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Battery difference btw i5 & i7 ?

Y

yuanmoons

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2008
283
0
I have the i7 1.8Ghz MBA. Ive been using it for about a week and I'm finding the battery is not as great as id like. Im getting approx. 5 hours, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. I went for the 1.8ghz more as future proofing no brainer decision as i don't need the extra speed right now and i really want to keep this MBA for as long as possible. I don't want to think about upgrading for a good few years (tired of it).

I was hoping for 6-7 hours consistently regardless as i don't do anything high end - just browsing & text work. I do switch quick between apps with expose mission control etc a bit.

Anyway, is there any difference between i5 & i7 processor interms of battery mileage. Im not going to do anything or swap my mba (even though i have 1 more week to do so) I'm just curious as to whether its me or the processor or apples over estimate.

Does the 1.8Ghz drink more juice?

I am turning off the backlit more when necessary. Any stats on how much per hour that eats?

Thanks.
 
N

Nioxic

macrumors regular
Aug 13, 2011
230
0
Denmark
11 or 13 inch?

:p

i got an 11 inch and i get 4-5 hours if im just ... well doing what you do :p

i got keyboard light on 1, and brightness on 4 or 5

i got the 1.8ghz i7
 
Y

yuanmoons

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2008
283
0
13 in with average brightness around 2 notches above or below the middle and backlit setting below half.
 
Z

zerind

macrumors member
Jul 26, 2011
81
239
After using an i7 for 10 days and an i5 for 10 days I can honestly say the battery life isn't all that different between them. Maybe 20 minutes here and there if I'm working in Photoshop or something but otherwise just browsing around there isn't much difference at all. I've been getting about 3:45 - 5:15 out of a charge depending on whether or not my wifi is off, aircard is on, high CPU, etc on both.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,031
7,872
AnandTech has a review on its site with a specific comparison of the i5 vs i7 (on the 11") and noticed almost no difference in battery life. Try installing Click2Flash (available from the Safari Extensions page on Apple's website), which lets you disable Flash and re-enable it as needed. Flash is known to eat up battery life on Macs.
 
Macsavvytech

Macsavvytech

macrumors 6502a
May 25, 2010
897
0
Don't know if you have it off or not, but turning Bluetooth off helps even if you haven't got any connected devices. 5 hours of web browsing is actually pretty good in terms of battery life. In relation to the OP if you are constantly requiring the i7 it will use more battery but for light tasjs it will finish the work quicker and go into an idle state before the i5 does. Really all this means is that battery life is very similar.
 
F

FAsnakes

macrumors regular
Jul 26, 2007
183
0
Macsavvytech said:
Don't know if you have it off or not, but turning Bluetooth off helps even if you haven't got any connected devices. 5 hours of web browsing is actually pretty good in terms of battery life. In relation to the OP if you are constantly requiring the i7 it will use more battery but for light tasjs it will finish the work quicker and go into an idle state before the i5 does. Really all this means is that battery life is very similar.
Click to expand...

+1 killing bluetooth & wifi really helps..
 
Bonilla

Bonilla

macrumors member
May 14, 2011
98
0
México.
It is weird, i just have the same, and i get over 6 hours and still have 10% baterry life.

Try tips to better performance battery.

yuanmoons said:
I have the i7 1.8Ghz MBA. Ive been using it for about a week and I'm finding the battery is not as great as id like. Im getting approx. 5 hours, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. I went for the 1.8ghz more as future proofing no brainer decision as i don't need the extra speed right now and i really want to keep this MBA for as long as possible. I don't want to think about upgrading for a good few years (tired of it).

I was hoping for 6-7 hours consistently regardless as i don't do anything high end - just browsing & text work. I do switch quick between apps with expose mission control etc a bit.

Anyway, is there any difference between i5 & i7 processor interms of battery mileage. Im not going to do anything or swap my mba (even though i have 1 more week to do so) I'm just curious as to whether its me or the processor or apples over estimate.

Does the 1.8Ghz drink more juice?

I am turning off the backlit more when necessary. Any stats on how much per hour that eats?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
C

Chipg

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2010
191
2
mine says 6 hours but when you time it the clock ticks down about 2 min per real min, so, about 3 hours for me and my co workers when just using email, safari, no blue tooth but wifi on, screen at 50%... They told me they were getting 6 hours because they saw the battery meter say 6 hours, after real world 'mild' browsing they were all 50% less than what they thought.
 
A

Asmod4n

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2011
55
0
None.

Well, there is one difference, the i7 will run hotter, which will also make your battery run hotter over time which means it will die sooner.
 
MRU

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Asmod4n said:
None.

Well, there is one difference, the i7 will run hotter, which will also make your battery run hotter over time which means it will die sooner.
Click to expand...

Nonsense.


If anything the i7 works less hard than an i5 when doing basic work. CPU temperatures are hardly that much different under full load either.

The battery will not die sooner because of 5-10c at full load.
 
A

Asmod4n

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2011
55
0
MacRumorUser said:
Nonsense.
Click to expand...

8aed2cabf7e49bb082efe09df1fc3906.png
 
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