I had the Sony Vaio Z. I wanted it to work out but it went back after it failed dismally to impress me. It replaced an 2008 MBP. It was a clean install if windows, with office and adobe on it. Nothing else. Battery was bordering pathetic. And the quality felt a bit EeePc after getting over the Carbon style body. My one benchmarked on 3dmark06 at 2100.. Which was pathetic. I know it's not what everything was about, but I paid $4k for that, most I've ever spent on a laptop and to be honest was as exciting to own as an old Acer I had.
Apple is one of the few companies that deliver battery life they have promised. If yours is not delivering something is wrong. It's *** nothing to do with the extra ram or 0.1 or 0.3 extra ghz.
It should be 7 hours connected to wifi doing some safari. Minimum.
Mine does about 7-10 doing a lot more.
I'm not including gaming with it. UTS normal stuff I mentioned in the above post.
If your getting less than 6 return it no questions.
Number one thing I do with all my iPhones and MacBooks is run them dead then fully charge.. Do this a couple of times a month and you'll see a massive difference.
Ruin batteries?? Definitely not. I never have. My iphone 4 was great, 4s, 5, and all my iPads and MacBooks.
This to me is undisputed.