What can I really epect of my refurbished mac air mid 2013 in terms of batery life?

I bought a refurbished mac air mid 2013 model about a month and a half ago. I only bought a refurbished one because a new one was not available right away and I was going to be out of the states for a while. I was in the process of moving at the time so although I migrated the data I did not really use it much. Once I did i noticed that a half an hour of browsing would reduce the battery life by 50%. I have been working with a very helpful advisor from apple for some time and we are not getting anywhere. I have had the computer replaced. I have migrated the data in numerous ways, sharing a network, connecting via ethernet with an adaptor that would work with the ports on the mac air. Same result. The apple advisor than suggested that I transfer data, documents, applications etc via sharing. That has been really time consuming and confusing. I haven’t even gotten to photos and music. Yet when I checked the battery drain I had the same problem. If anyone knows whether I just have purchased a complete piece of crap model, I will follow my instinct which is no to use it as a frisbee and toss it off the deck. Obviously I would consider other options which might be a little less expensive. Susan

Something is really wrong. I am assuming you bought your refurb from Apple? What version of OS X are you using?

When you open Activity Monitor (in Utilities) what is running? When you go to About this Mac ->system report -> power - under Health Information, what is the cycle count and condition?

I am also not understanding why migration or moving data is such a huge problem. If it is folders of documents, music, and photos, why not move them to an external drive, do a fresh install of OS X and then move your folders back.

I own a 13" MB Air Mid-2013. I consistently get 12 hours of batter life. I am using right now and have been for the last couple of hours. I have over 80% left.

If you still have apple care left I would be wanting answers from apple.

Lisa

I'm trying to understand your post. You indicated that your refurbished 2013 MacBook Air battery drains off to 50% after 30 minutes of use? Was that when the battery was fully charged? You also indicate that the computer was replaced and the replacement computer is having the same problem? Which computer did Apple send you as a replacement?

smithbrown said:

Once I did i noticed that a half an hour of browsing would reduce the battery life by 50%.

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If this is correct...this certainly doesn't sound right. I wouldnt even expect ths sprt of battery drain from watching a 2 hour video. And certainly not from 30 minutes of internet surfing.

There's got to be multiple high demend processes going on to cause this. Or some sort of hardware defect.

- Nick

Question was you did buy it from Apple? Take it back.

Thanks for your reply. I mispoke. It actually drains about 50 percent in an hour, 25% in a half hour. Still awful, I know. And yes that is from 100% I have OSX 10.10.3 installed on both the computer I am migrating the data from and the new mac air. An Apple senior adviser has been doing his best to help me. We have gone over the activity monitor and found nothing remiss. The same with the system report which shows battery normal and cycles 10.
The adviser believes it is a software rather than a hardware problem but after much time spent working together agreed to swap it out for me even though I opened the case after 17 days rather than the limit of 14 days. Since the new (new refurbished) one does the same thing I am inclined to agree with him. I came here sort of hoping to find out that this was the best I could hope for so I could stop putting so much time into it. The main reason that I made this purchase is because I have power drain problems on my old (2009) mac book. So I think I am pulling over something that causing the problem on the new computer.

Unless you have "gremlins" eating away at your batteries, I agree it's likely some software you're running that's causing it. The best way to trouble shoot that problem is to reinstall OS X and run the operating system bare for awhile. In other words, do not install any software, drivers, or hardware. Maybe not an exciting or productive way to compute but it may lead you to find out what's causing the battery drain. You might also try removing the machine from the net to see if that makes a difference.

I did try running it with nothing installed but the operating system. Just opened safari or firefox (I forget which) and played a radio channel since I didn't have time that day to sit at the desk. I was a bit better but not much. I will try your suggestion of taking it off the net. Thank you. Susan

smithbrown said:

It actually drains about 50 percent in an hour, 25% in a half hour. Still awful, I know. And yes that is from 100%

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You have to be very very aware of what is being done on the computer. The same exact things that effect battery life on a laptop computer 10 years ago…still effect a 2015 notebook/laptop computer (these things are not new).

Things like:

- bluetooth on/off
- WiFi on/off
- number of apps open at the same time
- display brightness
- number of tabs open in an internet browser
- etc. etc.

One of these things that many folks overlook is…the number of tabs open in an internet browser. Some of those tabs may have internet sites active on them that are very demanding. Some websites are much more demanding than others. All of the flashy…glitzy…banners & videos that auto-run (and repeat) on many webpages will definitely require more computing resources…and DEFINITELY drain the battery much faster.

smithbrown said:

...but after much time spent working together agreed to swap it out for me even though I opened the case after 17 days rather than the limit of 14 days.

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The 14 day limit is for returns (get your money back). Repairs & exchanges are covered for 12 months (or 36 months with extended Applecare).

smithbrown said:

Since the new (new refurbished) one does the same thing I am inclined to agree with him.

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Yes…more than likely a software thing & not a hardware thing. And I suspect the "software thing" is user induced. Be very careful what you do on this computer when on battery power (stuff I mentioned above)…and I bet battery life will increase (hours & minutes on a single charge).

- Nick

Thanks for the advice. I am guilty of leaving multiple tabs open.and multiple windows open. Since I dislike videos I keep the volume off but I suppose the video's are still just running endlessly. I am sure I can get some improvement by closing tabs but not enough to make up for being able to completely drain it in less than three hours, The drain speeds up once I drop blow about 50 percent. I do keep the display brightness down and blue tooth off. It's so frustrating. Susan

smithbrown said:

I am guilty of leaving multiple tabs open.and multiple windows open.

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Having multiple tabs open is ok. It just depends what exact webpages are on those open tabs.

smithbrown said:

I am sure I can get some improvement by closing tabs but not enough to make up for being able to completely drain it in less than three hours,

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Unless you've done extensive testing…I don't think you can come to this conclusion so quickly.

Videos running on a computer are a serious energy drain. If multiple tabs are open on the internet bowser…and if video's, video commercials, flashing banners, etc. are running endlessly on these "tabbed" webpages (webpages that you're not viewing). Then these can be a serious energy drain.

And of course this is just one aspect of energy use on a portable computer (but it can be a big one).

If you REALLY want to test things. Only have one tab/webpage open at one time (the webpage you are currently working with or viewing). And if you walk away from the computer…don't leave that webpage "active" if it's got lots of video & flashy stuff on it.

And of course be aware of the brightness level of the display…and other apps that are also open that could be using a lot of resources.

- Nick

Well, Now I've gotten myself in even more trouble. Migrating data and applications in bits and pieces did not help my battery drain so I decided to erase it and migrate again from my older macbook. I thought I remembered how to do that as I have gone through the migration several times already. Bur when I restarted the air I got the folder with the flashing question mark. I than opened in restore mode but just got the option of reinstalling osx over the internet. That is not practical because I am in the Virgin Islands and the internet is slow. When I started this I was in the states. Do you know if I have to have the operating system installed before I get the search light that takes me to migration assistant? Thanks for any advice.