Holy crap look at the MBA 13 with Mavericks battery life

[gus6464]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/18/#battery-benchmarks

That is some insane power optimization in an OS.

 

[TuxDave]

lol, I guess I need to get upgrading then!

 

[Super56K]

An OS update added as much battery life as my Windows laptop gets on average. That's insane.

 

[saratoga172]

Well damn I was waiting for the MBP upgrade for added battery life. Saw that it was close (3 hours less) than the MBA until this! Wow! Its just got more of what I want and a nicer screen. Hmm...An MBA would accomplish what I want methinks...

 

[chin311]

damn! i'm excited to see what happens next time i recharge mine. I was @ 80% last night, downloaded & installed Mavericks and tinkered for a few hours...now I'm @ 48% and shows almost 6 hours remaining.

 

[mmntech]

Mine didn't change on my Late 2008 MacBook. Battery isn't worn out since I don't use it that much. Maybe needs to be recalibrated though.

 

[JAG87]

Gained about an hour on average on my 2012 13" rMBP, which is rated for 7h. I've seen it as high as 9:36h without touching it and everything minimized. So clearly most of the 9h battery life the new rMBP gets is due to Mavericks, not Haswell.

 

[gus6464]

Gained about an hour on average on my 2012 13" rMBP, which is rated for 7h. I've seen it as high as 9:36h without touching it and everything minimized. So clearly most of the 9h battery life the new rMBP gets is due to Mavericks, not Haswell.

Maybe the 9h battery on the new one is underestimating and it really hits more like 10-11 which is all I need.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Wow - that's insane. At this point it really feels like anyone who buys a non-Apple laptop is just being willful.

 

[Tweak155]

Wow - that's insane. At this point it really feels like anyone who buys a non-Apple laptop is just being willful.

Huh? Battery isn't the only consideration for everyone.

My 2012 MBA went up maybe 90 mins. I'll take it.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Huh? Battery isn't the only consideration for everyone.

My 2012 MBA went up maybe 90 mins. I'll take it.

As far as I can see, Apple laptops are the best on the market in essentially every relevant attribute. The build quality is stellar, they are light and very robust, their battery life is excellent, the screens are amazing, the touchpad is unrivaled by any other laptop pointing device, and the resale is worlds better than any other manufacturer. I am a longtime PC guy and didn't buy my first Mac until about 8 years ago. Now I can't imagine using a non-Apple laptop anytime in the foreseeable future. I am typing this on a nearly 4 1/2-year old 13" MBP, which still looks and works great. I have never had another laptop last meaningfully beyond 2 years.

 

[ControlD]

As far as I can see, Apple laptops are the best on the market in essentially every relevant attribute. The build quality is stellar, they are light and very robust, their battery life is excellent, the screens are amazing, the touchpad is unrivaled by any other laptop pointing device, and the resale is worlds better than any other manufacturer. I am a longtime PC guy and didn't buy my first Mac until about 8 years ago. Now I can't imagine using a non-Apple laptop anytime in the foreseeable future. I am typing this on a nearly 4 1/2-year old 13" MBP, which still looks and works great. I have never had another laptop last meaningfully beyond 2 years.

I agree that Apple laptops probably have the best build quality out there. If you plan on doing even any light gaming on your lap however, a bargain basement Windows laptop is a better choice. One button just doesn't cut it. That's part of the reason I rarely use my MBP, nice as it may be.

 

[Tweak155]

As far as I can see, Apple laptops are the best on the market in essentially every relevant attribute. The build quality is stellar, they are light and very robust, their battery life is excellent, the screens are amazing, the touchpad is unrivaled by any other laptop pointing device, and the resale is worlds better than any other manufacturer. I am a longtime PC guy and didn't buy my first Mac until about 8 years ago. Now I can't imagine using a non-Apple laptop anytime in the foreseeable future. I am typing this on a nearly 4 1/2-year old 13" MBP, which still looks and works great. I have never had another laptop last meaningfully beyond 2 years.

That's still one point of view. What about gamers? Not to mention prices. Sure a $400 dell PC wont hold a candle to an Apple laptop, but it probably does the job for the majority of consumers out there.

If you limit the scope to people paying $X dollars (regardless of which laptop) then sure, you could have a strong argument.

 

[Tweak155]

I agree that Apple laptops probably have the best build quality out there. If you plan on doing even any light gaming on your lap however, a bargain basement Windows laptop is a better choice. One button just doesn't cut it. That's part of the reason I rarely use my MBP, nice as it may be.

Yeah I have a 13" MBA and a 14" Alienware that I got a sweet deal on. Covers all my needs as far as laptops.

I use the MBA more though... I waste more time web surfing than anything else lol.

 

[TheStu]

That's still one point of view. What about gamers? Not to mention prices. Sure a $400 dell PC wont hold a candle to an Apple laptop, but it probably does the job for the majority of consumers out there.

If you limit the scope to people paying $X dollars (regardless of which laptop) then sure, you could have a strong argument.

I saw a stat a year or two ago that said that Apple owned something like 90% of the $1000+ retail market. If you were in the market for a system and had that much money to throw down, 9 times out of 10, you were buying a Mac. Read into that what you will, but it's germane to the conversation.

 

[ControlD]

I saw a stat a year or two ago that said that Apple owed something like 90% of the $1000+ retail market. If you were in the market for a system and had that much money to throw down, 9 times out of 10, you were buying a Mac. Read into that what you will, but it's germane to the conversation.

I can believe that. If someone came up to me and said they were looking to spend over $1000 on a laptop I would probably tell them to look at a Mac first honestly, assuming gaming on the lap wasn't a top priority. Once you get in that price range there isn't much that competes well with the Macs IMO.

