13-Inch 2013 MacBook Air Gets Up to 15 Hours of Battery Life With Mavericks

[Yell0w]

I remember when I got my 15" MacBook Pro in 2008 and was amazed at the 7-8 hour battery life in a laptop that powerful and slim. It changed the way I was able to work. I still use that laptop and have no need to upgrade it until it dies. Apple laptops are incredible. I can only image what it would be like with 15 hours on a MBA

You didn't have to change the battery? I'm on my 440+ cycle now and it has like 1800 mAh left. Also a early 2008 MBP. Was thinking if I should buy a new battery for $130+ or put that money towards a new laptop.

http://lifehacker.com/should-i-upgrade-to-os-x-mavericks-1449627553

 

[Sandman1969]

So have to get the wife's new 13" MBA updated! I have done my iMac and my 2012 MBP (haven't really used it long enough to notice a change).

But 12 hours to almost 16 hours is insanely AWESOME!

 

[MaulRx]

i have yet to find one that's not working. If they are free updating from SL that means Mavericks doesn't break most apps or is very compatible with previous apps too.

Preview is completely broken. On both of my machines I had Mavericks on, had to go back to ML to get any work done.

 

[applemotor]

Are you going to game? I have the MBA you're talking about and everything runs extremely well and bootcamp games run mediocre. Getting about 20fps on medium in current games (Saints Row IV, PayDay2) and 30-40fps on legacy games (CS:GO, TF2).

On my 2012 Retina MBP (GT 650M) I was getting 40fps on current games on high, but I had to run them all at 1440x900 which made the games blurry.

I think the IRIS is an Intel HD5500 technically, but I could be talking out of my butt about that one.

I never thought I would want to play games on a lappy but now that has changed. I would like to play Bioshock, but my MacBook cant run it. Thats another reason I am shying away from the MBA, someday another game will come out and Intel5000 wont run it. I won't get the 15' rMBP just to make sure I can have a better selection of games.

I checked out the specs on the MBA, it will only run one external monitor at 2560x1600 and the rMBP will run two monitors on 4K resolutions. However, I think* you are right that the Iris is a HD5100 and essentially the same as the HD5000.

*when I say 'think' i mean that I spent a little time on wiki and I am regurgitating what I read

 

[Sonic]

i've never had more than about 3.5-4h on my rmbp while doing some browsing, photoshop and game development, so it'll be interesting to see what this does for it...

 

[melendezest]

The reported battery life is amazing.

Unfortunately for me, the "upgrade" meant that my Safari became downright unusable, always prompting security or power savings something something, getting stuck when using the back button, etc. I have my MBP 17 RAIDed 0, and boot time is slower as well.

Some of the new features were nice as well as some of the interface cleanup (I wish iOS 7 had gone this route instead design-wise, that is), but there is nothing I'd miss given how I use my MBP (which is more as a desktop replacement I can move around).

So I reverted to ML this morning. I guess I'll wait and see if anything changes in future point releases.

 

[Rad99004]

Still no touch screens?

The battery life is great, but when are we getting touch screens and the ability to run IOS apps. Add that and you got me.

 

[RexInTheCity]

Activity Monitor, a standard app in OSX

Nice, I hadn't looked at the new Activity Monitor yet.

 

[Tech198]

Neat.. 15-hors....


Looks about the same on my Mid--2012 with Mavericks on a ckean install.

From to 8 to 9 hours, can't complain.

 

[Hogni89]

Damn! Suddenly the battery life of my iPad sucks!

I'm streaming to my Apple TV with iTunes, and currently i'm on 96% battery with 18 hours left
Running OS X 10.9 on 2013 Macbook Air 13" i5

Have used my Air for work all day (10 hours running Windows 7 with VirtualBox). Still 2% left when I got home. Plugged it into the charger and went for a 50min run. Fully charged when I came out from the shower. Now using it for entertainment

Exited to see whats battery lives were gonna see some years from now

 

[koruki]

Maybe re-reading his comment will help.


He stated that he used his mavericks updated macbook air for 2hrs and has 72% battery life remaining.

That would predict an overall battery life of (give or take) 7 hours.

