Battery duration of Intel MBA

[nzh999]

Hi all,

I have an i5 MBA Air (2020) and am disappointed in the battery life. I ran a test with the screen sleep disabled (and a screen saver instead), a few 'normal' apps running but idle, the screen brightness at 75% and it lasted 7 hrs from a full charge. Is this what other folk are seeing in terms of battery runtimes? It's a little short of the 'up to' 11 hrs in the spec sheet (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP813?locale=en_GB).

Would be interested to hear other Intel MBA battery runtimes.

Thanks,
Neil.

 

[jdb8167]

Hi all,

I have an i5 MBA Air (2020) and am disappointed in the battery life. I ran a test with the screen sleep disabled (and a screen saver instead), a few 'normal' apps running but idle, the screen brightness at 75% and it lasted 7 hrs from a full charge. Is this what other folk are seeing in terms of battery runtimes? It's a little short of the 'up to' 11 hrs in the spec sheet (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP813?locale=en_GB).

Would be interested to hear other Intel MBA battery runtimes.

Thanks,
Neil.

Brightness has a large effect on battery life. Apple tests battery life at about 1/2 brightness. I keep the brightness on my M1 MBA at about 2 or 3 notches below 50% when I can and gain hours of battery life

 

[iluvmacs99]

Hi all,

I have an i5 MBA Air (2020) and am disappointed in the battery life. I ran a test with the screen sleep disabled (and a screen saver instead), a few 'normal' apps running but idle, the screen brightness at 75% and it lasted 7 hrs from a full charge. Is this what other folk are seeing in terms of battery runtimes? It's a little short of the 'up to' 11 hrs in the spec sheet (https://support.apple.com/kb/SP813?locale=en_GB).

Would be interested to hear other Intel MBA battery runtimes.

Thanks,
Neil.

I get roughly 6-7 hrs of battery life from a 90% battery capacity which is about 7 years old off of my 2014 MB Air in a special user profile I set up just for battery use. If I use the AC adapter normal profile in battery mode, then the battery would only last roughly 4 hrs. Basically I have 2 user distinct profiles. If I use AC, then all my desktop apps are loaded in and I use mainly Edge and brightness turned up to full and I'm in light mode. If I use the battery, then I log into my battery user profile and only the apps that I need namely VPN and Malwarebytes are loaded and I use either Safari or Brave as it sucks less power compared to Chrome browsers though Brave is based on Chrome, plus I set my brightness to 70% and desktop is in dark mode.

If my battery is 100% however which I plan to replace eventually, I think I can get roughly 9-10hrs of use in battery mode. I think if my memory serves me correct that Apple estimated my MB Air 2014 to have roughly 12hrs of battery life when new, but the way I use my Air would probably end up draining it in full in about 10 hrs.

 

[nzh999]

Brightness has a large effect on battery life. Apple tests battery life at about 1/2 brightness. I keep the brightness on my M1 MBA at about 2 or 3 notches below 50% when I can and gain hours of battery life

Completely agree regarding screen brightness. I used a setting of 75% as (according to the spec sheet) that’s the figure Apple used for their tests.

 

[jdb8167]

Completely agree regarding screen brightness. I used a setting of 75% as (according to the spec sheet) that’s the figure Apple used for their tests.

Interesting. They use 50% now on the M1 MBA.

 

[Bazza1]

Interesting. They use 50% now on the M1 MBA.

...and if you turn everything off, the battery lasts for a really long time! 🙄🤪
(It's the same rationale they use for the iPhone)

While I 'get' the goal of extending the time you have while on battery, I'm not a fan of making the practical experience of using the device less than optimal for me. I want the experience when using the Mac to be the same whether its plugged in or not - and I'm certainly not keen on screwing with my eyesight all so that Apple can quote an unrealistic run time.

(Of course, the proviso of 'up to' with any service - a favourite of ISPs and wireless data providers, too - is the out for them. Anything above 'off' is offering a service of 'up to...'.)

I'd rather than Apple worked at making their OS and hardware more energy efficient, rather than have the expectation that users will resort to work-arounds to use their devices. But, until then, I time my work relying on my Mac's battery accordingly.

 

[jdb8167]

...and if you turn everything off, the battery lasts for a really long time! 🙄🤪
(It's the same rationale they use for the iPhone)

While I 'get' the goal of extending the time you have while on battery, I'm not a fan of making the practical experience of using the device less than optimal for me. I want the experience when using the Mac to be the same whether its plugged in or not - and I'm certainly not keen on screwing with my eyesight all so that Apple can quote an unrealistic run time.

(Of course, the proviso of 'up to' with any service - a favourite of ISPs and wireless data providers, too - is the out for them. Anything above 'off' is offering a service of 'up to...'.)

I'd rather than Apple worked at making their OS and hardware more energy efficient, rather than have the expectation that users will resort to work-arounds to use their devices. But, until then, I time my work relying on my Mac's battery accordingly.

I pretty much use my M1 MBA at 1 or 2 notches below 50% when indoors (and I don't use it much outdoors.) So I find Apple's settings actually conservative. I don't know how many nits the Display on the OP MBA reaches. Maybe it is lower than the M1 MBA and 75% matches the brightness of the M1 MBA at 50%.