Battery life on Macbook Air 2015

[navaira]

Sorry to revive an old(ish) thread.

I am yet to see the 13 hour battery time on my 13" 2015 Air. The absolute max I got was 10 hours. I use Chrome as my browser. I am at the moment doing a "test" – the only two apps open are Mail and Safari... OK, and Activity Monitor. After changing from Chrome to Safari expected battery life went from 7:58 to 8:58 which was interesting to see, but it's still nowhere near 13 hours. The only tab I have open in Safari is this one I am typing in.

Activity Monitor (look at Chrome usage...)

So... where's my 13 hours Apple? Coconut gives me 10 cycles, max capacity of 102%.

 

[SSD-GUY]

Sorry to revive an old(ish) thread.

I am yet to see the 13 hour battery time on my 13" 2015 Air. The absolute max I got was 10 hours. I use Chrome as my browser. I am at the moment doing a "test" – the only two apps open are Mail and Safari... OK, and Activity Monitor. After changing from Chrome to Safari expected battery life went from 7:58 to 8:58 which was interesting to see, but it's still nowhere near 13 hours. The only tab I have open in Safari is this one I am typing in.

Activity Monitor (look at Chrome usage...)

View attachment 607418

So... where's my 13 hours Apple? Coconut gives me 10 cycles, max capacity of 102%.

Firstly, the MacBook Air can get up to 12 hours of battery, not 13.

Furthermore, there are other variables besides Safari which enable the MBA to get 12 hours of battery, the biggest of which is keeping brightness at 75%, or 4 ticks from max.

Also, if you read how Apple tests their batteries, it's pretty much light browsing, the same way Anand does his battery tests on his website (anandtech).

I have a 11 MBA, and it's meant to get up to 8/9 hours. If I do light browsing, I will get around 8 hours, but the moment I start pushing it by having other apps open (Spotify, Powerpoint, word etc), I get on average around 6/7 hours of battery, which is still quite good.

 

[navaira]

My bad regarding 13 v 12.

I'm below 75%, 5 ticks from the max.

Yeah, I wonder what constitutes "light browsing". One click per five minutes?

It's not like I am complaining that 9 hours battery just isn't enough, I just can't seem to get near the advertised battery life. I thought maybe I should completely discharge and charge again, but from what I've read that's not necessary and can actually harm the battery...

 

[SSD-GUY]

My bad regarding 13 v 12.

I'm below 75%, 5 ticks from the max.

Yeah, I wonder what constitutes "light browsing". One click per five minutes?

It's not like I am complaining that 9 hours battery just isn't enough, I just can't seem to get near the advertised battery life. I thought maybe I should completely discharge and charge again, but from what I've read that's not necessary and can actually harm the battery...

Your MacBook is also relatively new, I would give it a few charge cycles to get it into shape.

Also, to actually get a 100% reading on how long your battery life is, I use this app from the App store:

Battery Logger.

It cost 99p but it's well worth it.

 

[navaira]

This looks cool! Thanks

 

[navaira]

I discharged the battery, for the first time, to 0% and charged it all the way. And now for the first time I see 11:54-12:04 expected battery life. So it does work after all.

 

[SSD-GUY]

I discharged the battery, for the first time, to 0% and charged it all the way. And now for the first time I see 11:54-12:04 expected battery life. So it does work after all.

Don't pay too much attention to the estimated time remaining readouts; it will slowly drive you insane.

Just enjoy your MacBook Air. If you're getting around 10/11 hours of normal usage then rejoice, as I think the 12 hours is through video payback.

 

[navaira]

Naah, it was just curiosity "why do I never see the 12hrs". Now I do, so my curiosity is satisfied and no felines have been killed in the process

 

[organic bond]

You can check this out, http://www.macworld.com/article/2926932/battery-life-go-all-day-with-any-apples-mac-laptops.html, and see how your machine compares to those results. I was able to reproduce the movie playback, that is 12 hours. I have a 2015 13-inch though.

 

[blut haus]

Firstly, the MacBook Air can get up to 12 hours of battery, not 13.

Furthermore, there are other variables besides Safari which enable the MBA to get 12 hours of battery, the biggest of which is keeping brightness at 75%, or 4 ticks from max.

Also, if you read how Apple tests their batteries, it's pretty much light browsing, the same way Anand does his battery tests on his website (anandtech).

I have a 11 MBA, and it's meant to get up to 8/9 hours. If I do light browsing, I will get around 8 hours, but the moment I start pushing it by having other apps open (Spotify, Powerpoint, word etc), I get on average around 6/7 hours of battery, which is still quite good.

I routinely see a solid 10 hours of life on my 2015 MBA 13 inch. Pretty epic battery.

 

[SSD-GUY]

I routinely see a solid 10 hours of life on my 2015 MBA 13 inch. Pretty epic battery.

Yes the 13 Air is a powerhouse. My 11 Air also gets quite good battery life for it's size. If I'm just watching movies I can actually get just over the 9 hours. However for normal student usage (word files, evernote, safari tabs etc) I get around 7/8 hours.

Safari is king. Any other browser destroys battery life, for no apparent gain/reason.

 

[blut haus]

Yes the 13 Air is a powerhouse. My 11 Air also gets quite good battery life for it's size. If I'm just watching movies I can actually get just over the 9 hours. However for normal student usage (word files, evernote, safari tabs etc) I get around 7/8 hours.

Safari is king. Any other browser destroys battery life, for no apparent gain/reason.

Be default I have been using Chrome, didn't even try Safari as in the past I haven't been impressed. I'll give it another go. In my experience Chrome has been quite the memory hog, though I don't know what battery impact it has in my case.

 

[navaira]

From my highly scientific tests (charging to 100% then disconnecting and reading this forum's posts and nothing else for half an hour) Safari gives estimate of 13 hours, and Chrome of 12 hours. So discharging and charging my battery gave me a few extra hours. According to Coconut my battery also fell from 104% to paltry 102% capacity

 

[Kris_A]

After about 1 week of using my air 11" 2015..
I read pdf + notes + spotify or youtube + google with earphones and about 50% screen light and zero keyboard backlight.
I could see about almost 8-9 % battery consume per one hour.
Apple made an accurate claim this time..impressive. Bravo Bravo!

 

[Melrose]

...

2) Of course you can leave it on AC power when it's fully charged. The battery will stop charging when it's full, or nearly full, so there's no difference between leaving it plugged in and unplugging it.

I use my Air as a laptop-form desktop - so it's connected most of the time, basically. It goes out and about maybe a few times a month is all - and I've never had a problem with battery life.

They're 'smart' batteries, and the OS adjusts the charge and flow depending on the status.

 

[blut haus]

I think folks overthink these modern batteries. Just use your laptop! If the battery is dead or close to dying plug it in. If it's charged enough for your usage, unplug it. Not sure why so much analysis has to go into it. The point of a machine is to make your life easier, not add an other variable of complication