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Battery Life i5 vs i7, anything definitive yet?

Jazwire

Jazwire

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 20, 2009
900
118
127.0.0.1
I haven't been able to come across anything definitive yet on wether or not Haswell i5 vs i7 upgrade consumes more power or makes more heat.

Last year there was a difference, that was tested in a real world situation.

According to Intel's specs, both the i5 and i7 have the same power draw, which would lead one to believe their may not be a difference or if so almost unmeasurable.

If we go based of previous chips & experience then the i5 will have better bat life & less heat than the i7.

If we go based on the tech specs give by Intel the i5 & i7 will have negligible differences in battery life and heat.

Anyone come across any real world tests , even if not a mac, but just the chips themselves?
 
I ordered an i5 on the first day, but cancelled it today so I could get one from the mall. I couldn't wait till next week!! My apple only carries the most basic or the highest end, so I had to choose the i7 with 8gb and 512gb ssd. Here are my first impressions:

1. battery is ridiculous. it's giving me 15+ hours as i am browsing/typing on forum. yes, 15+ hours.
2. with vmware on running heavy windows 8 (cpu greater than 100%; i am not sure how is that possible, but that's what it says on my top), i was getting about 7-8 hrs. for a reference, i only got about 2.5 hrs on my 15 inch 2011 mbp 256 ssd 16gb memory w/ vmware running windows 8.
3. black magic disk test yielded more than 900mbs read/write
4. no need for thunderbolt external drive unless u r using ssd raid. the bottleneck is going to be the hard disk in your external hard drive enclosure!
5. i did a migration assistant migration from my mbp15 to my new mba using direct thunderbolt connection (start the machine while pressing T). to my surprise, the transfer was super slow. it took 22 minutes to complete the process of migrating 183 gb of files. that's only an average of 138mb/s! maybe the migration assistant did more than moving file. maybe it was setting/configuring my lib/app folders for the new hardware? anyway, it was way slower than i expected. (the transfer was from a sansumg 830 256gb ssd to ePIC mba 512gb ssd)

http://oi43.tinypic.com/90t1j5.jpg

this is after using it on battery for an hour.
 
Last edited:
ladeer said:
I ordered an i5 on the first day, but cancelled it today so I could get one from the mall. I couldn't wait till next week!! My apple only carries the most basic or the highest end, so I had to choose the i7 with 8gb and 512gb ssd. Here are my first impressions:

1. battery is ridiculous. it's giving me 15+ hours as i am browsing/typing on forum. yes, 15+ hours.
2. with vmware on running heavy windows 8 (cpu greater than 100%; i am not sure how is that possible, but that's what it says on my top), i was getting about 7-8 hrs. for a reference, i only got about 2.5 hrs on my 15 inch 2011 mbp 256 ssd 16gb memory w/ vmware running windows 8.
3. black magic disk test yielded more than 900mbs read/write
4. no need for thunderbolt external drive unless u r using ssd raid. the bottleneck is going to be the hard disk in your external hard drive enclosure!
5. i did a migration assistant migration from my mbp15 to my new mba using direct thunderbolt connection (start the machine while pressing T). to my surprise, the transfer was super slow. it took 22 minutes to complete the process of migrating 183 gb of files. that's only an average of 138mb/s! maybe the migration assistant did more than moving file. maybe it was setting/configuring my lib/app folders for the new hardware? anyway, it was way slower than i expected. (the transfer was from a sansumg 830 256gb ssd to ePIC mba 512gb ssd)

http://oi43.tinypic.com/90t1j5.jpg

this is after using it on battery for an hour.
Click to expand...

I'm getting the same MBA in the mail. I'm travelling so I doubt there would be 8GB MBA 13 stock left in store by the time I get back. But your results are very very very impressive. It genuinely looks like all day battery that I can rely on all day when I go for lectures. No need to carry a charger anymore.
 
