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Just got MBA 13",have few questions about it

M

Maziar

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 22, 2010
387
4
Hey guys
I finally purchased my first ever mac and I love it;however,I charged it last night and when I woke up in the morning,the battery life was showing 99%.
I did a google search and found that most people were saying it's completely normal,is that right ?
Also,when I began to work with it today,the battery indicator was kinda strange.
At fist(99% charge) it showed 6:04,then it went to 4,again to 5 and so.Each time I looked at it,it showed something different,but I managed to get around 6 hrs of battery life with display brightness set to the middle.
Will calibrating the battery take care of this problems?(or should i say bugs?)

Thanks :)
 
That is normal. The Air will discharge itself to 99% and charge back up to keep things flowing.

Calibrating isn't necessary... but go for it if it'll make you sleep better. =)

I strongly recommend you stop looking at the battery time. Use your macbook air how you want, when you want, where you want. There is no "tuning" required out of the box. After you've used it for a bit, if you think the battery isn't capable of supporting the way you use it, then you can look to make changes.

The only caveat to the above is not to leave it plugged in 24/7/365. Use the battery every so often.
 
The battery will calibrate itself naturally and if you follow apples monthly run down instructions.

However, I've had a few different MacBooks over last 6 years and with this MBA 13 2011 the battery estimate will move up and down a lot depending upon the cpu activity at the time. Id ignore it and just use it. Normal non intensive cpu use will get you between 4.5-6 hours in my experience. Maybe 5-5.5 avg - def not the advertised 7 hours in my experience unless I've turned off the wifi and I'm writing in a text document.

And the 99% is sort of normal. If inside the first year warranty period it drops near 90% then take it to Apple and they might swap it out for a new one under warranty - thats what ill be doing. Mine showed 99% charge today and using coconut batter it is at 97% of the original capacity after 3 weeks from new...

In Summary : Don't worry, just use! :)
 
Click on the battery icon and change the option to have it just show the percentage remaining. I assure you it will give you all the info you need and be less distracting.
 
I wasn't worried,just wanted to make sure everything is working fine :D
Thanks guys :)
As my first mac,I'm definitely impressed.(I've been a Windows owner for the last 13 years and I'm loving lion)
Will probably do a video review soon.
Oh and BTW,these are the things I have installed:

iWorks
Office for mac
PS CS5
VLC
Handbrake
Unarchiver
iStat Mneus
Skype
SMC fan control
Twitter

Any other recommended software ? :D
Oh and,I always hated Safari on Windows but on OS X,its a whole new experience
 
It is indicating fine.
But you can calibrate it by:
Plug out your AC and using until your battery dies.
Close the lid and leave it without charging it for more than 5 hours.
After 5 hours, plug the Magsafe and let it charge.
(While its charging you can use your mac:) )
 
If you're not using bluetooth, you can turn it off and increase your time between charges from what I've read. My MBA's bluetooth antenna was on by default.
 
Maziar said:
I wasn't worried,just wanted to make sure everything is working fine :D
Thanks guys :)
As my first mac,I'm definitely impressed.(I've been a Windows owner for the last 13 years and I'm loving lion)
Will probably do a video review soon.
Oh and BTW,these are the things I have installed:

iWorks
Office for mac
PS CS5
VLC
Handbrake
Unarchiver
iStat Mneus
Skype
SMC fan control
Twitter

Any other recommended software ? :D
Oh and,I always hated Safari on Windows but on OS X,its a whole new experience
Click to expand...
Anyone ?
 
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