Macbook Air 5,2 dies in 5-3 hours of minor use?

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Level 1

5 points

Macbook Air 5,2 dies in 5-3 hours of minor use?

I just bought my Macbook AIr Mid 2012, 13 inch, i5, 128 gb, 4gb ram, and i've had it for about 4-5 days now, i bought it refurbished, i now noticed that the battery life is suppose to be 7 hours, i'll get from 2-5, i do gaming, i play Team Fortress 2 and Minecraft, i know that when i play these games i get 2-3 hours, but when im just listen to music and broswing the web i get 3-5 which isnt normal, i know for a fact that this computer is suppose to do atleast 6-7 hours, I beileve its Mountain Lion, i've read that Mountain Lion, has battery problems with the air and the pro, i've also read that the battery should be charged to 100% when i got it, but i didnt, it was at 70% when i got it and i didnt charge it till the updates, im going to discharge the battery to 0% and leave it over night to charge, i've read that this will fix the problem, i've also reset the SMC. Has anyone had past, expirence?

Note: When i got my air in the mail, it was freezing cold. Dont know if that'll make a difference.

Thanks, JP🙂

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Air dying fast

Posted on Jan 14, 2013 2:01 PM

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Answer 1

Jon P D

Level 4

1,522 points

Jan 14, 2013 2:09 PM in response to jpsulisz

i think this is normal

the 7 hours battery life was probably recorded with screen brightness turned down, bluetooth off, keyboard lighting off, no periphels attached, no sound etc

When i turn off all my programs and just have the web open i get about 4-5 hours too

i cant answer the 70% question but maybe because it's a refurb, they discharged the battery because according to their own guides it's best to store a computer at around half when not going to be used for a while.

again not sure about the freezing cold issue but shouldnt be a problem, if you notice any damage i would think the delivery company would be responsible

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Answer 2

jpsulisz Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 14, 2013 2:10 PM in response to Jon P D

Yes, some people say the battery life tested was on the lowest possible settings on the air, i have my brghtness to like 60% and the backlit keyboard on automatic.

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Answer 3

Dartiesdad

Level 4

1,112 points

Jan 14, 2013 2:12 PM in response to jpsulisz

Hi JP

My experience with my 2012 11" MBA is that I get 5-6 hours when just working on the web or MS office, music and Airplay Mirroring reduce that - dependent on what I'm doing. I'm not a gamerrso I can't comment.

I don't think your data is too far out of line but a good idea to monitor once you are able to get a full charge. Mine charges to 100% on Mountain Lion.

I doubt the freezing cold had much long term effect (how cold was it??). It's good practise to let cold devices warm up at room temperature before powering them up.

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Answer 4

jpsulisz Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 14, 2013 2:15 PM in response to Dartiesdad

I live in Chicago, and when the air came, it was around 20F, so it did turn on when it came, but it was cold.

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Answer 5

Jan 14, 2013 2:47 PM in response to jpsulisz

I thought 70 percent battery life on apple new products out of box was standard. I have read this and it has been my experience.

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Answer 6

Dartiesdad

Level 4

1,112 points

Jan 14, 2013 5:50 PM in response to jpsulisz

JP

Here are some operating guidelines for the MBA. I know when the new toy comes it's hard to resist!

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Answer 7

jpsulisz Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 14, 2013 6:34 PM in response to Dartiesdad

Ok, I went From 3 PM all the way till 8:30 PM on a 95% battery life, i went through most of the day listening to pandora while broswing the internet, at 7 i had started downloading the Diablo 3 Starters Free Edition, apparently when i started i was at 40%, i probably couldve last till 10 PM if i wanted to, so i installed Diablo in 30 minutes without the charger, so i played it for 1 hour at 17% left, i played till 8:30 till the Macbook Died, it resumed diablo 3 but apparently the reserve battery life pop-up didnt pop up for me. So i am quite happy with the battery life of the tiny macbook air. I would've had about 6-7 hours of battery life with the web broswing, but still 5:30, then playing diablo 3 on high setting with native resolution is still good.

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Answer 8

Dartiesdad

Level 4

1,112 points

Jan 14, 2013 6:49 PM in response to jpsulisz

You better stop posting or Apple will be using you for testimonials!

Nice to hear it's working as advertised

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