Watt usage on new MBA 13" - Need your help

[jackyyeow]

Greets to all!

I've decided to start this thread to help me decide if I should return my 3 weeks old 2010 MBA for a 2011 MBA.

Since battery life is my top priority, can you guys with 13" i5 or i7 post your battery usage during light use, with or without AirPort, using CoconutBattery?

I just post my result, not a properly observed result but I check the watt usage occasionally to see how much power the machine is using:

With AirPort doing light surfing MR, no flash, safari, few tabs, 6 bars brightness:
5.1~5.2 watt idle, up to 7~8watt when loading a page, and will drop to about 6 watt, then idle at 5.x watt again.

Without Airport, just basic iTunes playing:
4.1 watt idle, and I think it didn't went pass 5 watt with just music playing going on.


That'll help me greatly on the decision. 2.13GHz C2D CPU power is plenty and I really like the fact that it runs cool even under load.

Oh and I have Coolbook running all the time, lowest voltage on all clock speed.

Thanks!

 

[jackyyeow]

Anyone can give me a help?

 

[Krevnik]

My 11" is due in today, and the power draw is supposed to be roughly similar between the 11/13. I can take a look.

I'd expect the power draw to be in the same ballpark though. A little higher on the new models perhaps.

 

[jackyyeow]

Thanks Krevnik, that'll be a great help. It's getting more and more tempting to get the i7 since there's a post about using handbrake and CPU hovers around 75C instead of toasty 90C+ like some other i7 owners.

If the battery usage is similar, I'm sold and try to return my 2010 MBA asap.

 

[Krevnik]

So I've been able to play with the 11" a little bit with Coconut Battery running in the background. I tried to recreate the conditions of your test as best I could:

11.6", 1.6Ghz i5, 4G / 256GB

Idle, 6 bars brightness, WiFi on: 4.8-5W
Browsing MR: ~7.2W

So, the i5 is going to be roughly in the same ballpark. Maybe a bit less or more depending on exact usage (for all I know, the i5's HyperThreading and TurboBoost could screw this test up a bit).

I did do a fresh reinstall of Lion before getting these results though. I was seeing ~7W idle and 10-11W when browsing before, and I'm not sure why I got those results now.

Edit: If you are thinking about the 13" or the i7, realize that the larger screen will draw more power, and the i7 will draw more power. Not a huge amount, but the numbers will be a tad higher than mine. Probably in the same range you are seeing with your current MBA. Honestly, with how much faster the i5 feels over the C2D MBAs I've played with, I'd pay a few minutes of battery to get better perf.

 

[jackyyeow]

Thanks Krevnik, exactly what I wanted to hear and now I'm totally convinced! Off to give apple a call...Hope everything will work alright, returning goods isn't a common practice in where I live, but I do purchased through Apple online store so I'm sort of dealing directly with Apple rather than premium reseller.

Wish me luck.