2013 Macbook Air Mavericks Battery Life thread

[jdechko]

What Kind of Battery Gains Are You Seeing with Mavericks?

One of the main features touted for Mavericks was that it improved battery life. John Siracusa noted in his Mavericks review that he was seeing about 3 more hours on his Air.

It varies a lot, but on my 2013 11" Air, I'm seeing about 12.5 hours after browsing MR for about 30 min.

Mail is running in the background, and I'm about 6 feet away from my Airport.

Just wondering what everyone else is seeing.

EDIT: This was merged from a different thread, thus the flow.

 

[Jefe's MacAir]

Why does it work for everybody but me?

For me, Battery life has been worse so far... check this out

Image

Been using for like half an hour and have 82% left. Only safari browsing. Nothing else. Turned off dropbox, bitcasa, creative cloud, just safari.

A bit strange.

Your usage shows that Safari AND the App Store are using 'significant energy'. But you stated that you're only using Safari. Is it possible the App Store is downloading and or updating Apps after the update?

If you had read ALL the responses you'd see that I suggested that it might take a few days or so for your update to organize all your files. This may use excessive battery until if finishes. As I also stated, wait a few days and then start worrying about actual battery life. Also, the estimate is just that, an estimate. It changes frequently during use. Try unplugging the computer and use a stopwatch/timer to get an actual use time and then report your results.

 

[smileman]

I was considering dropping Chrome unless I wanted to cast using my chrome cast. I have a lot of bookmarks I sync on my windows desktop, but if iCloud can keep them synced to safari I may go back to safari on my Air. Thanks for the useful link! Is safari also faster on OS X than Chrome along with power saving?

I'm in your exact same boat with Chromecast, using Chrome on Windows, etc.

First comment: after installing Windows iCloud control 3.0 I'm seeing duplicate bookmarks in Safari, which is annoying. I just deleted them and will be monitoring the situation, but if Safari and my Windows Chrome bookmarks can't sync properly this is going to be a problem.

Is safari also faster on OS X than Chrome along with power saving?

The test results would seem to indicate yes, but in everyday use I don't notice a speed difference in terms of page loads, etc.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/14/safari-70-streamlined-and-accelerated-for-os-x-mavericks

Using just Safari I'm getting 15+ hour battery tabulations on my 2013 Air. Before when I was exclusively using Chrome I was never getting anywhere close to 12 hours, more like 8-9 roughly. So very happy to see that!

 

[scottecs]

Your usage shows that Safari AND the App Store are using 'significant energy'. But you stated that you're only using Safari. Is it possible the App Store is downloading and or updating Apps after the update?

If you had read ALL the responses you'd see that I suggested that it might take a few days or so for your update to organize all your files. This may use excessive battery until if finishes. As I also stated, wait a few days and then start worrying about actual battery life. Also, the estimate is just that, an estimate. It changes frequently during use. Try unplugging the computer and use a stopwatch/timer to get an actual use time and then report your results.

I'm sure App store wasn't downloading anything. I had read ALL the responses and I had seen that I should wait a few days, but the sensation was that it felt faster at draining the battery, and also I couldn't see any processes that seemed to be moving files around.

I will try to time it on Monday, then post the results. Thank you for taking time to reply.

 

[scottecs]

Kernel_task?

Hey guys, quick update in the research, I've found that kernel_task is using a lot of CPU threads and memory, could it be related to the battery issue? It doesn't show up in the 'Energy' tab.

Could it be the process that "organizes" my files that Jefe was talking about?

Cheers

 

[thesituation]

upgraded to mavericks and my 11 inch MBair 2013 model is only getting about 6-7 hours battery life.

I was getting 10 hours before.

Even if my computer is idle the percent drops about 10% an hour ...

 

[ritmomundo]

2013 11" MBA. I updated (not a clean install) to Mavericks on Tuesday. On ML, I was getting about 7-8 hours of battery life. On Mavericks, I'm getting roughly 9-10 hours with my normal use. Its a noticeable difference at the end of the day.

