11' 2013 (i5/8GB/512SSD): Heat & Battery Disappointment

johnjey · Jun 29, 2013

So just like everyone in here, i also deeply researched the configuration review of i5 vs i7 before finally taking the plunge and getting an i5.

Observations and experience so far:

1. I got this machine on Thursday: june 27th = it runs like a breeze - is very fast and everything (word/excel/any browser (mozilla,safari,chrome), iphoto .. will download adobe cs6 soon...opens blazing fast

But as i was playing an HD movie on Netflix for 30 mins ..it does get warm ..not explosive warm.. i would say...and not a leg burn warm either..but it gets warm (have not noticed it getting too hot till now)

2. Battery has been a dicy game so far...especially the estimates, i have seen it as high as 10 hours on full charge at 100% and i think and as low as 2 hours remaining at 30% charge...i agree it depends on what you are doing at that time...but still...

I have gone through 1 full charge and dead cycle (1 battery refresh) and will go through another one as i do more testing..

Right now it is at 44% and says 3 hours remaining

3. I have downloaded skype/yahoo messenger/vlc/flash/safari plugins/dropbox/evernote/total finder/xtrafinder/thunderbird....still have not configured any emails etc....so i don't know what;s eating the memory....advise please ?

My expectations are it should LAST ATLEAST 9 hours with multiple browsing, word processing, some video (say 2 hours youtube/flash/ etc) and applications running like the one's mentioned in #3 above....

Please share your thoughts on what exactly can i use to monitor the Battery and heat properly...dont want to download smcfan

thanks guys...!

Wiejeben · Jun 29, 2013

Testing conducted by Apple in May 2013 using preproduction 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-based 13-inch MacBook Air units and preproduction 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-based 11-inch MacBook Air units. The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The HD movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 720p content with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The standby test measures battery life by allowing a system, connected to a wireless network, to enter standby mode with Safari and Mail applications launched and all system settings left at default. Battery life varies by use and configuration. See http://www.apple.com/batteries for more information.

From http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/performance.html

entatlrg · Jun 29, 2013

Heat and battery dissappointment???

Your post makes no sense.

1. You're saying it gets warm but not too warm. So what's the problem? It's a very thin notebook, it gets slightly warm when doing those tasks. What did you expect? Cold to touch?

2. Battery estimate. Key word 'estimate'. YES it does depend on what task you're doing at the time. You said you know that "but still". But still what??? Do you expect Apple to know and predict what you'll be doing on the Air so they can give you an exact number. How is that possible?

3. You've got 8gb RAM, don't worry you'll have lot's available doing the tasks you described.

Sounds like your Air is running just fine. You haven't had it long enough to condition the battery or get an idea of the actual run times you'll get.

Download istat, it will give you the data you're looking for.

But you've got nothing to complain or be disappointed about I don't understand why you even made the post. Enjoy your Air and quit worrying.

Jazwire · Jun 29, 2013

johnjey said:
But as i was playing an HD movie on Netflix for 30 mins ..it does get warm ..not explosive warm.. i would say...and not a leg burn warm either..but it gets warm (have not noticed it getting too hot till now)

Well, guess my Netflix test wasn't wrong.

My wife's i5 got warm, my i7 not so much.

I still think after testing that.
When you are barely using the computer (light usage) the i5 and i7 are fairly close in batt life and heat. (Very,very slight edge to i5)

When you max the computer out 100% usage (handbrake, video encoding) the i5 wins when it comes to batt life and heat.

But I still suspect when you are in the medium usage, (which is where I am at most of the time" the i7 wins hands down for heat and batt usage.)

Just my observations, from owning both machines.

However, my wife does use her computer almost always in a light usage state. (She has 1-2 tabs open and email, maybe word) so the i5 is fine for her.

I never really max the CPU out to 100%, but i am very frequently in the 10-30% cpu usage range. And every test I have ran shows the i7 wins in the heat, batt life in that range.