Previous battery life of 8hours
Current battery life of 7hours

Maybe if you re-read his comment you'll note it wasn't worth calculating since all he states is yesterday at this time, today at this time. hardly a calculation unless he's a robot that boots up his laptop at the exact same minute every morning, does the same tasks. Not do a full OS update and browse the internet forums to post complaints ( actually that last part might be a daily task )

 

[bhonder]

My dear Mac is a 15" mid 2010 i7 MacBook Pro already running Snow Leopard: has anyone already installed Mavericks on a similar machine?

Does it works better or worse? I ask because this is the only working Mac I have and I would not spoil it.

Thanks.

 

[Yell0w]

My dear Mac is a 15" mid 2010 i7 MacBook Pro already running Snow Leopard: has anyone already installed Mavericks on a similar machine?

Does it works better or worse? I ask because this is the only working Mac I have and I would not spoil it.

Thanks.

Your MBP is more than capable to run Maverick. A lot of people have reported good results, one of them being longer battery life.

MacBook Pro (15-inch or 17-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5842

 

[cycomiko]

Maybe if you re-read his comment you'll note it wasn't worth calculating since all he states is yesterday at this time, today at this time. hardly a calculation unless he's a robot that boots up his laptop at the exact same minute every morning, does the same tasks. Not do a full OS update and browse the internet forums to post complaints ( actually that last part might be a daily task )

I read his comment, which is why I posted the comment in the first place. Obviously you didnt. His comment was as much of a calculation as any other claim of battery life on fon a forum.

 

[hyhybt]

I would say that $200 would better go towards a new machine. a macbook air in its lowest configuration is probably better spec wise in almost every area, if not every area, and $200 is 20% of the 11 inch, little less if you want a bigger screen.

Almost every area, yes. But non-upgradable storage that's too small before I've even got it out of the box is a non-starter.

 

[Minhimalism]

I loved never having to bring my charger to school with me each day.. and now that remains true and then some! Love the battery life on this thing. Awesome improvement with Mavericks, good job Apple!

 

[mrxak]

This is where Apple kills the competition.

It's a bit of a cliche, now, but Apple's close software-hardware integration is what allows them to pull off these sorts of technical marvels.

----------

One aspect of this new energy-savings with 10.9 I hadn't thought of until just now, is actually in the heat department. Less activity on the CPU means less heat generated so your laptop will actually be a bit cooler. I don't know if that sort of thing will be measured by anybody, or is even significant enough to be measured, but it's something to think about. If it generates less heat, even by a little bit, chances are the fans won't be running quite as often, or quite as fast.

 

[nws0291]

You didn't have to change the battery? I'm on my 440+ cycle now and it has like 1800 mAh left. Also a early 2008 MBP. Was thinking if I should buy a new battery for $130+ or put that money towards a new laptop.

http://lifehacker.com/should-i-upgrade-to-os-x-mavericks-1449627553

I replaced the battery a few months ago. About a year ago it significantly degraded. I was getting only about 1 1/2 hours. Lasted longer than expected life with a huge cycle count. I will eventually upgrade to an air when it gets a retina screen. Company will cover it though.

EDIT: Mine is a late 2008 model with the unibody non serviceable battery. Is yours the same? Aftermarket batteries were more expensive than going to the Apple store. That was a first as I usually DIY everything and planned to replace the battery myself.

 

[Yell0w]

I replaced the battery a few months ago. About a year ago it significantly degraded. I was getting only about 1 1/2 hours. Lasted longer than expected life with a huge cycle count. I will eventually upgrade to an air when it gets a retina screen. Company will cover it though.

EDIT: Mine is a late 2008 model with the unibody non serviceable battery. Is yours the same? Aftermarket batteries were more expensive than going to the Apple store. That was a first as I usually DIY everything and planned to replace the battery myself.

Wow, we have similar experiences. I haven't timed how long it lasts but it feels like 30 minutes to a hour. My model is the one before yours with the removable battery. Aluminum body.

http://www.google.com/search?q=earl...UoAA&biw=360&bih=615&rlz=1Y1YYEK_enUS514US514

 

[GTHenry]

This happening with Windows

You'll need the extra time too with all the apps that no longer work in Mavericks.