 

[lina231]

One of the main features touted for Mavericks was that it improved battery life. John Siracusa noted in his Mavericks review that he was seeing about 3 more hours on his Air.

It varies a lot, but on my 2013 11" Air, I'm seeing about 12.5 hours after browsing MR for about 30 min.

Mail is running in the background, and I'm about 6 feet away from my Airport.

Just wondering what everyone else is seeing.

I get about 2+ extra hours on my 2013 13'' MBA. I always have my gCal tab, Outlook Mail Tab, and gMail tab running, as well as dropbox and tasks. I also do pretty heavy web browsing, and I listen to iTunes and always have Word running.

My battery never drained fast to begin with, but now it just lasts longer. Although I am seeing that it is taking a little longer for my Mac to fully charge, have you seen this?

 

[thesituation]

2013 11" MBA. I updated (not a clean install) to Mavericks on Tuesday. On ML, I was getting about 7-8 hours of battery life. On Mavericks, I'm getting roughly 9-10 hours with my normal use. Its a noticeable difference at the end of the day. My Air is 100% charged right now, and when I unplug the charger, it says 11:42 remaining.

the 11:42 you're seeing is when it's idle.

as soon as you start using an app/program like google .. that # gets cut by 50%.

try using chrome for 10 mins and tell me what you're battery remaining time is.

 

[ritmomundo]

the 11:42 you're seeing is when it's idle.

as soon as you start using an app/program like google .. that # gets cut by 50%.

try using chrome for 10 mins and tell me what you're battery remaining time is.

Yeah, I know. Thats why I said I've been getting about 10 hours on average the last few days. I don't have, use or want chrome. I took out the 11:42 part from my original post so people don't have reading comprehension failure.

 

[marobb]

Battery Life Suffering

I am experiencing trouble with my battery life. I used to have 11:56 for battery life on 100% Battery but now I am down to around 9:50 on my full battery. I am on OS X Mavericks and just updated. This shouldn't be happening because as you can see, there aren't many apps using significant battery power, yet I am stuck with this problem. The time would start at 6 hours but it only goes up to 9:50 and it's quite frustrating as I use my Macbook all day for classes.

 

[DisplacedMic]

One of the main features touted for Mavericks was that it improved battery life. John Siracusa noted in his Mavericks review that he was seeing about 3 more hours on his Air.

It varies a lot, but on my 2013 11" Air, I'm seeing about 12.5 hours after browsing MR for about 30 min.

Mail is running in the background, and I'm about 6 feet away from my Airport.

Just wondering what everyone else is seeing.

wow - i haven't seen numbers like that at all on my 11".
my coworker with a 13" has seen several hour improvements.

of course i haven't looked into it very much. will be working on it a lot this weekend (sadly) so i'll pay more attention then and report back

 

[JSalig]

the 11:42 you're seeing is when it's idle.

as soon as you start using an app/program like google .. that # gets cut by 50%.

try using chrome for 10 mins and tell me what you're battery remaining time is.

Guess I didn't pay much attention before but I didn't realize just how brutal chrome is until I updated to Mavericks. Unfortunately I just can't quit it. I've tried many times.

 

[jdechko]

I am seeing that it is taking a little longer for my Mac to fully charge, have you seen this?

Honestly, I haven't really paid attention to how long it takes to charge.

 

[thesituation]

Although I am seeing that it is taking a little longer for my Mac to fully charge, have you seen this?

my mac 2013 11nch model takes less than 2 hours to fully charge it from 0%.

and takes about 1 hour to charge from 50 - 100%..

 

[jdechko]

wow - i haven't seen numbers like that at all on my 11".
my coworker with a 13" has seen several hour improvements.

I know its definitely variable. I had to download some large files and make some edits in InDesign after I posted those numbers, so that ate up a good bit of battery (~15%). But the gains are fairly significant and very real. So far, I'm really pleased.

