4 ms·

Which MacBook can code 8 hours without charging?

iOS dev, in Xcode all day. Looking for a laptop that can code all day without plugging in. Just bought the 12", shows only 5 hrs? Upgraded from 2012 15" retina which only for me 3.6hrs. Maybe I should try 13" retina?

moondev 10y ago
What browser? I found that using Safari over Chrome drastically increases battery life.
- freelancerdever 10y ago
  Mostly safari, and Chrome canary on the side.
ApolloRising 10y ago
Macbook Air had the best battery life I have seen in a laptop but no retina. You can always buy one of these: https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperjuice-external-battery-pack-for-macbook https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperjuice-external-batte...
- freelancerdever 10y ago
  ehhhh, retina is so nice though.
chadcmulligan 10y ago
I use a 13" macbook air (fully optioned) for xcode - objc and swift, easily get a day out of it, I'm regularly surprised with "you have only 5% charge left", oh time to charge it. Performance is great, better than my behemoth windows box with C#. I even run a couple of windows VM's on it for other dev work and runs like a charm. The best thing is its so light! I remember thinking I should get a macbook pro, but glad I went with the air. The only reason I'd consider a pro is if I wanted to do a lot of video work, but then my daughter has my old air and she makes movies with it, though space is sometimes an issue. If it came to that one of those Samsung USB3 external SSD's are dirt cheap now. I know people who run VM's on them over USB 3. If you want more than one external monitor though it can get expensive - you need to daisy chain thunderbolt's. USB monitors are possible, but not sure about performance on those. I have an external 27" monitor on mine and works fine, I have recollections of running a third monitor over airplay to my apple tv, but I'd have to check that it's been a while (I use my phone for that now)
davismwfl 10y ago
None really. You can extend the life by dimming the display, shutting down applications (including browsers), but if you are coding, compiling, testing and debugging no mac (or really any laptop) will last 8 hours that I can think of. This is especially true if you have device plugged into it for any significant amount of the time. If I am doing more heads down coding and less cycling through testing etc, my 15" mac retina does ok but I am typically around 6 hours disconnected IIRC, and sometimes as low as 2-3 if I am doing firmware work where I have devices plugged in a lot of the time. Honestly IMO, this is really good and I don't need/expect more then that right now. Right now, with a 99% charge and only surfing HN and doing some reading my mac is telling me I have 10:45 left, but it isn't working much obviously. EDIT: specifically I have a mid 2014 15" macbook pro
- freelancerdever 10y ago
  I have the 2012 15" retina, but I'm on the road freelancing all the time, so now looking for something light.
scholia 10y ago
Are you really coding all day on a laptop with no access to power points? That doesn't sound very ergonomic. Why not use an external battery pack? http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/macbook-portable-battery/ http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/macbook-portable-battery/ I guess you could even hackintosh a Windows laptop that has interchangeable batteries, but recharging both (or even three) on a daily basis would soon get tiresome....

moondev 10y ago

What browser? I found that using Safari over Chrome drastically increases battery life.

freelancerdever 10y ago
Mostly safari, and Chrome canary on the side.

ApolloRising 10y ago

Macbook Air had the best battery life I have seen in a laptop but no retina. You can always buy one of these: https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperjuice-external-battery-pack-for-macbook https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperjuice-external-batte...

freelancerdever 10y ago
ehhhh, retina is so nice though.

chadcmulligan 10y ago

I use a 13" macbook air (fully optioned) for xcode - objc and swift, easily get a day out of it, I'm regularly surprised with "you have only 5% charge left", oh time to charge it. Performance is great, better than my behemoth windows box with C#. I even run a couple of windows VM's on it for other dev work and runs like a charm. The best thing is its so light! I remember thinking I should get a macbook pro, but glad I went with the air. The only reason I'd consider a pro is if I wanted to do a lot of video work, but then my daughter has my old air and she makes movies with it, though space is sometimes an issue. If it came to that one of those Samsung USB3 external SSD's are dirt cheap now. I know people who run VM's on them over USB 3. If you want more than one external monitor though it can get expensive - you need to daisy chain thunderbolt's. USB monitors are possible, but not sure about performance on those. I have an external 27" monitor on mine and works fine, I have recollections of running a third monitor over airplay to my apple tv, but I'd have to check that it's been a while (I use my phone for that now)

davismwfl 10y ago

None really. You can extend the life by dimming the display, shutting down applications (including browsers), but if you are coding, compiling, testing and debugging no mac (or really any laptop) will last 8 hours that I can think of. This is especially true if you have device plugged into it for any significant amount of the time. If I am doing more heads down coding and less cycling through testing etc, my 15" mac retina does ok but I am typically around 6 hours disconnected IIRC, and sometimes as low as 2-3 if I am doing firmware work where I have devices plugged in a lot of the time. Honestly IMO, this is really good and I don't need/expect more then that right now. Right now, with a 99% charge and only surfing HN and doing some reading my mac is telling me I have 10:45 left, but it isn't working much obviously. EDIT: specifically I have a mid 2014 15" macbook pro

freelancerdever 10y ago
I have the 2012 15" retina, but I'm on the road freelancing all the time, so now looking for something light.

scholia 10y ago

Are you really coding all day on a laptop with no access to power points? That doesn't sound very ergonomic. Why not use an external battery pack? http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/macbook-portable-battery/ http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/macbook-portable-battery/ I guess you could even hackintosh a Windows laptop that has interchangeable batteries, but recharging both (or even three) on a daily basis would soon get tiresome....