15" MBA battery life?

[OldCorpse]

I mentioned this before, but the battery life on my 15" M2 MBA is not amazing to me. I don't know if it's me and I have exaggerated expectations or I'm using it wrong, or my laptop has a wonky battery.

I make it a habit to charge when it gets to 40% and stop charging at 80%, so keep this in mind. I don't feel like I'm putting great stress on the MBA. I use it for a few hours daily, but the vast majority of time, I'm using it to access my MM through the wifi network. So the MM is doing all the work - ripping CDs and working with the Music app and files, copying etc. Basically, all the MBA is doing is just sending commands, the heavy lifting is on the MM. So I thought the battery life should be great. Instead, I find myself having to charge it again after like 6 hours or so (i.e. it drops from 80% to 40%). I find that poor - maybe I'm wrong, but I'm going off of my experience with the M1 MBP which had great battery life (though it was faulty in other ways).

I have the screen on the MBA slightly brighter than default/automatic, but still below 50% brightness and I'm not running any special services on it. I have safari open with a few tabs and chrome open with a few tabs. I feel it should last longer. Am I coockoo? Expecting too much? Would the charge last disproportionately longer if I charged it to 100% or went below 40%, in other words, charging from 80% to 100% would give me MORE than 20% more time? Or maybe I'm just crazy. Btw. I'm writing this on my iPad 10, and I'm very happy with the battery life on this thing, lol, I watch videos, listen to podcasts, surf the net etc., and the battery counter barely budges - I charged it to 80% a few days ago, and it's holding the charge really well... today I openend it, it's been about 30 minutes of surfing and writing and so on, and the percentage hasn't even changed by 1%... crazy!

 

[Apple_Robert]

From what you described, I don't think there is anything wrong with your battery. I think your expectations from normal use need to be adjusted.

 

[Iwavvns]

I mentioned this before, but the battery life on my 15" M2 MBA is not amazing to me. I don't know if it's me and I have exaggerated expectations or I'm using it wrong, or my laptop has a wonky battery.

I make it a habit to charge when it gets to 40% and stop charging at 80%, so keep this in mind. I don't feel like I'm putting great stress on the MBA. I use it for a few hours daily, but the vast majority of time, I'm using it to access my MM through the wifi network. So the MM is doing all the work - ripping CDs and working with the Music app and files, copying etc. Basically, all the MBA is doing is just sending commands, the heavy lifting is on the MM. So I thought the battery life should be great. Instead, I find myself having to charge it again after like 6 hours or so (i.e. it drops from 80% to 40%). I find that poor - maybe I'm wrong, but I'm going off of my experience with the M1 MBP which had great battery life (though it was faulty in other ways).

I have the screen on the MBA slightly brighter than default/automatic, but still below 50% brightness and I'm not running any special services on it. I have safari open with a few tabs and chrome open with a few tabs. I feel it should last longer. Am I coockoo? Expecting too much? Would the charge last disproportionately longer if I charged it to 100% or went below 40%, in other words, charging from 80% to 100% would give me MORE than 20% more time? Or maybe I'm just crazy. Btw. I'm writing this on my iPad 10, and I'm very happy with the battery life on this thing, lol, I watch videos, listen to podcasts, surf the net etc., and the battery counter barely budges - I charged it to 80% a few days ago, and it's holding the charge really well... today I openend it, it's been about 30 minutes of surfing and writing and so on, and the percentage hasn't even changed by 1%... crazy!

Keep in mind that the battery percentage is an estimation, an estimate of electrical pressure in the battery.. it will never be exact.

Something for you to try: charge your iPad and memorize the percentage as you take the iPad off the charger. Shut the iPad down and power it back up. Now notice the battery percentage. I have done this on my iPhones and my iPads, and the devices always report a higher percentage after reboot. This is why I stopped worrying about battery percentage.

 

[1096bimu]

like 6 hours or so (i.e. it drops from 80% to 40%)

So 40% for 6 hours or 15 hours total for 100%?
that's not good for you? how did you survive the 2010s and before?

 

[OldCorpse]

Thanks, guys. I guess I have to lower my expectations. At least I'm glad my battery is regarded as "normal", it would be a pain to have to deal with a faulty one.

I apologize if my expectations may have been excessive. Like I said, I was going off my experiences with the 2020 M1 MBP, and there the battery was endless. As to 15 hours - well, I kinda expected 20 hours or 18 or thereabouts, based on the MBP experience, Apple marketing and general public praise for battery life. I was hoping that I'd be able to work for a couple of 6 hour days without charging in a 40%-80% window. Oh well.

