2013 11" Battery Life Thread (real world)

[gnasher729]

HOw will you justify your time-capsule purchase than not buying the 512GB SSD that i got ?

Remember: 2TB in time-capsule is only available to be used for BACK_up and not like your regular external HDD in which you can cut-copy-paste stuff...i learnt it the hard way yesterday

You can store other things on a time capsule without problems. You just have to remember: If your music or videos or pictures are _only_ on the time capsule, then they are not backed up! (Your normal time capsule data is "backed up" on your Mac).

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It seems you may have a battery "WIN" here by say getting a 9+ hour battery life...but if its HOT as a COAL and Flying like an aeroplane with all the FAN NOISE --> then that kills the whole experience

If Apple managed to keep a MacBook HOT as a COAL for 12 hours with a 50 Wh battery, they'd have to go into the business of producing heating equipment!

It's impossible to keep a MacBook HOT with just four Watt on average.

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Did you run both machines via Thunderbolt and the same amount of time.

Thunderbolt absolutely kills the battery. (Not sure why but it does.)
It literally cuts my rMBP battery time in 1/2 if not more.

But then if your MacBook is attached to a Thunderbolt display, why isn't it plugged in? That's really not a realistic use case.

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You guys are bumming me out! My i7 version will be here Monday and I was really looking forward to something approaching that 9 hour battery life...

It's 9 hour battery life with "average" use, whatever average means. Depending on what you do, it will last longer or less long. It's like saying that your car can drive for nine hours on one fuel tank; it depends on the speed you are going.

 

[leslie11]

I just got my I7/8/256 and I thought I'd chime in with my comments.

Currently on its original shipping charge and with light browsing, the keyboard does feel warm to the touch. I just ordered the I5 to see if it's any better cos I certainly don't want to feel the heat.

I'll post when I've more to share.

 

[curtoise]

But then if your MacBook is attached to a Thunderbolt display, why isn't it plugged in? That's really not a realistic use case.

Just becasue I can and for pure testing purposes (remember this is my own testing to see what is good for me and my wallet), the i5 went on for 4 more hours on attached to a Thunderbolt with full brightness and after being on for about 6 hours of light browsing the day before.

There is no "realistic" vs "unrealistic", on initial tests everybody will do video loop, page refreshes, Geekbenchs, bla bla bla (please read as in hotel Transylvania) but then you will use the computer in a totally different way, doing things that you thought you would never going to do at purchase time.

The i7 went nuts when attached to Thunderbolt, fan kicked in for about one hour and it was actually hot, not hot coal hot but hot.

 

[wermy]

I have a feeling I'll be returning the 11" i7/8GB/256 that will be here on Monday in favor of an i5/8GB/256. Battery life and lack of heat are pretty important to me. Just stinks because I'll have to fully return the other one and wait for the charges on it to be reversed before I'll be able to get the i5 version.

 

[musika]

i5/4GB/256 is out for delivery! Three days early! Woah!

 

[curtoise]

i5/4GB/256 is out for delivery! Three days early! Woah!

Awesome!

 

[musika]

It's here! I'll unbox it soon. Then after some use I'll make my decision.

The i7 is running very well (cool to the touch) so I really am not sure what my final decision will be at this point.

 

[johnjey]

Get a 512SSD (faster than every other SSD) & i5/8GB = epic win combo !

 

[smashie]

I have been running my i7 since just before 7am this morning and its now 4pm in the UK. The battery is sitting at 5% with 30mins to go. I have had safari open constantly with several tabs, downloaded a TV show from iTunes, viewed a few trailers and listened to streamed radio on iplayer for about 45mins. I also used Citrix to access my virtual windows desktop at work for about 1hr 30min. It has been cool throughout and the fan has never kicked in ( i didn't expect it to as most of the task were not heavy. )

So that 9hrs 30mis in total with the tasks above and for a first charge out of the box i would say that it is pretty good. If i had pushed it with some video coding then i guess it would have been less but i would't expect it to get nearly 10hrs with that sort of work. I guess the i5 would have probably lasted another 30mins or so but overall i am pleased with my choice

 

[Jazwire]

I have been running my i7 since just before 7am this morning and its now 4pm in the UK. The battery is sitting at 5% with 30mins to go. I have had safari open constantly with several tabs, downloaded a TV show from iTunes, viewed a few trailers and listened to streamed radio on iplayer for about 45mins. I also used Citrix to access my virtual windows desktop at work for about 1hr 30min. It has been cool throughout and the fan has never kicked in ( i didn't expect it to as most of the task were not heavy. )

So that 9hrs 30mis in total with the tasks above and for a first charge out of the box i would say that it is pretty good. If i had pushed it with some video coding then i guess it would have been less but i would't expect it to get nearly 10hrs with that sort of work. I guess the i5 would have probably lasted another 30mins or so but overall i am pleased with my choice

Awesome Smashie.
Cant wait for my i7 to get here next week.

 

[su0301]

Don't understand why some people here go extreme on battery life but ignore the importance of powerful CPUs, even though the the difference in power consumption between mobile i5 and i7 is supposed to be rather small.

The benefit of high CPU speed is always there, but how often do you need to use the MBA without power for extended period of time? Then what's the difference between 8 and 9 hours of battery lives?

Ignoring costs, who would prefer a lower power engine when buying a car, even though for a given size of tank, high-power engine means short distance to reach. But nobody would care because we know we can always find a gas station. Same for computers - only in rare cases we need to use the computer without power for more than 8 hours, so no need to emphasize too much on battery life. If you can afford i7, then get it.

