iBook has larger battery capacity than PowerBook?

smirclesmircle
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
PowerBook:
  • 12": 47-watt-hour lithium-ion battery providing up to 5 hours of battery life.

  • 15": 46-watt-hour lithium-ion battery providing up to 4.5 hours of battery life.

  • 17": 58-watt-hour lithium-ion battery providing up to 4.5 hours of battery life.

Specs sheet





iBook G4:
  • 12": 50-watt-hour lithium-ion battery provides up to 6 hours of battery life.

  • 14": 61-watt-hour lithium-ion battery provides up to 6 hours of battery life.

Specs sheet



What kind of sad joke is this?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    i would assume part of this difference is explained by the larger screen real estate of the 15" and 17" displays, plus powering whatever sensors activate the backlit keyboard. not sure about hard drive power suction (is the powerbook still 4200 rpm, or faster? i would assume the ibook is still 4200, but i haven't even cracked open the specs yet).



    plus, maybe they just got a fresh batch of chocolatey-good lithium-ion batteries that stay cruchier in milk, and decided to put them in the ibooks as an added incentive for people to buy?



    yes, i am an apple apologist. sorry.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    There's probably a size factor, too. The 12" PB (as detailed in the iBook G4 thread) is thinner, shallower and narrower than the iBook - which leaves less space for the battery. I imagine the extra thickness of the iBook is especially critical. Ditto for the 15"; it may be wider, but it's even thinner than the 12" PB.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    Quote:

    What kind of sad joke is this?



    As stated above you pay in battery hours because of the smaller size of the Powerbooks. The new iPods also have less battery life so that they could be slimmer. It's not a sad joke, it's a fact of life.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i wonder if the new iBook isn't using a G3 w/altivec from IBM. not sure if anyone knows for sure on that yet, and feeling too lazy to check.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    graphicumpgraphicump Posts: 82member
    Quote:

    i wonder if the new iBook isn't using a G3 w/altivec from IBM. not sure if anyone knows for sure on that yet, and feeling too lazy to check.



    Look at the top again. The new iBooks have G4 processors, not G3.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    carson o'geniccarson o'genic Posts: 1,279member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by GraphicUmp

    Look at the top again. The new iBooks have G4 processors, not G3.



    He means G3 w/ altivec, which is pretty much what the G4 is and Apple could reasonably call it a G4. In other words, IBM's rumored version of the Moto's G4.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    kecksykecksy Posts: 1,002member
    No, I believe the iBooks are using Motorola's MPC7445. If the iBook was using a new version of IBM's 750, it would have more than 256K of L2 cache. The previous generation iBooks had 512K of L2 cahce and used the 750FX processor. The replacement to the 750FX, the 750GX, is supposed to have 1MB of L2 cache and no Altivec.



    It is rumored the replacement to the 750VX will have Altivec, but that's a ways off, and it won't have 256K of L2 cache.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacsRGood4U

    It's not a sad joke, it's a fact of life.



    Unfortunately, facts of life are often sad.



    The new G4 iBooks offer fantastic value. But I want to cross the Ghz barrier and hook up my 'Book to a large external DVI display. So I'll gladly live with the 12-inch PowerBook's slightly lower battery capacity and life.



    Escher
Sign In or Register to comment.