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Macbook Air battery life?

G

geekygeek

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
149
1
I recently exchanged for an new air after my air's fan went all hot and running high. With my first air, I installed flash and clicktoflash (flash blocker). Before I turned my air on, the first thing I was advised to do was to leave it charging for about 10 hours or more. I did about 7 hours (I couldn't wait anymore) When I got my new air, I only did like 3 hours. I also installed flash and the flash blocker, but I seem to get lower battery life. Is this just me or did it really decrease my battery life? :confused:

edit: with my old air, I also would drain the battery to like 10% then charge it, instead of leaving the charger on. I am also doing this with my new air and I let it run down to 2%. The new and old are both 13" 128gb i5.
 
LiOn batteries should be on the charger when not in use for maximum life. I am not positive but IMO running to 2% everytime is not good.
 
ZipZap said:
LiOn batteries should be on the charger when not in use for maximum life. I am not positive but IMO running to 2% everytime is not good.
Click to expand...

People say that you should run down your battery at least 1 time a month, so I would just do that every time I charge it. They also say that while it is charging turn it off.
 
geekygeek said:
People say that you should run down your battery at least 1 time a month, so I would just do that every time I charge it. They also say that while it is charging turn it off.
Click to expand...

The "people" say that you should run down your battery all the way and then let it recharge, because it's a good thing to calibrate your battery every once in a while. It's definitely not necessary to do it every time, if you are next to the magsafe charge, why not let it power your laptop? It will prevent the number of cycles on your battery.
 
11"? It's not uncommon though, you may get 4~5 hours if you leave brightness like 50% or below, BT off, and clicktoflash.

For comparison, I'm getting anywhere between 7~8 hours off my 2010 13" ultimate *with cookbook*, and my friend reported that his 2011 13" ultimate is running about 1 hours less for similar tasks (light browsing) and no flash.

I'd say both are not that much of a difference considering how much more CPU power you get out of i7. Kinda regret not calling Apple earlier and bug them to exchange mine for 2011 13" ultimate, since I'm into my 4th week of my MBA 2010 13" ultimate I doubt they'll do any exchange. Ah well, stick with it and move on, will upgrade maybe in 2012 or so.:eek:
 
I don't think there is any magic formula for battery usage and extending battery life. I'm just going to enjoy the laptop without worrying about it: I'll plug it in when I am near a power source, and I'll use the battery when I'm not. The only thing I'll avoid is running down the battery completely.
 
jackyyeow said:
11"? It's not uncommon though, you may get 4~5 hours if you leave brightness like 50% or below, BT off, and clicktoflash.
Click to expand...

Also, if you are running Time Machine, make sure to set it to only backup when you are plugged in to a power source. My battery was running down quickly, only to find out my Time Machine was backing up (via the network).
 
leftywamumonkey said:
The "people" say that you should run down your battery all the way and then let it recharge, because it's a good thing to calibrate your battery every once in a while. It's definitely not necessary to do it every time, if you are next to the magsafe charge, why not let it power your laptop? It will prevent the number of cycles on your battery.
Click to expand...

It does? So you can have a battery last forever if you never let it run down? Also, those people were Apple Care people, but keep going.

jackyyeow said:
11"? It's not uncommon though, you may get 4~5 hours if you leave brightness like 50% or below, BT off, and clicktoflash.

For comparison, I'm getting anywhere between 7~8 hours off my 2010 13" ultimate *with cookbook*, and my friend reported that his 2011 13" ultimate is running about 1 hours less for similar tasks (light browsing) and no flash.

I'd say both are not that much of a difference considering how much more CPU power you get out of i7. Kinda regret not calling Apple earlier and bug them to exchange mine for 2011 13" ultimate, since I'm into my 4th week of my MBA 2010 13" ultimate I doubt they'll do any exchange. Ah well, stick with it and move on, will upgrade maybe in 2012 or so.:eek:
Click to expand...

I always usually turn my brightness at 1. I did that and I let the computer settle for 5 minutes and the battery life was like 7:28,I turned my brightness to half way and let it settle for another 5 minutes, 8:00? How is that possible. That happened to my old air.

Travisimo said:
Also, if you are running Time Machine, make sure to set it to only backup when you are plugged in to a power source. My battery was running down quickly, only to find out my Time Machine was backing up (via the network).
Click to expand...
I'm not using Time Machine, should I? I don't have any important files, in fact, I don't have any files.
 
geekygeek said:
I'm not using Time Machine, should I? I don't have any important files, in fact, I don't have any files.
Click to expand...

I use Time Machine on all of my Macs. I guess if you have nothing important on your computer, then it's not as beneficial for you. On the other hand, it would allow you to restore very easily if something does happen to your OS or hard drive. It's also useful for going back in time if something was changed accidentally. I have one large hard drive on my network for Time Machine that is used for 3 different Macs.

