Only six hours of battery life on my 2013 MacBook Air 13"

My Macbook Air 13" (bought in April 2014) is giving serious trouble with battery. It was working fine for one month. But now, I don't even get 5 hrs. At 75% it shows 4 hrs remaining. Interestingly, after a full recharge the battery level says - 17 hrs remaining. At 71 % it has shown 3 hrs 30 mins where as at 70% it reads 4 hrs remaining. I don't understand what is happening.

Because estimates change, and you are looking at estimates.

Have you tested how long it actually lasts yet?

Sorry for bumping this a month later. I just stumbled across this thread. I got the 13" MacBook Air at launch and have used it since. There was a period for about 3 weeks where I didn't use it much and kept it plugged in. At school (where I was from August '13 to May '14) the remaining time said 12 hours, but now when I charge it to 100%, it only say 8:30 remaining, which is a big drop.

Here is my info from the EtreCheck app.

EtreCheck version: 1.9.12 (48)

Report generated July 18, 2014 at 9:34:54 PM EDT

Hardware Information:

MacBook Air (Verified)

MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,2

1 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 2 cores

8 GB RAM

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 5000 - VRAM: (null)

Color LCD 1440 x 900

System Software:

OS X 10.9.4 (13E28) - Uptime: 3 days 8:32:55

Disk Information:

APPLE SSD SM0512F disk0 : (500.28 GB)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.42 GB (352.02 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

USB Information:

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchAfaTech (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchCinergy450 (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchCinergyXS (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchEmpia (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.elgato.driver.DontMatchVoyager (1.1) Support

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecDriverCore (5.2.4 - SDK 10.4) Support

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_4 (5.2.4 - SDK 10.4) Support

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.PowSecLeafDriver_10_5 (5.2.4 - SDK 10.5) Support

[not loaded] com.seagate.driver.SeagateDriveIcons (5.2.4 - SDK 10.4) Support

Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist Support

[running] com.mcafee.ssm.Eupdate.plist Support

[loaded] com.mcafee.ssm.ScanManager.plist Support

[running] com.mcafee.virusscan.fmpd.plist Support

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist Support

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist Support

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist Support

Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support

[running] com.mcafee.menulet.plist Support

[running] com.mcafee.reporter.plist Support

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist Support

[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist Support

User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist Support

[failed] com.mlbam.nexdef.core.NexdefLoader.plist Support

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper

Mobile Mouse Server

Dropbox

SpeechSynthesisServer

SensorX

Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support

Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9

Flash Player: Version: 14.0.0.145 - SDK 10.6 Support

LogMeIn: Version: 1.0.961 - SDK 10.7 Support

o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

LogMeInSafari32: Version: 1.0.961 - SDK 10.7 Support

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.1 - SDK 10.6 Support

googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.4.2.18903 Support

SlingPlayer: Version: (null) - SDK 10.8 Support

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 55 Check version

Safari Extensions:

feedly: Version: 16.0.521

AdBlock: Version: 2.7.7

Keeper - Password and Data Vault: Version: 7.5.31

Audio Plug-ins:

BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9

AirPlay: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.9

AppleAVBAudio: Version: 203.2 - SDK 10.9

iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

iTunes Plug-ins:

Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9

3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player Support

Java Support

Time Machine:

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: ON

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 465.12 GB Disk used: 137.28 GB

Destinations:

Seagate Backup Plus Drive [Local] (Last used)

Total size: 3

Total number of backups: 74

Oldest backup: 2013-06-17 18:03:24 +0000

Last backup: 2014-07-12 22:09:42 +0000

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 3 > (Disk size 465.12 GB X 3)

Time Machine details may not be accurate.

All volumes being backed up may not be listed.

Top Processes by CPU:

3% WindowServer

1% Activity Monitor

0% Dropbox

0% sysmond

0% kextunload

Top Processes by Memory:

287 MB Safari

147 MB Mail

123 MB Reeder

102 MB Finder

98 MB Messages

Virtual Memory Information:

2.68 GB Free RAM

3.17 GB Active RAM

354 MB Inactive RAM

923 MB Wired RAM

1.50 GB Page-ins

3 MB Page-outs

I read an article recently that highlighted how, when used side by side, Chrome kills battery 2-3 hours quicker than Safari:

"While reviewing the new MacBook Pro with Retina display, I ran the usual Verge battery test on Apple’s new machine. With the screen set to 65 percent brightness, it cycles through a series of websites until the laptop’s battery gives out. The native Safari made the new Retina machine look good: 13 hours and 18 minutes. Google’s Chrome, on the other hand, forced the laptop to tap out at 9 hours and 45 minutes."

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/10/8381447/chrome-macbook-battery-life

- Each active program along your dock uses power - try quitting each App if you find you aren't using them.

- Set your screen brightness to the lowest comfortable setting - surprising how much of a difference this makes.

- Use full cycle charges - Wait until your Mac is below 10% then charge all the way to 100%

- "The Energy Saver pane in System Preferences has many options to help improve the battery life on your Mac notebook when idle. For instance, setting your display to sleep when idle temporarily turns off the backlight and significantly improves the battery life." - Apple.

- "Mac notebooks have a number of integrated technologies which can have a significant effect on battery power.

• Disable AirPort or Bluetooth from their menu bar icons or in System Preferences (Network and Bluetooth respectively). This will help save power.
• External USB, FireWire, ThunderBolt, SD card, and Expresscard devices added to your notebook may also draw power and should be disconnected for optimal battery performance.
• Eject any CDs or DVDs from the integrated SuperDrive (if available on your notebook) to avoid the drive spinning periodically." - Apple.

Good luck.

Hey Ralph how many minutes go by on you MBP for every 1 percent? Thank you.

I have never even gotten six hours out of my 2014 even when I first bought it. I think all companies that make electronics lie about their battery life.

Ok so I have just brought a new MacBook Air 13in - 2015 model and have found the same in that the battery last's only about 5 hours. Not happy with this so I have build the laptop and dropped a fresh copy of the image down. I am now getting over 10 hours for the machine :-)

Hope this helps other and maybe worth giving a go