Real-life runtime on the 11-inch?

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Ronco

[H]ard|Gawd
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Even the previous one, so I can gauge how much I can eke out of it.

All too often on boards you see the fanboi runtimes (and this happens only with Apple, I notice) like "I get 8 hours out of my Air easy!". Most Apple-addled objectively-challenged reviewers also seem to measure by configuring their system and tests to get maximum runtime as opposed to trying to reproduce how you would actually run a notebook. And the odd thing is, they tend to run *that* test for every other notebook bar Apple.

Mutterings aside, extrapolating with not-so-closet fanboi Anand's reviews vs my real-life runtimes of various models over the years, I get a best-case 3.75 hours - the same as I got with the first-gen Air.

(we'll discount the fact that the current 11"'s apparently get slightly less life for now - I want to stick with established owners).

What sorts of actual, real-life runtimes in everyday use are most of you non-fanboi owners (if they exist...?) seeing?
 
Ronco said:
All too often on boards you see the fanboi runtimes (and this happens only with Apple, I notice)
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42 hours :rolleyes:

The runtimes Apple state are what you get, often times better because they are somewhat conservative.
 
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valve1138 said:
42 hours :rolleyes:

The runtimes Apple state are what you get, often times better because they are somewhat conservative.
Click to expand...

shrug, what he said.

I don't have an 11" MBA, I have a 15" MBP, so I can't answer your direct question; but my "normal" runtimes, with the display at about 30-40%, are over 6 hours, which is just under the 7 hours Apple advertises, but I'm usually using the processor more then Apple really does for their tests.

If I'm pushing it, I can (and have) gotten 9+ hours out of the thing, but you wanted normal operating life, doing normal things. And for that, the answer for me is 6+ hours.

Apple's battery tests used to be more like my "pushing it" (wireless off, display set to minimum+1, bluetooth off, etc), but nowadays their tests are more real to life. Wireless on, display at 30-40%, surfing the web, etc.

These values are running OSX I should point out. Win7 doesn't have anywhere near the power-savings optimizations that OSX has, and running Win7, 2-4 hours are more what is reported.
 
I had the October 2010 11" Air, and I got about 5 hours or so with the brightness set to what I'd estimate to be around 75% or so, and surfing sites with a little YouTube tossed into the mix. When I was just surfing a few sites, doing e-mail, etc. at around 50% brightness, I'd get close to 6.
 
I get what Apple says on my MBP, if it's light duty (as they do). If I have my VM running and other stuff I can get half that. So I have a "long battery" app list. I replace things like Tweetdeck that use AIR with other native apps as AIR likes to sit at 10% - 15% which hurts battery. Running my VM cuts it by 20% right off the top...etc. Flash video KILLS it fast. But yes, I can take my 15" MBP and get 7 hours at a conference where I'm doing web, email, Twitter, and notes.
 
Burke Hamblin said:
I had the October 2010 11" Air, and I got about 5 hours or so with the brightness set to what I'd estimate to be around 75% or so, and surfing sites with a little YouTube tossed into the mix. When I was just surfing a few sites, doing e-mail, etc. at around 50% brightness, I'd get close to 6.
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Yeap. I was actually shocked at how long the thing lasted while gaming on an Airplane. It was several hours. I got bored of playing HL2 before the battery died.
 
How are you guys getting this kind of life out of your MBP? My '09 13" barely gets 3 hours out of it, and that's if I am only running Outlook and Chrome (with Flash disabled). If I have Outlook, Excel and Word, we are looking at barely above 2 hours.
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
shrug, what he said.

I don't have an 11" MBA, I have a 15" MBP, so I can't answer your direct question; but my "normal" runtimes, with the display at about 30-40%, are over 6 hours, which is just under the 7 hours Apple advertises, but I'm usually using the processor more then Apple really does for their tests.

If I'm pushing it, I can (and have) gotten 9+ hours out of the thing, but you wanted normal operating life, doing normal things. And for that, the answer for me is 6+ hours.

Apple's battery tests used to be more like my "pushing it" (wireless off, display set to minimum+1, bluetooth off, etc), but nowadays their tests are more real to life. Wireless on, display at 30-40%, surfing the web, etc.

These values are running OSX I should point out. Win7 doesn't have anywhere near the power-savings optimizations that OSX has, and running Win7, 2-4 hours are more what is reported.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Since I have current CBP's I know what I can eke out of them. I can also extrapolate for the current 13-inch Air the runtime since I thought I'd finally rid myself of the 13-inch Air - which I barely tolerated through Rev.A, B, C & V2 Rev.A - a few months ago.

Things have changed however and I need to return to a truly mobile OS X machine again, and now I'm specifically interested in the 11-inch, in terms of whether I'm better off with that in terms of utility over re-buying 13-inchers. In terms of other things which failed me regarding the 13-inch Air that's something I likely have to experience to see if the 11-inch suffers from the same or more problems, but runtime was something I wanted to get a feel of before I bought the first one for testing.
 
myriad said:
How are you guys getting this kind of life out of your MBP? My '09 13" barely gets 3 hours out of it, and that's if I am only running Outlook and Chrome (with Flash disabled). If I have Outlook, Excel and Word, we are looking at barely above 2 hours.
Click to expand...

I just turn off what I don't need. Lower the brightness, etc. Is your battery use worn out, you might need a new one.
 
Burke Hamblin said:
I had the October 2010 11" Air, and I got about 5 hours or so with the brightness set to what I'd estimate to be around 75% or so, and surfing sites with a little YouTube tossed into the mix. When I was just surfing a few sites, doing e-mail, etc. at around 50% brightness, I'd get close to 6.
Click to expand...

This matches what I get with the same model.
 
I think all the above info gives me enough to extrapolate my probable runtime in a real-life, realistic working scenario - which is still looking like I'll need a HyperMac to eke 6 hours, which is the target time (well, the HM will take me well beyond 6 as a cert, but to get there I'll most likely need its assistance). However, the all-up weight will still be about 1.5Kgs so it may not be as bad as it could be.

I think what I'll have to do after all is to pick up a 13-inch as well and test which I can actually get usable runtime with along with lowest all-up weight. Thanks for the comments.
 
Girlfriend has the October '10 MBA, and she gets almost 5:45 from a full charge. That's basically just browsing Facebook though.
 
myriad said:
How are you guys getting this kind of life out of your MBP? My '09 13" barely gets 3 hours out of it, and that's if I am only running Outlook and Chrome (with Flash disabled). If I have Outlook, Excel and Word, we are looking at barely above 2 hours.
Click to expand...

Something is wrong with your battery, I routinely saw 6:30 on my 2009 13" and as high as 8:30.
 
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