IMO if you are under 10% cpu usage or near 100% usage and are worried about heat/battery get the i5.
Other than that the i7 actually is better for heat and batt from my tests and observations.

At the end of the day, my wife loves her i5, and I love my i7.
Thats all that matters, i guess.

Kevbodian · Jun 29, 2013

johnjey said:
...
thanks guys...!

John, in every thread I've seen you take part in, you fly off the handle and you don't seem to grasp what's being said in any given post.

While others were actually reading and thinking, you seemed to skim the surface and only see what you wanted to see.

I believe your i5 is running just fine. Relax and enjoy it.

Now, some observations about your comments (entatlrg basically got it right on):

1. warm ok, but not that warm, ok... good news

2. It's an estimate and reflects how much battery time you have left based on the immediate power draw.

3. What memory are you referring to? Did you mention anything about performance other than "it runs like a breeze"?

What browser are you using mostly? Try using Safari and avoid flash when you can, then under light usage, you should be able to get close to Apple's projected battery life estimates.

Your expectations are too high. You expect to browse with multiple browsers and watch a few hours of video and then get AT LEAST 9 hours when apple has quoted UP TO 9 HOURS while doing lighter work with some idling?

happyslayer · Jun 29, 2013

Just a quick reply to note that in your post, you said you had 44% battery and it listed three hours remaining. Assuming that was constant, you would still be getting 6.8 hours on a charge. Trust me, that is way better than the previous Airs from my experience.

Also, though it's been said several times in other posts/websites, the Haswell chips don't give more battery life when you are constantly using the laptop. They do better with more sporadic up/down time while using the Air. Like web surfing, and light office work. Watching Netflix is a constant drain on the system during the time you are watching. No down time, unless you pause to use the bathroom or something, I suppose. So of course the laptop will warm up and use more power then. Just saying.

Otherwise, I think your Air is working as it should.

johnjey · Jun 29, 2013

Kevbodian said:
John, in every thread I've seen you take part in, you fly off the handle and you don't seem to grasp what's being said in any given post.

While others were actually reading and thinking, you seemed to skim the surface and only see what you wanted to see.

I believe your i5 is running just fine. Relax and enjoy it.

Now, some observations about your comments (entatlrg basically got it right on):

1. warm ok, but not that warm, ok... good news

2. It's an estimate and reflects how much battery time you have left based on the immediate power draw.

3. What memory are you referring to? Did you mention anything about performance other than "it runs like a breeze"?

What browser are you using mostly? Try using Safari and avoid flash when you can, then under light usage, you should be able to get close to Apple's projected battery life estimates.

Your expectations are too high. You expect to browse with multiple browsers and watch a few hours of video and then get AT LEAST 9 hours when apple has quoted UP TO 9 HOURS while doing lighter work with some idling?

Well, now my air is fuly charged again to 100% (took 2.5 hours) and now it says 7 hours and 16 mins .....Let's c what happens this time around..as i want it to last 9 hours....i know its dependent on what i do though....but i will try to report accurate results.

johnjey · Jun 29, 2013

entatlrg said:
Heat and battery dissappointment???

Your post makes no sense.

1. You're saying it gets warm but not too warm. So what's the problem? It's a very thin notebook, it gets slightly warm when doing those tasks. What did you expect? Cold to touch?

2. Battery estimate. Key word 'estimate'. YES it does depend on what task you're doing at the time. You said you know that "but still". But still what??? Do you expect Apple to know and predict what you'll be doing on the Air so they can give you an exact number. How is that possible?

3. You've got 8gb RAM, don't worry you'll have lot's available doing the tasks you described.

Sounds like your Air is running just fine. You haven't had it long enough to condition the battery or get an idea of the actual run times you'll get.

Download istat, it will give you the data you're looking for.

But you've got nothing to complain or be disappointed about I don't understand why you even made the post. Enjoy your Air and quit worrying.

