The 2011 MacBook Air (11 & 13-inch): Thoroughly Reviewed
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 28, 2011 3:25 AM EST- Posted in
- Apple
- Mac
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- MacBook Air
- Laptops
Windows 7 Battery Life
We've proven time and time again that workloads with lots of idle time see better battery life under OS X than Windows. It's not surprising to see lower numbers for the Air under Windows, but for boot camp users this data is very useful.
I turned to our standard Internet Battery Life test from our PC notebook reviews to test the new MBAs:
The result is reasonable but nothing spectacular. For the most part the results track with battery capacity. At only 50Wh the 13-inch MBA has a hard time competing with the bigger notebooks with larger batteries. And at 35Wh the 11-inch MacBook Air doesn't stand a chance.
In absolute numbers both systems deliver over 4 hours of web browsing on a single charge, with the 13 lasting over 5.6 hours. The 13-inch Air lasts 40% longer than the 11 thanks to its larger battery.
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OCedHrt - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
35W is maximum draw I think. On average you don't use that much, and on idle you save even less. My Z, as an entire system, draws 22W on average during browsing.darwinosx - Saturday, July 30, 2011 - link
If you had actually read the review or knew anything about the Sony Z you would know that this is a different ultra low voltage i5 processor that was just released. You would also know that Sony's are higher priced, poorly made, little service and support, and run Windows.OCedHrt - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
I would know that my Z runs fast, plays my games, carries around just as light as an Air, is built to last, never needed support, and cost me less. And people still have their 3 gen old Z's running core duos going strong.The Z does not want a ULV processor. ULV is only good if you want to increase your battery life at the cost of performance. The Sony Z does not lose to Air in battery life at all. Just because something just came out doesn't necessarily make it ideal. Would there be a market for the new Z with ULV? Maybe, and it will then kill the Air in battery life and probably cost even less.
KPOM - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
As usual, a nice and thorough review. Thanks for the comparison to the i7, as well.Apple did a nice job with this one. They have created a mainstream "ultra book" months before the others come out with their blessed-by-Intel versions. It isn't as powerful as the Vaio X, but is more reasonably priced. It beats the relatively new Samsung Series 9 (which still relies on an i3 and less powerful graphics) while maintaining similar pricing. The i7 available in the 128GB 11" is a good deal at $1349. I opted for the 256GB 11" and got the Samsung (though the Toshiba would have been fine - I had one in my 2010 MacBook Air).
OCedHrt - Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - link
I hope you mean the Vaio Z. The X was amazing but it was a paper weight.iwod - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
The next gen of tech, Haswell, PCI-E 4.0, Thunderbolt 2.0, Faster SSD will be perfect fit for Macbook Air.lokiju - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
I wonder if Sony's Air challengers external GPU would work with this if you could get the physical ports adapted to fit...A external GPU would probably be more than it's worth for me but still a cool concept.
mschira - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
That last sentence made me think. Why not integrate the external graphic card into the external display?That would be neat.
M.
wicko - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
I think I would still prefer an external GPU kit or something. This way you still have choice in GPU and in monitor, including existing ones.tipoo - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link
I'd prefer a separate box for the GPU so you don't have to toss the display when its outdated. With thunderbolt you could potentially connect the Air to the display, then daisychain the display to the GPU.