 

[wermy]

I have been running my i7 since just before 7am this morning and its now 4pm in the UK. The battery is sitting at 5% with 30mins to go. I have had safari open constantly with several tabs, downloaded a TV show from iTunes, viewed a few trailers and listened to streamed radio on iplayer for about 45mins. I also used Citrix to access my virtual windows desktop at work for about 1hr 30min. It has been cool throughout and the fan has never kicked in ( i didn't expect it to as most of the task were not heavy. )

So that 9hrs 30mis in total with the tasks above and for a first charge out of the box i would say that it is pretty good. If i had pushed it with some video coding then i guess it would have been less but i would't expect it to get nearly 10hrs with that sort of work. I guess the i5 would have probably lasted another 30mins or so but overall i am pleased with my choice

That's it. I'm ignoring all this until I've used the i7 for a week or so, and will decide to keep or trade then. Such an emotional roller-coaster.

 

[musika]

Keeping the i7/8B/256. Not a question. Even just in general usage for a few minutes I noticed a difference in performance.

Heat is exactly the same on the i5 model. This entire kerfuffle has been silly. All choices are good. Enjoy your computer, folks!

 

[musika]

Basically, the i5 models are great computers. If you bought one, enjoy it! The i7 models are great computers. If you bought one, enjoy it!

Seriously. They're both awesome. Be happy. Nothing to worry about.

 

[leslie11]

What about the heat? Under the same load, do both cmptrs feel the same to the touch?

That's my deciding factor and I'll cancel my i5 order if I can get user comments that both are the same. I'd hate to waste perfectly good money (on Apple's part) on shipping just for me to see if one gives off less heat than the other. TIA!

 

[sparkie7]

What about the heat? Under the same load, do both cmptrs feel the same to the touch?

That's my deciding factor and I'll cancel my i5 order if I can get user comments that both are the same. I'd hate to waste perfectly good money (on Apple's part) on shipping just for me to see if one gives off less heat than the other. TIA!

If you live in Alaska or somewhere cold, the i7 might be better. If you live somewhere hot then get the i5. You get where I'm going with this?

 

[curtoise]

If you live in Alaska or somewhere cold, the i7 might be better. If you live somewhere hot then get the i5. You get where I'm going with this?

104F in South Florida now, I'm keeping the i5 to cool me down

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Keeping the i7/8B/256. Not a question. Even just in general usage for a few minutes I noticed a difference in performance.

Heat is exactly the same on the i5 model. This entire kerfuffle has been silly. All choices are good. Enjoy your computer, folks!

That's it, I'm keeping all of them.

 

[leslie11]

If you live in Alaska or somewhere cold, the i7 might be better. If you live somewhere hot then get the i5. You get where I'm going with this?

Unfortunately where I live it's hot all year round. It's kind of disappointing to see the i7s running hot on a light load even.

 

[sparkie7]

Unfortunately where I live it's hot all year round. It's kind of disappointing to see the i7s running hot on a light load even.

That can be a plus. Like put it outside at midday and cook eggs & bacon on it.

 

[curtoise]

That can be a plus. Like put it outside at midday and cook eggs & bacon on it.

Friday battery talk is going great

running hot on a light load

 

[smashie]

Unfortunately where I live it's hot all year round. It's kind of disappointing to see the i7s running hot on a light load even.

my i7 has had no heat issues since i opened it last night. I have used it all day and its been cool to the touch and no fan. Just down i small video encode from mkv to mp4 and no heat or fan noises. ( only ran for a couple of mins though)

 

[musika]

What about the heat? Under the same load, do both cmptrs feel the same to the touch?

That's my deciding factor and I'll cancel my i5 order if I can get user comments that both are the same. I'd hate to waste perfectly good money (on Apple's part) on shipping just for me to see if one gives off less heat than the other. TIA!

After a couple of minutes of simple Safari browsing, both palm rests were cold and I noticed a tad bit more heat from the keyboard of the i5 model, surprisingly.

Basically, both computers are the same, heat-wise, unless you're doing super heavy lifting, I assume, and then the i7 would be warmer.

For normal use where you wouldn't want a computer to be hot, they are generally the same.

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my i7 has had no heat issues since i opened it last night. I have used it all day and its been cool to the touch and no fan. Just down i small video encode from mkv to mp4 and no heat or fan noises. ( only ran for a couple of mins though)

I second this. Only time I heard the fan was while reinstalling Mountain Lion.

 

[wermy]

After a couple of minutes of simple Safari browsing, both palm rests were cold and I noticed a tad bit more heat from the keyboard of the i5 model, surprisingly.

Basically, both computers are the same, heat-wise, unless you're doing super heavy lifting, I assume, and then the i7 would be warmer.

For normal use where you wouldn't want a computer to be hot, they are generally the same.

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I second this. Only time I heard the fan was while reinstalling Mountain Lion.

I'd imagine that during the OS install, lots of the power management stuff would be disabled, which would explain why the CPU was going full-steam and the fans had to kick in. Just speculation of course.

 

[musika]

I'd imagine that during the OS install, lots of the power management stuff would be disabled, which would explain why the CPU was going full-steam and the fans had to kick in. Just speculation of course.

OS reinstalls are not normal use. You should be just fine. Mine's great.

 

[musika]

I can't really look at this with a straight face but it's still fun to see. (i7/8/256 11")