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2011 MacBook Air Battery Health Help

G

Gman021

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 21, 2012
143
0
Let me preface this by saying I have AppleCare (for another year) and I have head 2 major repairs done on this computer.


My Macbook Air seems to have garbage battery life. Sitting in class with just firefox open and brightness at 33%, I go from 100% to 65% in less than an hour. Maybe even as little at 40 minutes or so. I just got to class with a full charge and I have 62% just 30 minutes in. I do have 725 cycles, but my battery health says 93%.

My computer is also running hot for some reason. 180 degrees, fan on, memory almost fully used. I only have firefox open.


Any advice?
 
Gman021 said:
Let me preface this by saying I have AppleCare (for another year) and I have head 2 major repairs done on this computer.


My Macbook Air seems to have garbage battery life. Sitting in class with just firefox open and brightness at 33%, I go from 100% to 65% in less than an hour. Maybe even as little at 40 minutes or so. I just got to class with a full charge and I have 62% just 30 minutes in. I do have 725 cycles, but my battery health says 93%.

My computer is also running hot for some reason. 180 degrees, fan on, memory almost fully used. I only have firefox open.


Any advice?
Click to expand...

I would take it to Apple if it really is as you describe, could be a battery fault. Since you're still in warranty, use it! :)
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Open Activity Monitor and select All Processes and then sort by CPU to show you the process(es) causing more heat and less battery life.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. It cooled down and the fan turned off right after I posted but when it acts up again I'll open activity monitor.


dagored said:
Download this:

http://www.coconut-flavour.com

It will give you all types of stats on your battery. You can print a report and take it with you to the Apple Store.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Although I'm not sure what to point out to them.

jamesjingyi said:
I would take it to Apple if it really is as you describe, could be a battery fault. Since you're still in warranty, use it! :)
Click to expand...

They consider a battery a consumable part so they don't replace it for free unless it fails very early.
 
The fan and heat are sucking the life out of my battery. I started at 100% and 1 hour into lecture I'm done to 35%. My brightness is less than half. Only a couple of bars.

The picture was taken a little before I wrote the post. It says 25 min remaining at 185 degrees.


Only firefox, messages, and preview are open.

ScreenShot2014-04-01at84912AM_zpseb865499.png
 
Gman021 said:
The fan and heat are sucking the life out of my battery. I started at 100% and 1 hour into lecture I'm done to 35%. My brightness is less than half. Only a couple of bars.

The picture was taken a little before I wrote the post. It says 25 min remaining at 185 degrees.


Only firefox, messages, and preview are open.

Image
Click to expand...

As you can see, Firefox is using 100% CPU out of probably 400% capacity. What are you doing in Firefox? Something with Flash?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
As you can see, Firefox is using 100% CPU out of probably 400% capacity. What are you doing in Firefox? Something with Flash?
Click to expand...

I was on my school website, Blackboard. I don't think it uses flash. One tab open that's all.
 
Gman021 said:
I was on my school website, Blackboard. I don't think it uses flash. One tab open that's all.
Click to expand...

Try another browser like Safari or Chrome. Make sure all your plugins are up to date along with your version of Flash
 
Gman021 said:
I was on my school website, Blackboard. I don't think it uses flash. One tab open that's all.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, how do you say that? It's clearly in the picture. Your battery is great. Firefox (and that flash process. It even says adobe, there. If you read the whole stuff it mention adobe flash) and flash isn't.

My bet? You are watching porn or on youtube.

Seriously, look at the stuff that you have running. Look at the menu bar. You must improve your computing habits.
 
pedromcm.pm said:
With all due respect, how do you say that? It's clearly in the picture. Your battery is great. Firefox (and that flash process. It even says adobe, there. If you read the whole stuff it mention adobe flash) and flash isn't.

My bet? You are watching porn or on youtube.

Seriously, look at the stuff that you have running. Look at the menu bar. You must improve your computing habits.
Click to expand...


What the heck are you talking about?

I don't know how saying my battery is great when a fully charged computer with the brightness down to the lowest setting dies in 50 minutes.
 
The problem isn't your battery, it's your browser. Try Safari and Chrome and see if the CPU usage goes up to 100% when using the same website. Also check to see if it's at 100% with other websites too.
 
Gman021 said:
What the heck are you talking about?

I don't know how saying my battery is great when a fully charged computer with the brightness down to the lowest setting dies in 50 minutes.
Click to expand...

WTF? Can't you read? Look at the damn picture. There's a single firefox process using 100% of your CPU (because of ADOBe flash), you have an anti virus (or what the hell that might be...Safeconnect) not responding, you have a bunch of useless apps running at the same time on your menu bar, etc.

Your battery is great, it's fantastic how much punishment your computer can take on a single charge.

You were rude. I hope that it was ignorance and not lack of education. Anyway, I will help you. (but first uninstall flash. use chrome when you want flash. Close firefox and that "safe connect").

read this and then you can say thank you.


View attachment mac.txt
 
Your delusional.

Useless apps? Messages and preview shouldn't be draining the battery. It's obvious Firefox plays a role but other browsers also cause fan turn on and temp to go up.
 
Gman021 said:
Your delusional.

Useless apps? Messages and preview shouldn't be draining the battery. It's obvious Firefox plays a role but other browsers also cause fan turn on and temp to go up.
Click to expand...

Dude, did you even read the .txt file? Did you even read my post at all? Do you even know what the menu bar is? I'm not talking about useful apps like messages or preview.

I'm not even talking about the fan going up or not, it will naturally happen when you are using flash. However Chrome has flash built in, and is protected and always up to date. What is happening is that firefox is a pig and is "stuck" at 100% of your CPU on a tab that is stuck with flash, but looks like you are too blind to see the obvious.

In my particular case (I also have a 2011 Macbook Air) I use Safari without extensions or plug ins, like flash, and can easily browse the web and using the computer for other stuff for more than 5 hours, without a problem. When I need flash, I use Chrome.

It has an impact in battery life and performance, but I can easily browse the web with chrome and flash for way more than 3h.

I will say it again: Your battery is great, your computer is great. You do not have good computing habits, you do not know how to use a computer. But that's fine and you are no paid to understand everything about computers, so we are here to help.

Read the Txt file. It is made from stuff a very knowledgable member shared. (GJStudios?)
 
Last edited:
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