I assume the battery life is amazing which is why no one has any reviews up yet, still waiting for the battery life tests to complete
 
A friend of mine at work claims he got 13+ hours last night after buying his I7 in the morning and using all day.
 
ladeer said:
I ordered an i5 on the first day, but cancelled it today so I could get one from the mall. I couldn't wait till next week!! My apple only carries the most basic or the highest end, so I had to choose the i7 with 8gb and 512gb ssd. Here are my first impressions:

1. battery is ridiculous. it's giving me 15+ hours as i am browsing/typing on forum. yes, 15+ hours.
2. with vmware on running heavy windows 8 (cpu greater than 100%; i am not sure how is that possible, but that's what it says on my top), i was getting about 7-8 hrs. for a reference, i only got about 2.5 hrs on my 15 inch 2011 mbp 256 ssd 16gb memory w/ vmware running windows 8.
3. black magic disk test yielded more than 900mbs read/write
4. no need for thunderbolt external drive unless u r using ssd raid. the bottleneck is going to be the hard disk in your external hard drive enclosure!
5. i did a migration assistant migration from my mbp15 to my new mba using direct thunderbolt connection (start the machine while pressing T). to my surprise, the transfer was super slow. it took 22 minutes to complete the process of migrating 183 gb of files. that's only an average of 138mb/s! maybe the migration assistant did more than moving file. maybe it was setting/configuring my lib/app folders for the new hardware? anyway, it was way slower than i expected. (the transfer was from a sansumg 830 256gb ssd to ePIC mba 512gb ssd)

http://oi43.tinypic.com/90t1j5.jpg

this is after using it on battery for an hour.
Click to expand...

Then my question to you is, how long does it take to charge this thing? Maybe from like 10% to 100%.

My 4th Gen iPad last me between 10-12 hours of usage, but it takes like 5 damn hours to charge :mad:
 
ladeer said:
I ordered an i5 on the first day, but cancelled it today so I could get one from the mall. I couldn't wait till next week!! My apple only carries the most basic or the highest end, so I had to choose the i7 with 8gb and 512gb ssd. Here are my first impressions:

1. battery is ridiculous. it's giving me 15+ hours as i am browsing/typing on forum. yes, 15+ hours.
2. with vmware on running heavy windows 8 (cpu greater than 100%; i am not sure how is that possible, but that's what it says on my top), i was getting about 7-8 hrs. for a reference, i only got about 2.5 hrs on my 15 inch 2011 mbp 256 ssd 16gb memory w/ vmware running windows 8.
3. black magic disk test yielded more than 900mbs read/write
4. no need for thunderbolt external drive unless u r using ssd raid. the bottleneck is going to be the hard disk in your external hard drive enclosure!
5. i did a migration assistant migration from my mbp15 to my new mba using direct thunderbolt connection (start the machine while pressing T). to my surprise, the transfer was super slow. it took 22 minutes to complete the process of migrating 183 gb of files. that's only an average of 138mb/s! maybe the migration assistant did more than moving file. maybe it was setting/configuring my lib/app folders for the new hardware? anyway, it was way slower than i expected. (the transfer was from a sansumg 830 256gb ssd to ePIC mba 512gb ssd)

http://oi43.tinypic.com/90t1j5.jpg

this is after using it on battery for an hour.
Click to expand...

It looks like the i7 will not have a big impact on battery life if you are getting those readings, I doubt the i5 will give you more hours (16?)
 
apple tested battery life with the i5, and performance with i7. There's your answer right there. :)
 
Freakyshiat said:
apple tested battery life with the i5, and performance with i7. There's your answer right there. :)
Click to expand...

I know that and I'm trying to find out the difference on battery impact on i7 vs i5 as I have a 11" i7 in order and I'm planning to change it to i5 if the battery life will suffer with the more powerful processor (plus heat and faster fan start times)
 
curtoise said:
I know that and I'm trying to find out the difference on battery impact on i7 vs i5 as I have a 11" i7 in order and I'm planning to change it to i5 if the battery life will suffer with the more powerful processor (plus heat and faster fan start times)
Click to expand...

^ Me too. :)


Willing to pay the extra $ , if it means little to no, battery loss & heat difference.
 
In a 11", which is a smaller chassis, I personally myself would go with the i5. With an i7, fans would come on quicker I bet, temp would be a little higher and the 9 hour battery life would suffer also.

I would go with the i7 in the 13 inch chassis, as there is more room inside, and can dissipate a little better before turning on the fan. I dont care about the price difference, even if the i7 was the same price I would still go with the i5 as I would want a cooler running, longer lasting (battery) system as opposed to one that does something 5 percent quicker once/twice a week at the expense of heat/battery life.
 
