Battery Life

[honestone]

There are a couple of discussions going on about this topic, although such threads do not address this issue in general. So, I thought I'd start such a thread, hoping to get useful feedback from folks and some of our resident experts (Cory, where are you?).

As most folks know, I have a mid 2013 13" MacBook Air, and my only "claim" to useful battery life is due to videos I've watched, using VLC, on long flights (will be taking another one to London in March, and thus can test this out again). I am wondering if there is a "list" of items that contribute to battery life, either detrimental or helpful. A couple I can think of are:

1. Using SSDs, versus HDDs.

2. Having the processing done off one's internal drive (myself, when I watch such videos, they are being accessed, via USB 3.0, off my external drive. Was HDD previously, but will be SSD on our subsequent trips).

3. How much free space is on the drive.

4. How "clean" is the drive. That is, maybe the less clutter, the better?

5. For HDDs, defragmentation and optimization.

6. "Intensity" of the apps one is using. For example, would all day internet browsing be that much more "intense" than one watching 9 hours of video?

I suspect that is a partial list. Would like to see what others have to say.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Good points honestone.

Apple's battery life claims are always listed as Up to XX hours of battery life. This is in no way a guarantee...simply an estimate, depending on a certain set of testing parameters, which they list in the footnotes of each product's listing on their website. Over the years, the real-world figures are usually less, in the neighborhood of 50-75% of their estimate, depending on usage and settings. Many third-party companies have performed their own testing using the Apple parameters, and have gotten similar results on average. Of course, like anything else, there is a "bell curve" of results, which is true for most anything with regards to marketing claims.

Things that definitely increase battery life:
-Using SSD vs traditional HDD
-Lower brightness on display and keyboard backlight
-Less Wi-Fi and Bluetooth usage
-Proper Energy Saver settings
-No external peripherals - especially bus-powered hard drives
-Ejecting any CD/DVD discs when not in use

Apple: About Mac notebook batteries

I can totally understand people's frustration when they do not get the suggested battery life, but you can increase your Mac's battery life by simply adjusting your usage pattern and settings. Don't let the marketing speak totally undermine your enjoyment of a great product.

C