Prior to 2010, the only Apple laptop I had was an iBook (which, btw. was indestructible, I finally had to give it away, since it refused to die) and I only used it when on the move. Otherwise I was a strictly desktop man - 27" iMac 2009 (which was brilliant and then stolen in 2020), and I'd go for another iMac, but 24" is just not big enough... don't have the energy to kludge a Studio with some long-researched-and-still-probably-a-failure-monitor... I liked that Apple took care of all that with an all-in-one iMac.

When the iMac got stolen in 2020 I bought the new M1 MBP to tide me over until Apple released the 27" iMac on Apple Silicon - boy did I miscalculate. The MBP transpired to be faulty (though with excellent battery life), and then Apple dragged their feet before revealing a "trick" Halloween - NO 27" iMac EVAH. Ef me. So immediately on Black Friday I bought the 15" M2 MBA, bumped it up to 16/1 and hoped I'd survive until I could figure out how to deal with the wonderful future of regressing technology. "Not a desktop, but at least legendary battery life" I cheered myself up desperately. No such luck. Apparently getting a full day's work out of a laptop is having outrageous expectations. OK, ok, I'll humbly lower my expectations, no soup for me.

Btw. there are many reasons I never got an Apple Watch, but the absolute deal-breaker is battery life on that thing. F-O-R-G-E-T it. Buzz me when a charge lasts at least 48 hours of normal use, and I'll think about getting an Apple Watch. YMMV.

 

[1096bimu]

The M1 and M2 MBP 13" chassis was designed for much more power hungry Intel chips, so when you put apple silicon in there they suddenly get absurd battery life, to the point it's absolutely meaningless for most people.

I just think your practice of manually keeping the battery between 40-80 is totally unnecessary, battery percentage is not in fact a true reflection of battery voltage, but even voltage is but one factor that determines battery longevity. For example you can define 4.3v as 100% or 4.5v as 100%, higher voltage gives you more capacity for the same battery but less longevity. For laptops that already have super long battery life it's safe to assume the 100% voltage was already set to be lower than usual. Where as in the iPhone they probably max it out to favour capacity. Other than voltage the next biggest factor is probably charge/discharge speed, measured in length of time (not watts), with how slowly MacBooks charge/discharge compared to iPhone again, the battery will last forever.

I recently picked up a beat up 12" MacBook from 2015 and it still has like 88% battery health.

 

[OldCorpse]

The M1 and M2 MBP 13" chassis was designed for much more power hungry Intel chips, so when you put apple silicon in there they suddenly get absurd battery life, to the point it's absolutely meaningless for most people.

I just think your practice of manually keeping the battery between 40-80 is totally unnecessary, battery percentage is not in fact a true reflection of battery voltage, but even voltage is but one factor that determines battery longevity. For example you can define 4.3v as 100% or 4.5v as 100%, higher voltage gives you more capacity for the same battery but less longevity. For laptops that already have super long battery life it's safe to assume the 100% voltage was already set to be lower than usual. Where as in the iPhone they probably max it out to favour capacity. Other than voltage the next biggest factor is probably charge/discharge speed, measured in length of time (not watts), with how slowly MacBooks charge/discharge compared to iPhone again, the battery will last forever.

I recently picked up a beat up 12" MacBook from 2015 and it still has like 88% battery health.

Fair enough. It’s possible that the 40%-80% rule is obsolete; I did this based on something an Apple tech said when I brought in my iPhone for a battery replacement (it swelled), he said that the optimal way to charge the batteries in Apple devices was the 40-80 rule. Of course this was a few years ago, so maybe it’s no longer applicable.

Regardless, based on what everyone here said, how the whole % business is neither accurate nor relevant, I think I’ll just let it rip to 100% charge and then drain it to however low it gets when I find it convenient to charge again. At least maybe I’ll get effortless battery life that way, so I don’t have to think about it.

Besides, let’s face it, in a few years, probably sooner than I imagine, there’ll be new amazing lappies from Apple that anyone civilized will have no choice but to get. And since it’ll prolly not be too long from now, the battery in this MBA will last for that short time no matter how I abuse it or baby it.

Just let it rip, is the vibe I’m gettin’ here, methinks. So that’s the way I’ll play it from now on. Thanks, everybody!

 

[saber32au]

I personally don't think the "40-80%" rule is dead at all (or if that was a rule in the first place).

Nothing wrong with keeping your battery in the 40-80% range if you wish to prolong the lifespan of the battery. I personally (currently using windows based laptops) keep my laptop battery charged at around 60% and use the laptop whilst plugged into a charger. Doing so makes my laptop battery last far longer then consistently completing charge/discharge/charge cycles...especially given I use my gear for 7-10+ years, and the majority of my use is at a desk or somewhere where power is available...

Where I think your problems lie is in your expectations; you're comparing a larger "pro" model to a smaller "consumer" model and expecting better battery life. That's unrealistic.

 

[helloapple1]

I keep my 15" M2 MBA on low power mode, and it really extends the battery life significantly.