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tstafford

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 13, 2022
989
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Folks,

I'm contemplating biting the bullet and buying a refurb M2 MBA w/ 16 GB RAM. I have a Studio, MBP14 and a 2019 Intel MBA. The purpose of this machine would be to replace the MBA which I use solely for browsing, email and Messages. My intent had been to make this move when the 12" MB came out but I guess that is looking unlikely.

I'm having a bit of a hard time justifying the purchase. The machine isn't exactly what I want. I'd like something smaller but I profoundly dislike iOS (so iPad is out).

What might tip me over is battery life. What kind of real world battery life are folks getting? I would like to be able to take the MBA on a weekend trip and not have to bring a charger. I find I get about 8 hours on the MBP - far too short to travel w/o a charger.

Any other thoughts are welcomed too.

TIA.
 
I've been at work since 10 AM EST. It is now 12:30 PM. I've worked mostly steadily over that 2.5 hours with the screen brightness at 1 notch under half-way. My current battery is at 93%. I work as a developer using web technologies like React JS. I'm likely to use battery slightly faster over the next 6 hours but right now my estimate for remaining battery time is 18 hours. I usually end the day slightly under 50% battery remaining.
 
Don't even worry about battery life. It is the best battery life of any computer I've ever used. Doesn't get better than this.
Not worried about it at all. But to justify the purchase I want to know I can make at least an overnight trip or ideally a two night w/o a charger.
 
I would say the M2 Air can easily manage 20 hours of interactive use, even more with low power mode turned on. The worst I have seen is an estimated 10 hours of use with my iPhone 13 Pro plugged in and charging off the MacBook.
Apple states 18 hours.
 
I bought my M2 MBA w/ 16 GB RAM & 1 TB drive in November because I got tired of lugging my MBP to work (I'm a high school science teacher) every day (the weight started getting to my poor, weary back). I can use it for 2 full days of work without having to charge it. I really like it for what I use it for.
 
Brightness at two notches under half-way in low power mode could probably get you 20+ hours no problem. Just no charging external devices and low power interactive apps. If you don’t use anything that causes throttling you’ll be good. No video compression. No games 😬.
 
I received my BTO M2MBA 1TB/24GB/10GPU in July. Three or four times I've kept track of battery usage. The last time was in November. When it was down to 30% (from a total charge of 100%) I had 16.3 hours of screen time. I adjust the brightness manually as I need it and I don't mind cranking it up if I'm in a bright location. I usually don't charge it past 85 or 90% and I don't let it get below 30%. I'm usually not doing anything really intensive so that probably helps. I absolutely love this MacBook and it's a big step up from my 2019 13" i5 256 MBP.
 
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Welp - y'all convinced me (along with Best Buy's sale). Will be picking up a base model silver M2 MBA later today (once I erase my Intel MBA).

Few things:
  • Never dealt with BBY trade process. Thought I'd give it a try. They are selling base model M2 MBA for $999 ($789 after my trade)
  • Not sure about 8 GB RAM - but the purpose of this machine is only email, Netflix and browsing. I'm hopeful that it will be okay if I manage the simultaneous apps and tabs in Safari.
  • I figure for $790 I can't really go wrong

BBY has a 15 day return policy so I'll use the machine heavily for the next week. Big tests are does the battery give me ~15 plus hours of normal (but careful) use and is the base model able to handle my rather light needs. If the latter isn't the case it's a pretty bad indictment of the machine so I'm not terribly worried.

I'll post something in a few days comparing/contrasting it with my MBP14 and Studio.
 
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