Battery performance usually 3hours

[hyungsup]

I've got the new macbook air 11" i5 version.
I'm getting under 3 hours with the full charge.
3.5hrs if I lower the brightness.
I had the backlit keyboard turned off.
Apple advertised 5 hours battery life.
Didn't really care.
My brother's gf got a macbook air.
She's getting 5 hours....

The first photo is with medium brightness.
The 2nd photo is with max brightness.
Is this normal for you guys?

Cheers!

 

[applewins]

In addition it depends on what you're doing. Try to not have open any task-intensive programs like iMovie or even worse, multiple programs open at one time.

If you set the brightness on like 40-50%, turn the backlit keyboard off and do light web browsing or note taking you should get like 4-5 hours.

When I'm in my bed with the MBA on my legs, turned off the light in my room I can set the brightness to like 30%. In this case I get +- 5-6 hours.

Keep in mind that the time on your MBA is just a suggestion based on your tasks and settings your working with, the only thing which is reliable is the time you really get. In this case you have no other option than using a clock to see how much time you get.


But indeed, if you put the brightness on like 70%, turn the backlit keyboard on and do task intensive work, the battery life will drop on like 3 hours.

 

[hyungsup]

But indeed, if you put the brightness on like 70%, turn the backlit keyboard on and do task intensive work, the battery life will drop on like 3 hours.

So if you've got no cpu intensive work done, iMovie; garageband; iPhoto deleted, backlit keyboard turned off and brightness is on about 50% and still getting around 3 hours battery is abnormal?

Cheers!

 

[applewins]

in this case, yes I think so. Maybe the battery life will improve after some cycles ? Try to calibrate your battery once again.

If the battery life doesn't improve at all, you'd better go to a store or call a Service Hotline from Apple to ask/check if your battery doesn't have any production mistakes.

3 hours with your settings sounds very strange to me.

 

[jsolares]

But are you actually just getting 3hrs or are you relying on what the battery indicator in OSX tells you?

 

[DieterRams]

Keep in mind that the time on your MBA is just a suggestion based on your tasks and settings your working with, the only thing which is reliable is the time you really get. In this case you have no other option than using a clock to see how much time you get.


But indeed, if you put the brightness on like 70%, turn the backlit keyboard on and do task intensive work, the battery life will drop on like 3 hours.

But are you actually just getting 3hrs or are you relying on what the battery indicator in OSX tells you?

Yea I would do a test using a timer/clock while using it in different scenarios of intensive tasks and light tasks from full charge rather than rely solely on the OS X battery meter to know for sure. Would that be possible? In other words, at a minimum, two tests: one run-down from 100% to 0% while running/working on intensive tasks (maybe Photoshop, compiling code, flash videos, etc) and another run-down from 100% to 0% while doing light tasks (maybe a few web pages, some music, word processing)

 

[bbhegedus]

I seem to be getting similar battery life as you, same machine it sounds like. I don't really do intensive tasks though! Just some web browsing with some music turned on in the background. Most people have said that barely affects battery life and my battery indicator in OS X Lion is proof of the music barely affecting the battery life.

My battery isn't what I want it to be at all, but I'm happy if I get at least 4 hours. Maybe it's just the type of user I am, but I even have certain plugins that block flash ads and block plugins from automatically playing.

 

[Abstract]

Get a watch, and run your battery from 100% --> 0%.

Then tell us how long it lasted.