How to run the Verge Battery Test

[nariza7]

So I have been reading about battery life from random reviews, and have read about the verge battery test. I am interested in running this test to check my battery. These two reviews mention that the 11 and 13 inch macbook airs lasted 10 hours 23 min and 13 hours 29 min respectively using the verge battery test with safari.

11 inch: http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/15/4523668/11-inch-macbook-air-review

13 inch: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/17/4436332/macbook-air-review-13-inch-2013

Here is a brief description of what the Verge Battery Test is like.

"The Verge Battery Test runs in any browser and thus across operating systems. With brightness set at 65 percent (unless otherwise noted), it cycles through a series of 100 websites while downloading a high resolution image every six sites."
(source: http://www.theverge.com/how-we-rate)

Does anyone know how I can simulate this test?

 

[rmastbro]

Here's an apple script that I wrote (also attached as a zip) that opens up a website switches after 30 seconds and opens another. After the 2nd 30 seconds it records a timestamp and battery level to a file on desktop and then reopens the 1st tab and repeats.

You can change these links to any webpage like youtube if you wanted to stream video.


repeat

-- Insert any URL as desired
open location "http://www.nbcnews.com"
delay 30
open location "https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/122/"
-- Set any delay to a desired value. Every 60 seconds the file Uptime log.txt will be updated
delay 30

set thePath to (path to desktop as Unicode text) & "Uptime log.txt"

set fRef to (open for access file thePath with write permission)
try
set myDate to date string of (current date)
set myTime to time string of (current date)
set myWords to myTime & " " & myDate
write myWords to fRef starting at eof

set maxCapacity to do shell script "ioreg -w0 -l | grep \"\\\"MaxCapacity\\\" =\""
set maxLevel to the last word of maxCapacity
set curCapacity to do shell script "ioreg -w0 -l | grep \"\\\"CurrentCapacity\\\" = \""
set curLevel to the last word of curCapacity
set battPct to round (100 * curLevel / maxLevel)
set output to " : Battery " & battPct & "%"
write output & return to fRef starting at eof

end try
close access fRef

end repeat

So I have been reading about battery life from random reviews, and have read about the verge battery test. I am interested in running this test to check my battery. These two reviews mention that the 11 and 13 inch macbook airs lasted 10 hours 23 min and 13 hours 29 min respectively using the verge battery test with safari.

11 inch: http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/15/4523668/11-inch-macbook-air-review

13 inch: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/17/4436332/macbook-air-review-13-inch-2013

Here is a brief description of what the Verge Battery Test is like.

"The Verge Battery Test runs in any browser and thus across operating systems. With brightness set at 65 percent (unless otherwise noted), it cycles through a series of 100 websites while downloading a high resolution image every six sites."
(source: http://www.theverge.com/how-we-rate)

Does anyone know how I can simulate this test?

 

[nariza7]

That is very cool. Is there some standard I should measure it by? As in a set situation where it should last [X] hours when the mac air 11/i7/8 is 5-6 clicks away from max brightness with keyboard brightness 0 and wifi on. That way I can tell if I have a battery drain problem or if its normal.

 

[jdechko]

Personally, I wouldn't bother trying to replicate a test like this. There are too many variables involved. Instead, install a utility like coconut battery and use it to monitor your battery level for a while. You can get a pretty good idea if things are functioning properly.

If you still want to run the test anyway, here are a few tips for maximizing the battery.

Try to stay fairly close to your WiFi Access point (10-12 ft, 2-3m) with no obstructions (walls, large appliances, etc). Further distance/ obstruction means more power to WiFi antenna which equals lower battery life.

The Flash plug-in for web content is a battery drain. Try to avoid visiting too many sites that use flash content.

 

[nariza7]

I'm just not sure what "properly" should look like. So far all I have heard about is like 7-9 hours (mainly 8 hours from the real life battery test thread) so I am trying to figure out how to achieve that with light use. I have tried rmastbro's applescript on 50% brightness, 0 keyboard brightness, sleep to "never", and screensaver off, and so far I have went from 100 to 62% in two hours. Is this considered reasonable? I only have notepad opened(to write down start time), system preferences opened to check power, applescript editor for rmastbro's script, and chrome is opened for the actual running of that script.

 

[Code.Red]

I believe Safari is much more battery efficient. From some benchmarks I've seen, using Chrome results in about an hour less of battery life. That's what The Verge used in their test.