In my recent post about the rMBP vs the 2012 MBA, I posted how I decided to go with the 2012 MBA for now. So far I'm loving the battery life on the new MBA, I installed Mountain Lion and I'm getting right around 8 to 8.5 hours with web surfing, email, iPhoto, and other light to moderate applications running. I know some have problems with battery life on Mountain Lion but so far it has been very good on the 2012 MBA and been a pleasant surprise. Only negative is I liked the old magsafe adaptor better.
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8+ Hour Battery Life!
- Thread starter vtyler98
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Congrats. How long have you had ML installed, and at any point were you getting poor battery life? Some people have been saying that ML needs "breaking in". Not sure how an OS functions like a corvette
The MBA is renowned for it's battery life...My 2011 13" Ultimate regularly gets 7+ hours, even when multi-tasking...As far as the OS is concerned, it's more to do with the Apps you use that has the most dramatic effect on battery life...Hard-sore web-surfing and video watching will impact heavily on it.
The most battery intensive App I have discovered so far is Face Time...A real battery killer.
The most battery intensive App I have discovered so far is Face Time...A real battery killer.
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Civilization 5 is a real battery killer. I get around 90 minutes, but hey that's life when running a game that puts the CPU at 90C+ and fans at 6500rpm.
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I'm getting ridiculous battery life on my new 2012 MBA 13" as well.. I have a base model and can use the machine for most of the work day (no heavy lifting, listening to music and surfing the web, etc. for the most part).. It literally sat at 100% for 20 minutes before dropping to 99%.
I'm not sure if it's Mountain Lion or what as I immediately installed ML moments after I opened my MBA package.
Either way, best "Ultrabook" out there.. I compared and played with them ALL.
There's some features of other Ultrabooks I would love to carry over to the MBA but the MBA is the best all-around package by far.
You have to consider that OSX is optimized so well and designed around the hardware unlike Windows, where it's designed to accommodate insane amounts of hardware.. which leads to bad driver design causing battery issues with the other notebooks in this category.
But i'll save that for another post - great battery life for sure, I would rather have my MBA over my iPad3 (which I sold recently) any day.. especially considering how long the battery lasts and this is a FULL BLOWN PC!
I'm not sure if it's Mountain Lion or what as I immediately installed ML moments after I opened my MBA package.
Either way, best "Ultrabook" out there.. I compared and played with them ALL.
There's some features of other Ultrabooks I would love to carry over to the MBA but the MBA is the best all-around package by far.
You have to consider that OSX is optimized so well and designed around the hardware unlike Windows, where it's designed to accommodate insane amounts of hardware.. which leads to bad driver design causing battery issues with the other notebooks in this category.
But i'll save that for another post - great battery life for sure, I would rather have my MBA over my iPad3 (which I sold recently) any day.. especially considering how long the battery lasts and this is a FULL BLOWN PC!
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I was initially concerned with my 2012 MBA. It's only 5 days old. I did the battery calibration from new, but didn't think it was lasting very long. Coconut battery reveals battery health at 96% with 5 cycles put through it...
I timed the first 10% last night and got 40 minutes at 65% brightness, which is about right, though. So I guess I'm happy enough!
On a side note, I really hate the term 'heavy lifting' when used with reference to computing.
I timed the first 10% last night and got 40 minutes at 65% brightness, which is about right, though. So I guess I'm happy enough!
On a side note, I really hate the term 'heavy lifting' when used with reference to computing.
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Congrats. How long have you had ML installed, and at any point were you getting poor battery life? Some people have been saying that ML needs "breaking in". Not sure how an OS functions like a corvette
I've had it installed for a few weeks, what I did instead of installing it through the app store, I just downloaded it that way and created a USB stick with ML and did a clean install for the installation process which worked great. I'm not a heavy user when on battery but my 2011 MBA on Lion was getting around 7 hours with the same usage pattern so 8 to 8.5 hours is a big improvement for me.
Also of note, no need to start a new thread for this, but I've noticed the fans in the 2012 MBA are MUCH quieter. I ran some more processor intensive apps and games that would push my previous MBA to a 85-90C temp and the fans to 6500rpm and this computer maxed out around 80C and the fans only reached 4000rpm before going back down. Even at 4000rpm they are QUIET! Now just need to try Rome Total War and see how it performs.
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I was initially concerned with my 2012 MBA. It's only 5 days old. I did the battery calibration from new, but didn't think it was lasting very long. Coconut battery reveals battery health at 96% with 5 cycles put through it...
I timed the first 10% last night and got 40 minutes at 65% brightness, which is about right, though. So I guess I'm happy enough!
On a side note, I really hate the term 'heavy lifting' when used with reference to computing.
What do you prefer to 'heavy lifting'? Max TDP?
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"Processor intensive", I suppose. I didn't mean to insult. I just see it used a lot, and it irks me for some reason
Interesting you sold your iPad 3 - did you feel it crossed over with your Air? I sort of feel that way sometimes, although I still use my iPad an awful lot.
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"Processor intensive", I suppose. I didn't mean to insult. I just see it used a lot, and it irks me for some reason
Interesting you sold your iPad 3 - did you feel it crossed over with your Air? I sort of feel that way sometimes, although I still use my iPad an awful lot.
I didn't have my MBA before my iPad3. But if I did, I would have taken the iPad back immediately. I can honestly say i'm not wasting anymore money on an iPad as long as I have the MBA though, it gets similar battery life (i'm never too far away from a power outlet if I need to charge the MBA up) and does so much more. Having a keyboard and nice trackpad is a MUST for me so for a lightweight, yet powerful machine that can DO IT ALL and even still do some light gaming (Diablo3 runs perfectly fine at medium settings on the MBA).
To further expand, i'm that guy who buys the top of the line usually, and always spend the full $839.99 on a iPad (64gb + 4G).. For less than $200, you can get a MBA basemodel (didn't feel the high end model was worth another $600) and do SO MUCH MORE. Regardless of the retina vs the 1440x900 res screen on the MBA, the MBA is leaps and bounds more capable.
This only applied starting this year when Apple decided to drop the prices on the MBAs.. Previous years the MBA's baseline price sort of enticed me but they got me to convert this time. I don't see Apple getting rid of the Air line for a number of years, not everybody wants an iPad (limited capability) but still wants a powerful machine that can do it all while being under 3lbs and thin as a razor!
Jay
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i have a 2011 MBA 11" 4/128 and I would kill for 8 hours. Noticing ML is worse on battery life but I have disabled Power Nap on battery and it's a bit better. Hopefully 10.8.1 will fix this.
JP
JP
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