I downloaded Istat but i am unable to find it in applications. it's a widget ..but where is it stored ? and how do i access it ? spotlight only points me to its setup

B... · Jun 29, 2013

johnjey said:
I downloaded Istat but i am unable to find it in applications. it's a widget ..but where is it stored ? and how do i access it ? spotlight only points me to its setup

Dashboard then "+".

mattferg · Jun 29, 2013

johnjey said:
So just like everyone in here, i also deeply researched the configuration review of i5 vs i7 before finally taking the plunge and getting an i5.

Observations and experience so far:

1. I got this machine on Thursday: june 27th = it runs like a breeze - is very fast and everything (word/excel/any browser (mozilla,safari,chrome), iphoto .. will download adobe cs6 soon...opens blazing fast

But as i was playing an HD movie on Netflix for 30 mins ..it does get warm ..not explosive warm.. i would say...and not a leg burn warm either..but it gets warm (have not noticed it getting too hot till now)

2. Battery has been a dicy game so far...especially the estimates, i have seen it as high as 10 hours on full charge at 100% and i think and as low as 2 hours remaining at 30% charge...i agree it depends on what you are doing at that time...but still...

I have gone through 1 full charge and dead cycle (1 battery refresh) and will go through another one as i do more testing..

Right now it is at 44% and says 3 hours remaining

3. I have downloaded skype/yahoo messenger/vlc/flash/safari plugins/dropbox/evernote/total finder/xtrafinder/thunderbird....still have not configured any emails etc....so i don't know what;s eating the memory....advise please ?

My expectations are it should LAST ATLEAST 9 hours with multiple browsing, word processing, some video (say 2 hours youtube/flash/ etc) and applications running like the one's mentioned in #3 above....

Please share your thoughts on what exactly can i use to monitor the Battery and heat properly...dont want to download smcfan

thanks guys...!

So far you haven't actually told us how long your battery actually lasted for, merely what the estimate said and that it got warm. What did/does it normally run for?

----------

Jazwire said:
Well, guess my Netflix test wasn't wrong.

My wife's i5 got warm, my i7 not so much.

I still think after testing that.
When you are barely using the computer (light usage) the i5 and i7 are fairly close in batt life and heat. (Very,very slight edge to i5)

When you max the computer out 100% usage (handbrake, video encoding) the i5 wins when it comes to batt life and heat.

But I still suspect when you are in the medium usage, (which is where I am at most of the time" the i7 wins hands down for heat and batt usage.)

Just my observations, from owning both machines.

However, my wife does use her computer almost always in a light usage state. (She has 1-2 tabs open and email, maybe word) so the i5 is fine for her.

I never really max the CPU out to 100%, but i am very frequently in the 10-30% cpu usage range. And every test I have ran shows the i7 wins in the heat, batt life in that range.

IMO if you are under 10% cpu usage or near 100% usage and are worried about heat/battery get the i5.
Other than that the i7 actually is better for heat and batt from my tests and observations.

At the end of the day, my wife loves her i5, and I love my i7.
Thats all that matters, i guess.

Yet everyone else's tests show the i7 is worse for heat and battery...

johnjey · Jun 29, 2013

Well guys, after doing word and excel processing for 45 minutes and closing out multiple tabs in Mozilla as well as exiting MS Office applications and just doing browsing in Safari (multiple tabs) at 50% battery (i saw 4 hours remaining)...now i have been surfing the web via safari and its at 39% ( and says 3:30 hours remaining.. !!)

Safari web content is consuming over 700MB in activity monitor, evernote = 93MB, mail = 88MB, dropbox =69mb... and others below that ...

For "istat widget results: it says: health 100%, cycles 4: charge 37%, 3:27 Remaining ==> looks like this is an accurate estimate than apple's OS estimate of 3:30 hours..pretty close though)...laptop is cool..very it's running..just very slightly warm...2/10 (i am not complaining just letting ya all know)...!