 

[Gabichon]

I am experiencing trouble with my battery life. I used to have 11:56 for battery life on 100% Battery but now I am down to around 9:50 on my full battery. I am on OS X Mavericks and just updated. This shouldn't be happening because as you can see, there aren't many apps using significant battery power, yet I am stuck with this problem. The time would start at 6 hours but it only goes up to 9:50 and it's quite frustrating as I use my Macbook all day for classes.

Hello fellow RuneScapian!

And the same was happening to me, less battery life on Mavericks.

 

[jask]

Whit Mountain Lion I had not problem with the battery life (between 9-12 hours). Now, with Maverick, I have it. I don't know if is a good idea re-install Maverick because I did an update from Mountain Lion.

Battery life:

I'm not using flash. I don't understand why the battery life has been decreased from Mountain Lion, I didn't change my way of work, neither I use new software that can decrease life battery.

 

[scottecs]

Ok guys, quick update about my situation.

I've left the Macbook Air on overnight on charger, then I've tried to use it as much as possible today while timing it. It's not much, but I'll update this post with the results.

I'm using the Mavericks percentage, even if iStatMenus gives me a slightly different one.

From 100 % charge:

Usage - Percentage Battery Left after that time - Notes

0:37 - 98% - Light browsing (Safari), checking email with Mail
2:00 - 78% - Browsing (Safari), Mail, Textedit
2:42 - 65% - Intense use, Safari + Garageband + Adobe Flash CS5 + MIDI Keyboard and Pen Tablet connected, drawing and playing music
2:56 - 62% - Light Browsing (Safari)
4:13 - 42% - Light Browsing (Safari)
4:15 - 42% - Garageband with usb midi keyboard
7:19 - 12% - Garageband, 3 hours of screen off and usb midi keyboard band practice

total time on battery 48:50 hours, around 7:30 hours of use, half of it with USB devices connected.


EDIT: I've updated it with the rest of the data until its battery was 4%. I'm charging now.

 

[flori72]

I also have a battery drain on my MacBook Pro 2010.
I talked to Apple support, they were not aware of any problem.

Please, everyone having a battery drain issue, send a feedback to:

http://feedback.apple.com

that's the only way they will look into it (info came from the support)

 

[catalyst07]

Great stuff guys. If you look at my other threads, I report battery life on my 2013 11" i7 8gb (with osx 10.8) REAL WORLD usage was 9hrs 55min as timed by my iphone.

So, if I can improve that by 10, 15, 20% with Mavericks, it's totally worth the upgrade.



For you guys having worse battery life, did you do an SMC reset after installing Mavericks, I've read that this can fix battery life issues.

 

[n1tut]

I have a serious problem now then, I have owned MBA's for three years now and upgraded to the 2013 11" when it came out. Battery life nearly doubled to over 7 hours, but I installed Mavericks last week and I am now down to two hours. This is with exactly the same usage as the past three years, I am retired and disabled so mainly browsing the internet, no music or downloads.

Just done another check, fully charged less than two hours ago and it is now down to 15%. I must be the only one with this problem as you all seem to have even better battery life.

Any ideas before I call Apple? I was already considering returning to ML, as I run Parallels because of the need for Quicken which is essential, and V7 will not run under Maverick.

Cheers

tut

 

[hardy74]

You are not the only one.

There is already a threat on Apple discussions with many reporting decreased battery life, including myself.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5471323?start=60&tstart=0

Battery runtime went down 50% for me on a 2012 MacBook Air. Hope Apple releases a fix asap.

 

[n1tut]

Thanks for the link good to see that I am not on my own. Funny thing is it did not happen after the install, I did not time it to see if there was an improvement, quite happy with 7 hours, but it is just in the past two days when I could not miss that it had dropped to 2 hours.

Definitely will be giving Apple a call tomorrow.

Cheers

tut

 

[twintin]

Battery runtime went down 50% for me on a 2012 MacBook Air.

I have an 2012 MBA myself, but have not noticed any change in battery life between ML and MV (estimated time around 5h during day time, and around 8h at evening with auto brightness).