MacBook Air and Pro compared: Battery capacity in watt-hours

Macworld

Measuring MacBook battery life in straight hours of real-world usage (as Apple likes to do) is not always an accurate metric for comparison purposes as so many use and environmental factors play a part. We can, however, rely on straight technical specifications to tell us the stated battery capacities of each MacBook.

Where Apple is secretive about iPhone battery specifications (see our list of iPhone battery capacities based on teardowns), the company does list MacBook capacities in Watt hours (Wh). We have trawled through the Apple product Tech Specs pages from 2009 to 2024 to bring you as complete a list as we can gather using official Apple battery declarations.

The watt-hour is a unit of energy equivalent to one watt (1W) of power utilized for one hour of time. it is calculated by multiplying the number of Amps with the battery voltage. The higher the number of Wh the longer a battery will last using the same application. Batteries will lose efficiency over time so don’t expect a 2009-era MacBook battery to still possess the same power as it did when it was new or more than a 2024 model, even if it had an originally higher Wh rating.

Read How to test a MacBook battery: see if it needs replacing & replace it.

Our list starts with older MacBooks that used an Intel processor, and works its way to the latest M-series (for example, M1, M2 Pro, M3) MacBooks.

MacBook Air battery capacities

11-inch MacBook Air (Intel)

13-inch MacBook Air (Intel)

13-inch MacBook Air (M-series)

15-inch MacBook Air (M-series)

MacBook Pro battery capacities

13-inch MacBook Pro (Intel)

15-inch MacBook Pro (Intel)

16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel)

17-inch MacBook Pro (Intel)

13-inch MacBook Pro (M-series)

14-inch MacBook Pro (M-series)

16-inch MacBook Pro (M-series)

How much battery life does my MacBook have?

Now that you know the numbers for your model, how does that Wh battery capacity play out in terms of real-life usage? Here are Apple’s claims for the running potential of its M-series MacBook Pro and Air batteries. All the MacBook Air models, whether with a 13-inch or 15-inch screen, M1, M2, or M3 chip, last the same amount of time, according to Apple.

There is more variance with the Pro models, which range in screen size from 13 to 16 inches.

13-inch MacBook Air (M-series)

15-inch MacBook Air (M-series)

13-inch MacBook Pro (M-series)

14-inch MacBook Pro (M-series)

16-inch MacBook Pro (M-series)

Does the MacBook Pro have a better battery than the MacBook Air?

As you can see from the above battery capacities, the MacBook Pro features higher capacity batteries than the MacBook Air, although not by a truly significant margin.

For example, the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air’s battery is rated at 52.6Wh, while the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro has a 58.2Wh battery.

The larger the laptop, the higher wattage is the battery—as they generally require more power to run the larger, brighter screens. The Air features a Liquid Retina display with 500 nits brightness while the Pro has a superior 1,000-nit Liquid Retina XDR display.

The newer MacBooks with more efficient processors will also gain extra battery life by not stressing the batteries as hard to complete the same tasks.

Apple claims that the current 13-inch MacBook Air (52.6Wh) boasts up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback. The 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro has a higher capacity 69.6Wh battery and can keep going for 22 hours on the movie playback. The 16-inch Pro has the same 22-hour video playback claim despite its near 100Wh battery but it has to run the larger screen.

Battery life depends on many factors, particularly which and how many applications you are running at one time.

For more information on the differences between Apple’s laptop models, read our feature MacBook Air vs Pro: Which Mac laptop is right for you.

When you want to charge the MacBook’s battery, make sure you use the appropriate charger. Check out our recommendations for the best USB-C charger for your MacBook.