Please suggest me how can i use Istat to give you all the important info that you want...i already reported the above numbers from that...and yes for temperature, the numbers are:

HD Macintosh: 49
Airport Card: 45
Enclosure base: 35
Enclosure base 2: 35
Enclosure base 3: 32
Heatsink B: 37
Mem Bank A1: 48
Mem Controller: 42

Can anyone tell me how to configure google talk in messages ? Ichat is not there anymore....so how do we get gtalk on a mac ? I am a heavy gchat user...! and yeah opening it via web is something i already know but don't prefer right now...

Thanks guys..

Jazwire · Jun 29, 2013

mattferg said:
Yet everyone else's tests show the i7 is worse for heat and battery...

Under medium loads, I haven't, in fact i haven't seen any tests at medium loads.
I asked people to replicate the Netflix test i did, so far only 1 person has, and guess what, same results as me.

Under heavy loads near 100% cpu, handbrake , or using thunderbolt, etc. Yes, the i5 clearly does better, mainly because it isn't working as hard, not moderate usage.

I've seen more people agreeing with me than not. So not sure what tests you are comparing mine too.

Most of the info given that the i7 is a lot warmer than the i5 is completely untrue across the board, at low and medium cpu usage. Honestly I suspect Apple did a real crappy job with the thermal paste. Which is why some i5's are hot, some i7s are hot.

Of course the i7 is warmer than the i5 at high (max) CPU usage because its out-performing i5 , .. go figure.

Anyway, i'm done posting on this subject anymore, some people are seeing what they want to see, justifying their own choices, more than dealing with the real data. I have done enough tests to determine if I personally was going to keep the i7 or getting a 2nd i5. So, Im done, I could care less what other people decide. I have an i5 and an i7, and I am keeping them both.

To those truly concerned, try both the i5 & i7 yourself, don't make your choice solely of any of these reviews even mine.

johnjey · Jun 29, 2013

I smell a pretty defensive approach..on the above post but thats understandable as we are seeing a lot of whining here on forums about how HOT i-7 is (the bad hot lol not the good one)

This made me jump to my conclusion that i-7 is for someone who likes to do video encoding (mpeg 4 to some format conversions), running some audio-converter software --> something at a very professional level ....and i-5 is meant for people with business usage with leisure (no gaming of-course and i am never a fan of gaming on ultra-portable laptops - they are meant for browsing, MS Office, yeah the video's/flash..who can live without them.... and yeah the adobe CS4 suite, all apple mac apps, other hacked softwares)....i haven't been having any issues with my i5 on running these things and its running blazing fast....!

Since i got the 8GB RAM and 512 SSD => that can be a WINNING COMBO, because if you would also spend a lot of time on this forum, you will see people talking about the manufacturers of 128 SSD being different than 256 and 512 and hence the obvious difference b/w their read and write speeds, so get the best and you will have a winning combo with an i5....(if you are not a professional DJ or video-guy)

Cheers !!

johnjey · Jun 30, 2013

Reporting results sunday morning !

Charged back to 100% over-night and now at 100% says 8:45 remaining and suddenly now says 8:15 so its acting awkward..istat is also clueless right now and not estimating anything apart from saying that the battery is charged at 99%

I am talking about my i5/8gb/512ssd

Search

Search

11' 2013 (i5/8GB/512SSD): Heat & Battery Disappointment

johnjey

macrumors regular

Wiejeben

macrumors newbie

entatlrg

macrumors 68040

Jazwire

macrumors 6502a

Kevbodian

macrumors member

happyslayer

macrumors 65816

johnjey

macrumors regular

johnjey

macrumors regular

B...

macrumors 68000

mattferg

macrumors 6502

johnjey

macrumors regular

Jazwire

macrumors 6502a

johnjey

macrumors regular

johnjey

macrumors regular

Our Staff