What's the Average Battery Life for a MacBook Air M4?

March 27, 2026 3 answers
Asked by TechyTaco92
I recently purchased a MacBook Air M4 last October and I'm curious about what kind of battery life I should expect from it, especially since it's still fairly new. Most of the time, I have it plugged in at home, connected to an external monitor. However, now that I've started using it away from home, I've been shocked to discover that I barely get 4 hours of battery life, even while just using basic applications like a word processor and a web browser. That seems low to me for a new laptop. Is this typical or should I be concerned?

Answers

CuriousCoder77
Iโ€™m not sure about the M4 specifically, but I've got an M1 Pro MacBook, and I can usually get through a whole workday on it easily.
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GadgetGuru88
It's interesting you mention that. Iโ€™ve heard that macOS 26 might have impacted battery performance for the M4 Air, but it shouldnโ€™t be too drastic. By the way, what's your battery health and cycle count looking like?

RealLifeRover: I'm still on Sequoia OS. My battery health shows normal, and the cycle count is at 72. Can you explain what that cycle count means? Also, is it possible that I got a defective battery? I hadn't thought to check battery life since I usually keep it plugged in.

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BrowserBuddha
Are you using Chrome? That browser is pretty notorious for draining battery life.
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