Battery life with new MacBook Air 2013

I just ordered a new MacBook Air with the i7. My guess (it is only a guess) is that the upgraded processor's effect on battery life will be very small when compared to, say, the difference between Mountain Lion and Mavericks (since Mavericks will be more focused on conserving battery).

I've read two early reviews of the new i5 MacBook Air, and the reviewers are excited about the extended battery life, and seeing it work today.

I bought 2 of the 2013 13 inch MBAs with i7 to replace 2010 MBAs in my company. As there is no outward change in appearance, the extra long battery life was the driving factor. However, with one we are getting only 6 hours and the other probably around 8. This is at 75% brightness and this is just responding to e-mails and using MS Word; no video or intensive graphics. This is inconsistent with the early reviews I am seeing on the Internet where reviewers are gushing about 12 to 14 hour battery life. Did we get our computers from a batch of lemons??

I'm noticing a rapid drop in battery as well. I have the 2013 13" core i7 with 8GB of ram.

I'm sitting here with 50% screen brightness, no backlight for the keys and bluetooth off. I'm simply sitting here browsing the internet and watching my battery percentage fall.

I'm at 83% and I feel that it will probably last 5 more hours... at most.

I'm going to test it tomorrow at work and see how long that goes.

The battery percentage indicator seems to act much like an automobile fuel tank. In the fuel tank case, it takes a very long time to go from, say, full to three-quarters when compared to the time it takes to go from half to one-quarter. In the MacBook Air's case, it takes a long time to go from 100% to 83%, probably a lot longer than to go from 50% to 33%.

I've had my MBA 2013, 8gb, 128gb since June 26 and I've only managed 6 hours or so. Tried draining battery and recharging, but no increase in battery life. Bluetooth is turned off, screen brightness is approx. 50%, keyboard light is dim. I do notice that the battery meter shows time remaining going up and down by a couple of minutes when I view it. Anyone else have this issue, or does anyone have an explanation?

I am having the exact same problem. I got a brand new June 2013 Macbook Air with all of the hardware upgrades available. I get around 5 hours of battery life tops with minimal use, after 1 week of "leveling out", no improvement. I called apple and they sent me a new Macbook Air. The new one has the same exact problem. I find this absolutely ridiculous. When i go to bestbuy and unplug their display macbook air, the display says 10 hours of battery.

I did a test, on both of my macbooks, The original one they sent, as well as the replacement. After one hour of running no programs at all, the original was at 85% and the replacement was at 75%. That is not okay....i don't know what to do at this point. I guess I just have to accept that I'm only going to get 5 hours of battery life. It doesn't make sense why the one at Best Buy clearly gets 10 hours. I feel cheated and confused.

Regarding your last post, it's as if you're in a hospital wondering why there are so many sick folks around. Folks come to the Support Community because they are seeking help.

As I posted above, I ordered and have now received my i7 2013 MacBook Air. I'm very pleased with the battery life. Right now, I've used it pretty extensively for one hour (viewing a brief movie, searching on the internet, emails, using Time Machine, etc.). My battery has dropped 4%. It was fully charged when I started, and now shows over 10 hours remaining.

I have no complaints 🙂

Ok.

I have the same concern.

Go to Genius bar.

Clearly, my MacBook Air has no problems.

Perhaps they are sick computers.

Ok.

What have you got here?

Sick computers.

Stephen Schulte1

I have heard and read so many good things about the new Air, but this post is revealing a lot of negatives.

Im getting almost 14 hours out of the 13" Air now with Mavericks, found the same on another borrow macbook Air.

As I have often said this board is an emergency room for those with problems, ....you stick your head in here youll become a hypochondriac about your computer.

Ive looked into the Lamborghini forum from time to time and seen the the same,...so this means nothing.

😊

i agree with what your saying but i do know that i have asked the people at my local apple store and best buy and both have said that if you upgrade to the 1.7GHz processor you will see a decrease in battery life do to the fact that the new processor is clocking in at a faster speed than the base level processor. My new Macbook air has the 1.7GHz processor, and 8Gb ram and at almost full brightness (both screen and backlight ) i get around 8.5hrs but like people in this forum i thought that my better was messed up but then i realized that with the brightness so high no wonder my battery wasn't lasting that long so now i run my screen brightness at around 30%ish and hardly any backlight with the keyboard and now i am seeing around 10hrs+ with my battery..... my suggestion for the people that are seeing a big decrease in battery life is to TURN DOWN YOUR BRIGHTNESS its such a simple battery saving technique but hardly anyone does it.