Macbook Air 2011 - What standby times do you get?

[Z3man]

hi all,

i recently purchased a 2011 macbook air 13" and don't seem to be getting anywhere near the advertised 30 day standby time.

i left mine in standby last night for 10 hours and this morning it had used 4%, that roughly works out to about 10% per day, which means a total of 10 days standby, which is nowhere near the advertised 30 days. i have nothing connected to it or haven't downloaded anything on to it yet, it is just as it was out of the box. so i was just wondering what everyone else is getting.


cheers

 

[titatom]

I haven't tried it or even thought about it since I was always happy with the battery usage in standby...unconsciously...

I imagine the battery has to be "broken in" a bit. Take it through a few full cycles and your usage might get better. It's like the first few hundred miles on a new motorcycle

 

[GGJstudios]

i recently purchased a 2011 macbook air 13" and don't seem to be getting anywhere near the advertised 30 day standby time.

It's possible it didn't stay in standby or sleep mode the whole time.

You may find some useful ideas here:

Mac OS X: Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode
Determine why your Mac wakes up from sleep
One sleep problem caused by printers - solved

 

[iKIKO]

im also interested in this, because my 11 doesn't seem to have the 30 days either. more likely like my past 13 pro. about 5% over night on stand by

 

[Z3man]

It's possible it didn't stay in standby or sleep mode the whole time.

You may find some useful ideas here:

Mac OS X: Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode
Determine why your Mac wakes up from sleep
One sleep problem caused by printers - solved

thanks but i don't think there will be anything stopping it staying in standby mode, it is still running on out of the box settings, unless its not going in to standby mode properly. it will be interesting to here what other people are getting.

 

[tmoerel]

hi all,

i recently purchased a 2011 macbook air 13" and don't seem to be getting anywhere near the advertised 30 day standby time.

i left mine in standby last night for 10 hours and this morning it had used 4%, that roughly works out to about 10% per day, which means a total of 10 days standby, which is nowhere near the advertised 30 days. i have nothing connected to it or haven't downloaded anything on to it yet, it is just as it was out of the box. so i was just wondering what everyone else is getting.

cheers

Actually....you cannot calculate it like this. Once the air is in standy mode it will keep the memory powered. After a few hours in standy mode though it switches to deep sleep.
In deep sleep it saves the content of RAM to the SSD and then turns off. At this point it uses hardly any power. When restarting the machine it first reloads the RAM from the SSD and then starts. This can take a few seconds.

In short, if you leave your MBA in standy for longer periods, it hardly uses any battery at all.

 

[GGJstudios]

Once the air is in standy mode it will keep the memory powered. After a few hours in standy mode though it switches to deep sleep.
In deep sleep it saves the content of RAM to the SSD and then turns off. At this point it uses hardly any power. When restarting the machine it first reloads the RAM from the SSD and then starts. This can take a few seconds.

You have the concept right, but the terminology wrong. It keeps the RAM powered in sleep mode, not standby mode. The RAM is powered off in standby mode. What you're calling standby mode is sleep mode. What you're calling "deep sleep" is standby mode.

MacBook Air (Late 2010) and later: About standby mode

 

[Z3man]

well things are getting better, i have just left it is standby for 18 hours and it only used about 2.8%. so by my reckoning that will be very close to the 30 days advertised. why it used more the night before i am not sure, the only difference was last night i started with a fuller battery (81%) and the night before (31%), probably makes no difference though, maybe its just the battery bedding in as someone mentioned earlier.

 

[Kupe]

I imagine the battery has to be "broken in" a bit. Take it through a few full cycles and your usage might get better. It's like the first few hundred miles on a new motorcycle

probably makes no difference though, maybe its just the battery bedding in as someone mentioned earlier.

Except that's not how Lithium-based batteries work. This is a characteristic of NiCad and NiMH batteries. Check out Battery University for the facts.

 

[titatom]

Check out Battery University for the facts.

Thanks for the info !

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks for the info !

Be careful about getting info from Battery University, as the information there is not specific to Apple's implementation of battery and charging technology. While much of the information is the same, there are differences. Apple is a more reliable source of information about the battery technology employed in your Mac, and that is the source for the information in the following link. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[KPOM]

well things are getting better, i have just left it is standby for 18 hours and it only used about 2.8%. so by my reckoning that will be very close to the 30 days advertised. why it used more the night before i am not sure, the only difference was last night i started with a fuller battery (81%) and the night before (31%), probably makes no difference though, maybe its just the battery bedding in as someone mentioned earlier.

It takes about 70 minutes for it to drop into "deep sleep" mode, during which time it will lose some power. Note that if you have anything plugged into a USB or Thunderbolt port, it will not drop into deep sleep.

 

[LordVic]

well, My charger broke 2 weeks ago.

I closed it at about 60% when i realized it wasn't charging anymore

I got the new charger today. I opened up the MBA without it pluigged in and I still had 15% charge left.

While i dont know if this equates to the 30 days standby time. I am pretty impressed by it

 

[Z3man]

i have sent my air back now due to giving me eye strain, but i did carry on doing more tests and they did range between 25 and 30 days so not bad at all.

i have just ordered the base 13" pro with an SSD fitted, i will test that as well when i get it, i think it might last even longer with having a bigger battery. its not a major issue to me but i do like to make sure products do what they are advertised to do.

----------

well, My charger broke 2 weeks ago.

I closed it at about 60% when i realized it wasn't charging anymore

I got the new charger today. I opened up the MBA without it pluigged in and I still had 15% charge left.

While i dont know if this equates to the 30 days standby time. I am pretty impressed by it

by me reckoning that works out roughly to about 30 days.

 

[DDustiNN]

Mine usually drops about 1-2% after about 12 hours or so. I guess that's pretty close.