Just a quickie to let you know — if you didn’t already — how brilliant I am.
I made an appointment at the genius bar to bring my new Macbook Air in to have the battery looked at, since I couldn’t seem to squeeze more than a couple hours out of it.
I’d googled “Macbook Air battery drain” and every other imaginable iteration of that type of string that I could think of. All I could find were these solutions:
- dim the screen
- keep open Safari windows to a minimum
- install ClickToFlash (highly recommended, btw)
None of it made any difference. In all cases, the next step was “bring to the Genuis bar.”
But while I was couchbound, babysitting Mom and Dad’s dog, Pippi who is recuperating from spine surgery (more on that later), I had a sudden brainstorm: ACTIVITY MONITOR!
Activity Monitor is the coolest little utility that comes installed on all Macs. It is helpful for seeing what applications are chewing up memory. But it also shows you what is dragging on your CPU, which equals battery use. You can find it in: Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.
Since I had copied everything over from my Macbook Pro using Migration Assistant, I knew there were things that I didn’t need. I wasn’t initially too worried about much extra crud being brought over from the Pro because it is only a year old. Plus, I’ve not had any weird problems with the Pro that I was concerned about. It is worth noting that I don’t usually use Migration Assistant when I get a new computer since I always feel that fresh installs are better. But I was under the gun to get the Macbook Air up and running quickly for my trip. I couldn’t take any chances that, “dang it! i forgot to install XYZ plug in.” In fact, come to think of it, this was my first-ever time using Migration Assistant. I have to say, it worked great and is quite easy.
But I was wrong when I thought there wasn’t a lot of junk.
I found several things I haven’t ever used on my one year old Macbook Pro, like EyeTV helper. How did that get on there?? There were, in fact, lots of “helpers.” All of these load at start up and cause some level of battery drain.
Printopia was something I installed and uninstalled at one point when I was trying to get something to print from my iphone. And yet, there it still was in the Activity Monitor on the Macbook Air?!
Anyway, here are some folders to check if you suspect similar issues:
Library/StartupItems
Library/LaunchAgents
Library/LaunchDaemons
System/Library/StartUpItems
I found and deleted:
- Printopia helper
- FlipShare helper
- EyeConnect (inc. EyeTV helper)
- ProTech6 ( installed with Nik Software and unnecessary)
- Wacom tablet driver (won’t be using with this computer
- some old Adobe CS4 version cue plist files
About 6 files deleted, and I watched in utter amazement as my battery time went from a fully charged TWO-hour status to SEVEN hours! Is that amazing or what?!
It does fluctuate, depending on the number of windows and programs I have open. But I’ve been working on the computer now for over an hour, watched a lengthy flash Bravo TV video and still have 5 hours and 30 minutes displayed.
Ahhhhh. I love solving a mystery. I also love being brilliant.
(Sorry for all you non-techy people. I just had to share this in case there are other poor souls googling futility like I was. I want to be their new hero… I’ll be back more soon with Morgan’s The Kid’s Cook Bang Bang Shrimp recipe!)
Sheila says
You are brilliant. So rewarding to discover and then fix something on your own. Who needs a genious when you are one!
admin says
I love you Sheila. … so intuitive!
kristin says
I tried to buy an Air at the apple store, but they pushed me to the macbook pro. Said the Air was for old ladies, very light weight and all. I was disappointed they said that. It was probably just an up-sell and I fell for it.
admin says
OLD LADIES?? Are you fricken KIDDING ME?
I suppose I should disclaim that I already own a MacBook Pro as my main computer. So, I probably get at least part of the idea. But having used this little guy, it’s not for geriatrics. I swear. It just needs some fur on the outside and a leash so I can take it for walks.
Cindy says
Just wanted to thank you. Helped alot. Getting much better battery life on my Mac Air. So thankful:)
admin says
so glad! I have been so very happy with my Air. Just love it. And the best part is the battery. Thanks for commenting.
Arun says
I wanted to upgrade my 2010 white macbook to new (2011) macbook air, but only thing afraid of was 2 hours battery life. This article seems promising. BTW what was your battery life when it was fresh from store ?
Jenmenke says
Hi Arun, fresh from the store I can’t really say. I did a migration right away. Didn’t pay attention. But after the migration I was lucky to get 2 hours. After I figured everything out, and if I pay close attention to what windows are open, I can get 4-5 hours out of it. I love the Air. Highly recommend it.
Todd says
Brilliant write up – thank you for the help.
Jenmenke says
thanks Todd. Glad I could help. I can’t say enough about this little computer. Good luck with yours!
Mac Fish says
I use a PC at work and because of the number of problems a PC with Windows seems to have, I decided to switch to a MacBook Air for my personal use. I seem to have trouble, however. in performing certain functions. I can’t seem to download attachments from e-mails or send any attachments such as photos with outgoing e-mails. Maybe it’s something I am not familiar with with Apple products. Also, every time I get an Adobe up-date, I follow all the on-screen instructions but it never works. Any help would be appreciated.
Arryla says
What about the stupid dog, Poopi?
Everybody loves a dog story, right?
Robin says
This is great information and, good for you for figuring out how to fix the battery drain issue. I am wondering how I can determine what to delete and what NOT to delete???? Any suggestions?
Thanks
jenmenke says
Hi Robin — I can’t say for sure, other than to be aware of it thru the activity monitor. I learned just by keeping it open and watching my battery. I will say, tho, that the more recent operating systems have done a MUCH better job of holding some of those hogs in check. I really don’t have as much of an issue any more. And my new machine has no problem at all.