I went with the base i3 and have very similar usage to you - and still have a MacBook Pro if I need anything more. Battery life on the base i3 is excellent, in line with my 2015 Air. I'd say 10+ hours is accurate with things like Safari, Mail, Messages, Office apps, and Spotify open. It runs cool as a cucumber just like my 2015 Air. But the M2-powered, 15-inch Air brings me back to those days. I could easily see using this laptop as my only computer. Like the 13-inch model, it’s powerful, has long battery life and a high 5 Will running my MacBook Air while plugged in improve its battery life? I usually charge my MacBook Air to above 90% and then use it unplugged until it drains to 25-35% levels. Make better choices about where and what to source from China. Damian Claassens Answered November 29, 2017 Short answer with caveats, is yes. Neither the MacBook Air nor the MacBook Pro have seen a processor refresh since last year, Battery life; MacBook (2016, 1.2GHz Intel Core M5, Intel HD Graphics 515) Apple MacBook (2015) 7: Light Web Browsing Battery Life 13-inch MacBook Air (Mid 2011) - Core i5 2.7GHz This message will self-destruct after reading. Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, July 28, 2011 - link Fixed :) The M2 chip's efficiency is on full-display when it comes to battery life. On our test, the 15-inch MacBook Air lasted 14 hours and 48 minutes while streaming video, browsing websites, and running j4kMGT.