This happening with Windows. Mavericks works smoothly, installation is easy and all your setting and applications stay unchanged. I just had to update some apple apps to take advantage of the OSX features. The day I have left Windows was the best day of my life.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Oops.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

You'll be lucky! in my Real World test (that is actually using the damn thing not just setting up some script) I've never had more than 8 hours from my June 2013 13" Macbook Air. In consequence I expect I'll be extremely lucky if I get more than 9 hours with Mavericks (and yes I've already upgraded and in two hours of use (web surfing mainly but one or two other very minor tasks like setting up iBooks) the battery life is down to 72%.

So it looks like far from battery life improving, it's got worse. At least this time yesterday i was only down to 75%

When i first upgraded, I got a notification box in the upper right corner of the screen from the OS telling me that Mavericks was optimising my system and that during this time both performance and battery life would be adversly effected. Tjis went on for a couple hours pf use, but since that time I have had a noticibly rejuvenated MBA. Machine is the one in my signature.

My point is that I think during the initial few hours on Mavericks it is normal for reduced life and performance. Didn't anyone else get this notification from the system?

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Preview is completely broken. On both of my machines I had Mavericks on, had to go back to ML to get any work done.

What does that mean? It crashes on open or something? Or a specific function causes a crash?

I ask because for work I mostly use Preview to electronically sign PDF docs, and I have continued to do this without any problems after the upgrade to Mavericks.

What I AM frustrated with, however, is how they 'broke' Mail by changing the way it handles Gmail with IMAP. They changed the way Mail interprets Gmail's labels so the inbox label is not removed when moving to another folder (i.e. applying another label to a message) so I have been forced to find an alternative mail client :-\ The business uses Google Apps for Business, and I have two other email addresses through Gmail as well, including my primary personal address.

I am trying AirMail right now and it is pretty good, but miss the in-line attachments that Mail's email editor and viewer offers. Anyone have a good suggestion for a top class email client that is good with Gmail??

 

[MaulRx]

What does that mean? It crashes on open or something? Or a specific function causes a crash?

I ask because for work I mostly use Preview to electronically sign PDF docs, and I have continued to do this without any problems after the upgrade to Mavericks.

What I AM frustrated with, however, is how they 'broke' Mail by changing the way it handles Gmail with IMAP. They changed the way Mail interprets Gmail's labels so the inbox label is not removed when moving to another folder (i.e. applying another label to a message) so I have been forced to find an alternative mail client :-\ The business uses Google Apps for Business, and I have two other email addresses through Gmail as well, including my primary personal address.

I am trying AirMail right now and it is pretty good, but miss the in-line attachments that Mail's email editor and viewer offers. Anyone have a good suggestion for a top class email client that is good with Gmail??

Any PDF over 100mb causes the app to crash when you try to save any changes like bookmarks or simple just closing it. Not to mention they changed the whole way bookmarks are handled: you can no longer name them and the bookmark menu is completely gone.

 

[hyhybt]

Wow, we have similar experiences. I haven't timed how long it lasts but it feels like 30 minutes to a hour. My model is the one before yours with the removable battery. Aluminum body.

Same here. Up until the last couple of weeks, I could get maybe an hour out of it; more importantly, the indicator worked. Now, on battery it pops off at random with no warning, and when I plug it in and turn it on again it immediately shows 35% (number varies, but always nowhere even remotely close to 0) charged.

One aspect of this new energy-savings with 10.9 I hadn't thought of until just now, is actually in the heat department. Less activity on the CPU means less heat generated so your laptop will actually be a bit cooler. I don't know if that sort of thing will be measured by anybody, or is even significant enough to be measured, but it's something to think about. If it generates less heat, even by a little bit, chances are the fans won't be running quite as often, or quite as fast.

I noticed that when I had Parallels running and it *wasn't* running the fans full-speed or burning hot to touch underneath.

What I AM frustrated with, however, is how they 'broke' Mail by changing the way it handles Gmail with IMAP. They changed the way Mail interprets Gmail's labels so the inbox label is not removed when moving to another folder (i.e. applying another label to a message) so I have been forced to find an alternative mail client :-\ The business uses Google Apps for Business, and I have two other email addresses through Gmail as well, including my primary personal address.

There are other problems between the new Mail and Gmail, but that particular one is supposed to be fixed by turning on All Mail.