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Yes, because only Apple has access to Haswell processors.

"Battery life will vary depending on numerous factors including product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, use, wireless functionality, and power management settings”

Apparently the MBA doesn’t require battery to run its Wifi, either...

The 1.3Ghz 13" crushes other portables in 3rd party battery tests, getting 12:51 on engadgets movie test (http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/13/macbook-air-review/). While being light and easy to tote.

It is more than just the processor, this is one place where Apple's sourcing and close hardware/software bonding really shows value.

For me, it was a bit of a game changer, because I can charge it at home like a cell phone rather than dragging around the power supply and cables in my bag like I used to.

Excluding special "sheet batteries" and other basically external batteries, there are only a handful of laptops that are in the ballpark, and they are all significantly more bulky.

Lenovo 9-Cell T430 and X230 beat it out battery wise (slightly), and the Dell E6430 and HP 2570p come close. Out of those, the only one near it weight wise and size is the X230 -- and with the 9 cell battery it is still over half a pound heavier (3.5 versus 2.9). Also, the X230 as configured to beat Apple is slower and $650 more.

And of course with the impending release of OS X Mavericks - which is highly focused on optimizing power consumption - we will get even more battery life out of our MacBooks. Based on preliminary beta reports the 2013 13" MBA will get closer to 14 hours in real world usage.

My retina MacBook gets 2 additional hours of real world usage on Mavericks. Amazing update.

Funny, a search of "macbook air mavericks battery life" shows a best result of "approaching 12 hours of real world usage".

And I say that as someone who is entirely happy with Mavericks on my 2013 15" rMBP, lest there be thoughts of Apple bias.

I've found that the upper limit of MBA battery life depends a lot on how heavily you're using it.

I stopped worrying about my devices running out of juice on the move by packing one of these in the backpack :

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperJuice/External-Battery-for-Mac...

At first, it seems like a little bit of extra weight to carry around, but you stop noticing after a short time.

I frequently get well over 13 hours on a single charge with my year-old x230, and it's significantly faster than the average MBA (full voltage processor). I also have multiple batteries, so I can easily get a full 24-30 hours without needing a cord. Not sure what configuration you're looking at, but at the time it was significantly cheaper for comparable specs, as well.

The X230 is heavier/bulkier, but it has the MBA pretty beat in terms of surviving motorcycle accidents and general durability.

The MBA is great for going to the coffeeshop and not needing to find a table with an outlet, but I wouldn't take it anywhere you need to go long periods of time without power.

Edit: Also, I'm running Linux. I'm sure I would probably get better battery life running under windows, but c'est la vie.

Which configuration are you running? I tried the i5 and i7 with 9 cell and generally ended up in the 7-10 range, not the 13+ range, and that was on a brand spanking new battery not one year old one.

i5(Ivy bridge), 9cell internal, slice battery, ssd, 16gb ram. The internal is one year old, the slice is two or three months. I have it set to always drain the slice first, which maintains the internal battery well, but shortens the long-term life of the slices. I can get 4ish(?) hours on the slice alone.

13ish hours is my number from a few weeks ago on top of Mt. Diablo. I was running a VM, making decent use of my 4g connection, and doing otherwise reasonably intensive tasks with the screen brightness all the way up. I've never done a video-loop at 75% brightness type test, so I can't give you an apples to apples comparison.

"Lenovo 9-Cell T430 and X230 beat it out battery wise (slightly), and the Dell E6430 and HP 2570p come close. Out of those, the only one near it weight wise and size is the X230 -- and with the 9 cell battery it is still over half a pound heavier (3.5 versus 2.9). Also, the X230 as configured to beat Apple is slower and $650 more."

What?

MBA, with 1.3GHz i5 processor, 4GB, 128GB flash, $1099.

X230 with 3.2GHz i5 processor (3.2, not 1.3), same, 9 cell battery? $949

Not sure how you go from $150 less to $650 more.

Try building it out feature for feature. The way you build the X230 (at least on their site) is nickle-and-dime central. Default configuration lacks bluetooth, camera, and SSD just to name a few.

Actually, I built it with a 128GB SSD. Adding the Camera and Bluetooth makes it $1,002. $100 less. I have no idea how you come up with $650 MORE...

I love getting down voted for pointing out someone using this disclaimer as evidence that the MBA must have inherently better battery life, as if any one of those things wasn't also a factor for the MBA.

I would rather have 25% less battery for 200% better resolution. Apple's done nothing but incremental or nice-but-not-necessary improvements for years now.

Apple will happily sell you a MacBook Pro, if you are interested in making this trade off.

And note that the MB Pro 13" is only 20% heavier than the Air 13". A reasonable trade-off, if you care more about the display resolution than you do about the last ounce of weight and last hour of battery life.

Being able to charge my laptop at night, and not worry about getting though the day is incredible. It is game changing, I absolutely wouldn't give up 3 to 4 hours of battery life for a better resolution, not even close.

Being able to do a full day of meetings, using the laptop all day (12+ hours of real use), and finish they day out at my hotel with 15%+ left is something I am not about to mess with.

I didn't even find the bigger battery a compelling enough reason to upgrade from the 2011 model, it's just not that often I'm so far from my charger for such a long period of time.

To me the only real deficiencies are the dual core cpu and the increasingly dated resolution.

I don't know about you, but I find that any time I work for long stints of time, it is always in the same place, so tethering in to a power supply is no big deal.

Then consider that half the time I'm mobile, I'm doing something else too, so I just shut the lid and let it sleep...

Yeah, me and you live in different worlds. When I am traveling, I am rolling from office to office. Generally plugs are available, but I am sick of lugging stuff around.

The ease of only having to leave my hotel room for a 4 item checklist (wallet, keys, phone, laptop) is great. I used to carry a huge Lenovo bag with everything I might need, replacement batteries, powertree to share power in case there were not enough, charger... nothing like making that slim and sexy X1 require 10 additional pounds of gear.

Additionally, and worth mentioning, I don't use laptops as desktop replacements (anymore)... they are just a portable computer until I can get back to my "real" computer. I would be a very unhappy guy if I had to work for a month nonstop on any laptop these days.

Hah, you answered exactly the question I asked in a comment to that article. I'm an artist and I don't give a damn about the Air not being Retina; I upgraded from a 2010 Air to a 2013 solely because omg battery life. I can take the fricking thing out to the park and sit there under a tree for a few hours drawing my comic book, with the screen at full brightness, without having to worry about running out of power. And Mavericks is supposed to focus, in part, on stretching out the battery even more.