And since Time Machine is automatic, it'll start backing up even when you are on battery power if you let it. That's why I mentioned in my comment to make sure to turn this feature off so it only backs up when you are plugged in.
 
I have read that leaving a battery charging at all times will reduce its life. That certainly seems to be the case with MBP batteries.

These days I disconnect my MBP when it is off and fully charged.
 
Mojo1 said:
I have read that leaving a battery charging at all times will reduce its life. That certainly seems to be the case with MBP batteries.

These days I disconnect my MBP when it is off and fully charged.
Click to expand...

Then should I let it run down and charge it.
 
I've kept my '08 aluminum macbook mostly on the charger with the exception of running it down completely around once a month and a handful of partial cycles each month when I throw it in my bag and take it with me for something.

The Coconut Battery app shows a battery age of 31 months, a cycle count of 285 and a capacity of 93%. I haven't done a full cycle in a while and this model was from before Apple debuted their new 1000 cycle batteries.
 
Stetrain said:
I've kept my '08 aluminum macbook mostly on the charger with the exception of running it down completely around once a month and a handful of partial cycles each month when I throw it in my bag and take it with me for something.

The Coconut Battery app shows a battery age of 31 months, a cycle count of 285 and a capacity of 93%. I haven't done a full cycle in a while and this model was from before Apple debuted their new 1000 cycle batteries.
Click to expand...

I only have 6 load charges and it says 98% (seems like a lot) the design capacity was 6700mAh but now it can only store 6603mAh. Seems like I am losing a lot of battery life :eek:. I guess charging it for the first time for like 10 hours is the best choice for any new electronic. I didn't buy apple care, just the standard stuff that is included. They offer 1 battery replacement within a year right? Can I ask them to do it like now or tomorrow or something?
 
I have an I5 13 inches and max i do is 3-4 hours

I'm sad about it but guess there's nothing i can do
 
geekygeek said:
Then should I let it run down and charge it.
Click to expand...

But not every time.

Batteries are rated by the number of charge cycles they can provide. A typical number might be between 300 and 500. That means that the battery can be run all the way down (100% to 0%) about 300 times before it will need to be replaced.

If you only run the battery down from 100% to 50%, and then recharge it, that counts as half a charge cycle.

The reason you should occasionally let the battery discharge all the way down is both so you can exercise the battery a bit and also so that the Mac can determine exactly how to calibrate the battery meter for most accurate results.

But if you always run it from 100% to empty, then you're using up charge cycles and shortening the battery life. You'd use up your battery in about a year.

Having said that, always leaving it charged and never discharging it, isn't good for the battery either, but I don't know enough about the chemistry to know why.

The best is to keep it plugged in most of the time, but occasionally take it off the charger and let it run down some. For most people, this is how you use a laptop anyway, so no special attention is really needed.
 
notjustjay said:
But not every time.

Batteries are rated by the number of charge cycles they can provide. A typical number might be between 300 and 500. That means that the battery can be run all the way down (100% to 0%) about 300 times before it will need to be replaced.

If you only run the battery down from 100% to 50%, and then recharge it, that counts as half a charge cycle.

The reason you should occasionally let the battery discharge all the way down is both so you can exercise the battery a bit and also so that the Mac can determine exactly how to calibrate the battery meter for most accurate results.

But if you always run it from 100% to empty, then you're using up charge cycles and shortening the battery life. You'd use up your battery in about a year.

Having said that, always leaving it charged and never discharging it, isn't good for the battery either, but I don't know enough about the chemistry to know why.

The best is to keep it plugged in most of the time, but occasionally take it off the charger and let it run down some. For most people, this is how you use a laptop anyway, so no special attention is really needed.
Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure of the definition of the word run down. What I do is just surf the web and do stuff, is your definition of run down like just letting it sit there and running it down?
 
geekygeek said:
Did you charge it fully when you got it in the first place?
Click to expand...

Yes I did the Full charge use it to 0 let it rest for 5h closed. Recharge to full wait for 2h then use normal.

Like today i just recharged it to 100% after 1min30 it went from 100% to 99 and it said 5h now after another 2 minutes its down to 97 and it says 3h
 
geekygeek said:
I'm not exactly sure of the definition of the word run down. What I do is just surf the web and do stuff, is your definition of run down like just letting it sit there and running it down?
Click to expand...

"Run down" in my post means any time you're using the laptop on battery power.

Just use the laptop like you normally would. Use it on battery power for as long as it needs to be on battery, then plug it back into the wall when you get a chance. If it was down to 75% battery when you plug it back in, that's fine. What you should NOT do is say "well, it's only at 75%, I shouldn't plug it in again until it hits closer to 0%".
 
Thanks GGJstudios. Can I play with my MacBook Air while it is charging?
 
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