2012 MBA users: What kind of battery life do you get?

[coldjeanzzz]

I have a late 2012 13 inch MBA

When I bought it the advertised battery life was 7:30 hours I believe.

I think with web browsing, watching youtube videos, listening to music I get about 6 hours. I honestly don't think I ever got 7:30 hours of battery life out of this machine. When I'm on battery I keep the brightness pretty low, usually 50% or lower. I suppose I might get 7 hours if I literally did nothing but browse websites, not watch any video/flash, and maybe some word processing. It kind of bugs me that the 2013 Air basically doubled the battery life, if I had known the difference was going to be that drastic I might have waited.

 

[GGJstudios]

There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.

​

The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[Weaselboy]

I have a late 2012 13 inch MBA.

I had a 2012 like yours and just normal web browsing and email/RSS feeds I would get around seven hours or better. I rarely watch YouTube vids, so that probably makes a difference.

I updated to the 2013, and like you mentioned, it was a big improvement for battery life. I have used it all day (eight hours or so) and still had 30-40% left.

 

[oldtime]

I generally get 4.5-5.

 

[studIOS5]

I get around 6 hours on mine (10 battery cycles)

 

[kage207]

I get roughly about 7 hours when I was on ML. Now that I'm on Mavericks I get about 9ish with brightness at 8-9tics.

First off, I never watch online video unless I'm at home. I am a CS student and I usually have Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Safari always running no matter what. I have installed a plugin called Click-To-Flash for Safari to block Flash but when I need it for school I can still use it. I also have apps called SystemPal, DropBox and Color Maker running too. I use Pages, Keynote or Evernote to take notes depending on the class.

 

[coldjeanzzz]

I get roughly about 7 hours when I was on ML. Now that I'm on Mavericks I get about 9ish with brightness at 8-9tics.

First off, I never watch online video unless I'm at home. I am a CS student and I usually have Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Safari always running no matter what. I have installed a plugin called Click-To-Flash for Safari to block Flash but when I need it for school I can still use it. I also have apps called SystemPal, DropBox and Color Maker running too. I use Pages, Keynote or Evernote to take notes depending on the class.

I suppose I should try for a day to see what my battery life is like without watching video, it seems people can get 7+ hours so long as they avoid video

 

[kage207]

I suppose I should try for a day to see what my battery life is like without watching video, it seems people can get 7+ hours so long as they avoid video

Ya, I mean video just kills battery life usually unless you have hardware acceleration. The thing is that software is more power efficient when it comes to non-demanding, non-constant tasks. That's why Apple forces video into formats on their mobile platforms to be hardware accelerated as this actually decreases power usage in the long term, though still eats up battery pretty quickly.

I just got home and used my computer for 6ish hours with about one hour on standby and still have 57% left.

I love the Air. Would I love a 2013? Yes. Do I have the money? No. I am just waiting till I graduate to sell my 2012 model so I can upgrade to the 2014 model with better battery life and a larger SSD.

 

[studIOS5]

I suppose I should try for a day to see what my battery life is like without watching video, it seems people can get 7+ hours so long as they avoid video

Flash video is a battery killer for sure! I'm not going to watch less YouTube just to save my battery lol. I'd rather make sure I have my charger in my bag. If you are going to be away from power for an extended period of time however, I'd recommend against watching any flash video and getting an flash blocker for your browser (for the ads). If you aren't working on the internet, turning off wifi will also save you some juice.

 

[jmgregory1]

The improvements Apple has been able to get in regards to battery life is so significant. My '11 13" mba gets 4 hours max now and that's running the latest beta Mav build, which improved the time from just over 3 hours. Granted I've been dealing with a declining health battery currently hovering between 80% and 84% health, so there is something else going on.

But to get 7 hours, let alone 12 hours with the late '13 mba would be mind blowing. At that rate, it's approaching the travel-ready state of the iPad (although I'm getting about 18 hours on my iPad Air).