So actual battery life for the new Air isn't anything like the advertised specs, huh?

[pickaxe]

This is true. I have the 13/i7/512.8GB 2013 model and it gets a solid 8-10 hours doing light work.

Run the "Heaven" benchmark to stress that GPU or run the CPU full blast nd you'll get 3 hours max.

An iPad, iPhone, all the old laptops are all the same way however. This isn't unexpected; you only get long battery life if you're not hitting the CPU hard.

The Haswell tech essentially makes it easier for the CPU to downclock and shut down when doing minimal work. Ivy Bridge and earlier chips aren't as effective at this. It's in the idle periods (which can be as short as a few seconds here and there but can really add up) where Haswell really shines. At full blast it isn't any more power efficient than the older model CPUs.

All of that said, it's possible to do some serious work for a few hours like video editing (not rendering out... that will kill battery) and maybe play some video and write emails and surf and still get a solid 6-7 hours out of it, which is mighty impressive for such a workload.

I also tested just basic web surfing with about 30 minutes of hard GPU benchmarks and still got 9 hours.

Thank you very much for this detailed report.

As an aside, I've been reading that Intel would most likely not release Broadwell in 2014, so the significant performance boost with Haswell-like battery gains are not coming next year. This is good - it means that the 2013 is most likely not becoming obsolete a year from now.

 

[shenan1982]

I go with that Dr. Phil.

Otherwise we maybe looking at a 13 years old who bases his/her purchase decision on hear-say.

The doctor always says, Apple = good.

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Thank you very much for this detailed report.

As an aside, I've been reading that Intel would most likely not release Broadwell in 2014, so the significant performance boost with Haswell-like battery gains are not coming next year. This is good - it means that the 2013 is most likely not becoming obsolete a year from now.

There you go again.

If you don't think there will be higher processor speeds this fall or next spring, even if in the same Haswell family, you're kidding yourself. Any laptop you buy will be obsolete in 6 months, period. That's the reality of technology. Either buy today or keep waiting for the next best thing which will be followed by the next next big thing, lol

 

[pickaxe]

There you go again.

If you don't think there will be higher processor speeds this fall or next spring, even if in the same Haswell family, you're kidding yourself. Any laptop you buy will be obsolete in 6 months, period. That's the reality of technology. Either buy today or keep waiting for the next best thing which will be followed by the next next big thing, lol

Not sure what you are referring to. Of course I'll be able to find laptops with better performance. First of all, Apple is no where near the only manufacturer able to get 12 hours out of an ultraportable with Haswell ULV, it was just one of the first to start selling such ultraportables. Second, Iris 5200 available right now is MUCH stronger than the HD 5000 (of course it's also more power-hungry).

But the real updates I was referring to were the next die shrink aka Broadwell, which promise a serious jump in performance. These AREN'T coming any time soon. Not even a year from now. Which is why it is easier to settle with Haswell for now.

Also, I already bought the 2013 13", and I don't refresh laptops more than once every 4 years, so let's hope an Air redesign isn't coming next year, yes?

 

[2IS]

Broadwell is a "tick" in intel's cycle, which usually means a die shrink and marginal improvement in performance with a bigger focus placed on power consumption. Think Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge. The process node matures and their next CPU (skylake) is a completely new micro-architecture with more significant gains.

 

[happyslayer]

I do mostly writing (using Scrivener) and web surfing and I get the advertised battery time on my new 11" Air. I am running the beta of Mavericks (10.9 b2) and I have had a couple weird issues with sleeping though.

I have shut the lid of the laptop in the morning, but it in my sleeve then my bag, several hours later I pull it out and the battery is near dead--less than 10 percent. This has happened twice in the last week and a half. It has also done just fine, most every day, losing only a few percent in the same time. Not sure what's going on with that. But for now, I'll blame it on the beta. Also, I am going to start just shutting it down. It only takes 10 seconds to go from off to using it.

Anyway, other than those two weird incidents, I am getting the advertised battery time - 8-9 hours.