Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
11 inch MBA battery.
- Thread starter ironman92
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Battery life is dependent on usage. Odds are you're in the 99% of people who post about their battery life that don't have any real problems.
Are you playing music through speakers or earphones? Speakers use considerably more power, IIRC.
Itunes can be quite cpu-intensive, so I don't find it surprising the batt drains that fast. You would get the 5-hour batt life on an 11' MBA when doing light stuff such as word processing (and nothing else). Else, expect ~3 hours of typical usage. About 2.5 hours of itunes running in the background seems about right.
Itunes can be quite cpu-intensive, so I don't find it surprising the batt drains that fast. You would get the 5-hour batt life on an 11' MBA when doing light stuff such as word processing (and nothing else). Else, expect ~3 hours of typical usage. About 2.5 hours of itunes running in the background seems about right.
The batteries Apple uses in their laptops are very high quality. The chance of you having a bad battery is very slim. It sounds like the run times you are getting are consistent. That indicates the battery is OK.
Battery life is greatly affected by hundreds of variables, therefore it's just too hard to compare one persons to another. In addition battery life never meets what's advertised. That's a fact with all brands not just Apple.
Just use it and enjoy it. If it really concerns you contact Apple.
Battery life is greatly affected by hundreds of variables, therefore it's just too hard to compare one persons to another. In addition battery life never meets what's advertised. That's a fact with all brands not just Apple.
Just use it and enjoy it. If it really concerns you contact Apple.
Is it that bad?
Is your bluetooth on?
Brightness set to maximum?
Wifi on?
Playing a game?
Playing music?
Flash applications are webpages?
Have an external drive connected?
External monitor connected?
My 3 months old 11" has about 40% battery after reading for an hour, skyping and editing docs for another 2 hours at the cafe. Brightness set to one bar less than half, bluetooth off-ed.
Is your bluetooth on?
Brightness set to maximum?
Wifi on?
Playing a game?
Playing music?
Flash applications are webpages?
Have an external drive connected?
External monitor connected?
My 3 months old 11" has about 40% battery after reading for an hour, skyping and editing docs for another 2 hours at the cafe. Brightness set to one bar less than half, bluetooth off-ed.
Don't know if this was already said, but if it's consistently getting 2hrs, nothing's wrong.
Maybe look into a different media player to avoid high CPU usage.
2 hours for this doesn't sound quite right imo. Just today I was watching a movie while playing World of Warcraft (was just afk in the game, but still logged in) when I accidentally pulled out my power chord without noticing. After what must have been at least 20-30 minutes after it got unplugged it showed >2h remaining, and that was with about 75% screen brightness, a movie playing and a 3d game running. With low screen brightness, only itunes and wifi running you should have 4-5 hours imo.
I just got 3 hours and 20 minutes from my 11" just web browsing with brightness set to only 4 bars.
Really disappointed with the battery life. Except for that, this computer is excellent.
Really disappointed with the battery life. Except for that, this computer is excellent.
You might consider checking with the Genius Bar.
I have a Core i7 11" Air and I usually always get about 3.5-4 hours of battery use. I don't do as much iTunes usage as you do, but I do run Safari and Storyist (a Novel Writing/Word processor) with my brightness about half and KB lighting at just above the off setting. Also, BlueTooth off, WiFi on. I have used iTunes, but not for the whole time that I am using the Air.
I will maybe try to have it (iTunes) running when I do my next writing session (less than 23 hours to the start of NaNoWriMo!) and I'll let you know what I get.
I have a Core i7 11" Air and I usually always get about 3.5-4 hours of battery use. I don't do as much iTunes usage as you do, but I do run Safari and Storyist (a Novel Writing/Word processor) with my brightness about half and KB lighting at just above the off setting. Also, BlueTooth off, WiFi on. I have used iTunes, but not for the whole time that I am using the Air.
I will maybe try to have it (iTunes) running when I do my next writing session (less than 23 hours to the start of NaNoWriMo!) and I'll let you know what I get.
It seems that you may have the iPhone 4S syndrome 
... I'm glad I read this post because I was considering of getting a 13" MBA after so impress with the battery life on the iPad 2. The Apple Website indicates that batter life on 13" MBA is 7 hours. But I guess they don't expect you would do much with it.
... I'm glad I read this post because I was considering of getting a 13" MBA after so impress with the battery life on the iPad 2. The Apple Website indicates that batter life on 13" MBA is 7 hours. But I guess they don't expect you would do much with it.It seems that you may have the iPhone 4S syndrome
The battery might not be all that great but I do love the laptop especially lion OS. I take it to school to do coursework, and its nice being able to create multiple desktops. and switching between them with a swipe of my fingers.
My MBA 11's battery was in the same issue. After 10-12 cycles situation became better.
I agree with Darkheroz. I found that my battery life improved after 10-12 cycles too. I've been told that it takes a few cycles for the battery to perform properly.
So my advice is to wait another week and see.
Others here have been quite critical of the battery as a whole, so I thought I'd throw in my two-penny's-worth.
My battery often lasts longer than 5 hours, but I often have wifi off. Most of the other posters here seem to always have wifi on. I use my MBA for work mostly, and I don't want to be interrupted by emails every 5 minutes, so I don't need it on all the time.
Apple's website claims you can get 5 hours wireless web browsing with brightness set at 50%. I've never got that when I've tried it, but I've learned to take manufacturer's laptop battery claims with a pinch of salt.
So my advice is to wait another week and see.
Others here have been quite critical of the battery as a whole, so I thought I'd throw in my two-penny's-worth.
My battery often lasts longer than 5 hours, but I often have wifi off. Most of the other posters here seem to always have wifi on. I use my MBA for work mostly, and I don't want to be interrupted by emails every 5 minutes, so I don't need it on all the time.
Apple's website claims you can get 5 hours wireless web browsing with brightness set at 50%. I've never got that when I've tried it, but I've learned to take manufacturer's laptop battery claims with a pinch of salt.