tabs open in safari, no flash running (haven't installed flash): yahoo mail, macrumors, gmail

2:12 remaining on 81% charge

I'm going through the battery calibration procedure, so hopefully things will improve.

At 1:00 pm, 74% charge, 5;12 minutes remaining. I wonder if there is a utility like the iphone's battery indicator that use Usage time?

How do you measure the life of a battery? I use "coconutBattery" - still can't figure the exact time my battery lasts. Thx a lot.

edit: battery icon fluctuates between 4 hours to 6 hours????
edit: now 7hrs 32mins.????;0