 

[freegeeks]

As far as I can see, Apple laptops are the best on the market in essentially every relevant attribute. The build quality is stellar, they are light and very robust, their battery life is excellent, the screens are amazing, the touchpad is unrivaled by any other laptop pointing device, and the resale is worlds better than any other manufacturer. I am a longtime PC guy and didn't buy my first Mac until about 8 years ago. Now I can't imagine using a non-Apple laptop anytime in the foreseeable future. I am typing this on a nearly 4 1/2-year old 13" MBP, which still looks and works great. I have never had another laptop last meaningfully beyond 2 years.

amen, I'm not your typical Apple fanboy but there is no way in hell that I'm ever buying a Wintendo laptop again. They always fell apart after 2 years, became dog slow needing a total wintdndo reinstall. I installed mavericks on my 3 year old 15 inch macbook pro and I'm happy with it. I'm sure I can get another 2 years out of this laptop, no way I could do this with a wintendo machine. At work I have to use a windows laptop and I'm reminded every day what kind of horseshit windows is

 

[TheStu]

amen, I'm not your typical Apple fanboy but there is no way in hell that I'm ever buying a Wintendo laptop again. They always fell apart after 2 years, became dog slow needing a total wintdndo reinstall. I installed mavericks on my 3 year old 15 inch macbook pro and I'm happy with it. I'm sure I can get another 2 years out of this laptop, no way I could do this with a wintendo machine. At work I have to use a windows laptop and I'm reminded every day what kind of horseshit windows is

What the heck is a Wintendo??? Has Wintel fallen out of favor?

 

[Tweak155]

amen, I'm not your typical Apple fanboy but there is no way in hell that I'm ever buying a Wintendo laptop again. They always fell apart after 2 years, became dog slow needing a total wintdndo reinstall. I installed mavericks on my 3 year old 15 inch macbook pro and I'm happy with it. I'm sure I can get another 2 years out of this laptop, no way I could do this with a wintendo machine. At work I have to use a windows laptop and I'm reminded every day what kind of horseshit windows is

Sounds like you don't know how to take care of your stuff.

 

[ControlD]

amen, I'm not your typical Apple fanboy but there is no way in hell that I'm ever buying a Wintendo laptop again. They always fell apart after 2 years, became dog slow needing a total wintdndo reinstall. I installed mavericks on my 3 year old 15 inch macbook pro and I'm happy with it. I'm sure I can get another 2 years out of this laptop, no way I could do this with a wintendo machine. At work I have to use a windows laptop and I'm reminded every day what kind of horseshit windows is

This and the rest of your post are at odds with each other :whiste:

 

[Tweak155]

I saw a stat a year or two ago that said that Apple owned something like 90% of the $1000+ retail market. If you were in the market for a system and had that much money to throw down, 9 times out of 10, you were buying a Mac. Read into that what you will, but it's germane to the conversation.

I believe it. Outside of gaming it's hard to break $1k on a Windows PC. You have to really be trying, like buying a Sony.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

That's still one point of view. What about gamers? Not to mention prices. Sure a $400 dell PC wont hold a candle to an Apple laptop, but it probably does the job for the majority of consumers out there.

If you limit the scope to people paying $X dollars (regardless of which laptop) then sure, you could have a strong argument.

It is true I am not a gamer, but I think the idea of being a "laptop gamer" is something of a contradiction in terms and makes little sense for the overwhelming majority of people.

Yes, you can buy a $400 Dell or Toshiba that will fall apart in 2 years of regular use, feel cheap and ergonomically lacking during its entire service life, and be worth virtually nothing at the end. I consider that pennywise but pound foolish. In fairness, I use my laptops a TON, so I really care about ergonomics, and the difference in cost isn't something I really care about, but from my perspective the price delta is more than made up for by the enhanced user experience and the resale. I totally understand that there is a market for cheap computers, but to me they are a bad investment unless you really can't afford something better.

 

[ControlD]

It is true I am not a gamer, but I think the idea of being a "laptop gamer" is something of a contradiction in terms and makes little sense for the overwhelming majority of people.

That's probably because you aren't a gamer. I am seeing gaming on laptops more as the norm these days (especially for the younger crowd) than the other way around. Games like Minecraft don't need a big desktop PC to play. Also since there is a social aspect to many such games, being able to take your laptop and game on the go is rather common these days as well.

I would say a good number of people out there only have a laptop. Very few of my friends have towers sitting around anymore.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

That's probably because you aren't a gamer. I am seeing gaming on laptops more as the norm these days (especially for the younger crowd) than the other way around. Games like Minecraft don't need a big desktop PC to play. Also since there is a social aspect to many such games, being able to take your laptop and game on the go is rather common these days as well.

I would say a good number of people out there only have a laptop. Very few of my friends have towers sitting around anymore.

Fair enough, but obviously a Mac with integrated graphics can run things like Minecraft just fine. The market share of people looking to run Crysis 3 or something similarly taxing on a laptop is pretty small. (That isn't to say there's anything wrong with doing that, of course.)

 

[ControlD]

Fair enough, but obviously a Mac with integrated graphics can run things like Minecraft just fine. The market share of people looking to run Crysis 3 or something similarly taxing on a laptop is pretty small. (That isn't to say there's anything wrong with doing that, of course.)

I think we are in agreement. My only point (going back a few posts and well of topic by now) is that while a MBP with integrated graphics can run Minecraft without breaking a sweat, the first time you try doing it with a one button trackpad is also probably the last time you will try it.