Freakyshiat said:
In a 11", which is a smaller chassis, I personally myself would go with the i5. With an i7, fans would come on quicker I bet, temp would be a little higher and the 9 hour battery life would suffer also.

I would go with the i7 in the 13 inch chassis, as there is more room inside, and can dissipate a little better before turning on the fan. I dont care about the price difference, even if the i7 was the same price I would still go with the i5 as I would want a cooler running, longer lasting (battery) system as opposed to one that does something 5 percent quicker once/twice a week at the expense of heat/battery life.
Click to expand...

Those are also my thoughts, less chassis on the 11'' will make heat disispation worse than the 13'', the i5 will probably be a better option on the 11' Air.
 
I'm willing to know if there is difference in battery loss & heat difference. Nobody knows that?
 
ladeer said:
...
2. with vmware on running heavy windows 8 (cpu greater than 100%; i am not sure how is that possible, but that's what it says on my top), i was getting about 7-8 hrs. for a reference, i only got about 2.5 hrs on my 15 inch 2011 mbp 256 ssd 16gb memory w/ vmware running windows 8.
...
5. i did a migration assistant migration from my mbp15 to my new mba using direct thunderbolt connection (start the machine while pressing T). to my surprise, the transfer was super slow. it took 22 minutes to complete the process of migrating 183 gb of files. that's only an average of 138mb/s! maybe the migration assistant did more than moving file. maybe it was setting/configuring my lib/app folders for the new hardware? anyway, it was way slower than i expected. (the transfer was from a sansumg 830 256gb ssd to ePIC mba 512gb ssd)
Click to expand...
2. Some applications record CPU per core, so if you had 2 cores running maxed out, that would be 200% CPU usage.
5.It does do configuration as it is copying files.

dmpep said:
I'm willing to know if there is difference in battery loss & heat difference. Nobody knows that?
Click to expand...
According to the Intel website, both processors have the same power draw and thermal dissipation. I don't think getting an i7 will cause anyone any issues.
 
I worked with a friend yesterday that bought the base 11" MBA (i5/4GB/128GB) we left in the morning with his MBA fully charged and by the end of the day (around 4PM he stopped working) he had about 10% left - so that's around 7 hours of dev work (he builds flash and iOS games)...not too shabby.
 
Problem:
Freakyshiat said:
laptop mag says 'fan can get noisy when playing games'. So you can bet the fan turning on more for the i7, even more so in the smaller 11 inch chassis. Just something to consider..
Click to expand...

Solution:
Turn up your volume *really loud*. Can't hear the fans anymore? Problem solved...:D
 
I bought 2 of the 2013 13 inch MBAs with i7 to replace 2010 MBAs in my company. As there is no outward change in appearance, the extra long battery life was the driving factor. However, with one we are getting only 6 hours and the other probably around 8. This is at 75% brightness and this is just responding to e-mails and using MS Word; no video or intensive graphics. This is inconsistent with the early reviews I am seeing on the Internet where reviewers are gushing about 12 to 14 hour battery life. Did we get our computers from a batch of lemons??
 
Freakyshiat said:
In a 11", which is a smaller chassis, I personally myself would go with the i5. With an i7, fans would come on quicker I bet, temp would be a little higher and the 9 hour battery life would suffer also.

I would go with the i7 in the 13 inch chassis, as there is more room inside, and can dissipate a little better before turning on the fan. I dont care about the price difference, even if the i7 was the same price I would still go with the i5 as I would want a cooler running, longer lasting (battery) system as opposed to one that does something 5 percent quicker once/twice a week at the expense of heat/battery life.
Click to expand...

Thank you .this makes sense to me and i think i will get the i5 in 11 inches :)
 
I've got an i7, and doing basic browsing / web dev work, I'm getting about 6-7 hours. Not entirely thrilled, as my rMBP easily got 5.5 doing the same work.
 
If you are buying an Air for mobility, then the i5 seems like a no-brainer choice. Battery life is key driver for the 2013 models so its logic to take the choice that maximizes it as much as possible.
 
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