New PowerBook battery life
I bought a new PB 125Ghz yesterday. Heat issues seemed to have been solved, and I'm happy with speed at most tasks. I am not a power user.
Battery life is weak. I've only gotten about 2 hours on initial charges. This is with Airport enabled.
This is my only issue with my new "Book". Love the backlit keyboard, used it last night as the missus was sleeping. Airport reception is very good.
Any other comments regarding battery life?
Battery life is weak. I've only gotten about 2 hours on initial charges. This is with Airport enabled.
This is my only issue with my new "Book". Love the backlit keyboard, used it last night as the missus was sleeping. Airport reception is very good.
Any other comments regarding battery life?
Comments
Do 3rd party ever make bigger batteries? Haha...heck would there be any way to modify one...assuming there is still more room like i hear there was on the old PB's.
2hrs sucks! I was hoping for at least 3.5.
Oh yeah almost forgot...what were u doing? Was screen brightness up as high as possible?
Originally posted by ast3r3x
\ is there anything you can do about battery life? I'd rather be able to buy a longer lasting battery then another one I'd have to carry around and swap out.
Maybe OWC will produce new batteries for the 15" since they *just* announced a set for the other machines. It would be nice. Their rationale might be similar to dropping the L3 cache --- same overall on-battery time with less capacity since the HW draws less power --- but it still sucks.
If that's the only complaint I have next week when I use the darn thing though, I'll be happy.
[Edit:addition]
Actually, one odd thing --- my (new) extra battery isn't scheduled to ship until Oct. 15. This means it isn't even manufactured yet! Maybe they re-engineered them? It would be a nice bonus if so. I'll weigh them both when it arrives.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
Oh yeah almost forgot...what were u doing? Was screen brightness up as high as possible? [/B]
Yes, screen brightness is high. I'm not doing any processor intensive tasks; email, Safari, etc. I am charging again and will turn brightness down. Will report here later.
Originally posted by jwolfe9
Yes, screen brightness is high. I'm not doing any processor intensive tasks; email, Safari, etc. I am charging again and will turn brightness down. Will report here later.
Remember to discharge that battery until the machine turns itself off, then recharge fully. This will properly set the power manager so it will properly predict usage.
Originally posted by machem
Remember to discharge that battery until the machine turns itself off, then recharge fully. This will properly set the power manager so it will properly predict usage.
Is that something you have to do everytime or just the first?
No L3 and worse batteries! These updates suck.
However, if you do a few things:
Turn off Bluetooth (why leave this thing on unless you have devices that use it?)
Turn off Airport (unless you need to be on a network at the time)
Don't run your screen at full brightness.
Use reduced processor settings
etc...
Or you can make it easy and just go to the energy settings panel and choose "longest battery life" from the drop down and it does several of those things for you (except turning off Airport/Bluetooth).
You can then get 3+ hours from a battery.
Of course I really hope some after market vendor will come out with a better battery...
Originally posted by Aquatic
No L3 and worse batteries! These updates suck.
The L2 cache size was doubled to 512kbytes and the speed was doubled to 1.25GHz and the system bus speed was increased 25% to 167MHz. An L3 cache running at the speed of the system bus probably had a small impact on performance compared to the cost in money and power and space and weight.
Not to mention AE, better airport reception, bluetooth, FW800, more memory capacity, larger HD, really nice ATI Radeon 9600, etc. I hardly think "These updates suck."
The batteries are a curiosity. The Ti book had 61W-hr batteries. The 15" Al PB has 46W-Hr batteries. Perhaps they are smaller and lighter to compensate for a heavier frame? We'll have to wait a while to see if NewerTech can supply 65W-Hr batteries for this book. That would be impressive.
Originally posted by Joecool
Sorry guys, but what do you mean by discharging the battery? Running the PB until the battery dies?
You simply have to run your powerbook on battery until it goes automatically to sleep (you will see before that some warning that your battery is running low, but you have to wait until it sleeps automatically). Then you plug it again and you leave it until it is completely charged. This procedure calibrates the battery for optimal performance. After that, you can repeat your tests.
Originally posted by PB
You simply have to run your powerbook on battery until it goes automatically to sleep (you will see before that some warning that your battery is running low, but you have to wait until it sleeps automatically). Then you plug it again and you leave it until it is completely charged. This procedure calibrates the battery for optimal performance. After that, you can repeat your tests.
Thanks PB.
Now I know what to do when I get my 15" Superdrive.
Man, I can't wait for it to arrive. Apple Australia have 15"ers initially coming into the country this week and the rest of backorders next week! I don't know what's worse....waiting for the 15" announcement or waiting for them to arrive now that they've been announced!@!!!
Originally posted by fuzz_ball
Turn off Bluetooth (why leave this thing on unless you have devices that use it?)
Turn off Airport (unless you need to be on a network at the time)
Don't run your screen at full brightness.
Use reduced processor settings
etc...
You can then get 3+ hours from a battery.
Thanks for the recommendations. I turned off Bluetooth, Ethernet, reduced processor performance to Best Battery, and turned down the brightness. It looks like these changes improved the battery life to about 2 1/2 hours.
Other than the battery, I think this rev is great. Airport reception is exceptional. I compared the heat to an older Ti at the Apple Store and it runs cooler. It's been on battery power for the last hour or so and the bottom feels cool to touch.
I was one of the many that held off buying a Powerbook for 6 months as the Al Book 15" was rumored. I'm glad I waited. This PBook has better performance, better Airport reception, paint doesn't chip, it runs cooler. Not a G5, but still meets my needs for the next several years.
The newer 65Wh batter is pretty sweet, but is essentially an extra $140. With the newer battery, you could probably get 4.5 hours of life.
Originally posted by Yevgeny
The newer 65Wh batter is pretty sweet, but is essentially an extra $140. With the newer battery, you could probably get 4.5 hours of life.
Where can one find the newer 65Wh battery?
Originally posted by jwolfe9
Thanks for the recommendations. I turned off Bluetooth, Ethernet, reduced processor performance to Best Battery, and turned down the brightness. It looks like these changes improved the battery life to about 2 1/2 hours.
Curious, did you run your laptop for 2.5 hours before it went into auto-sleep, or are you just reporting what your meter indicated? I mention this because sometimes my meter will indicate 2+ hours, and not drop as fast as actual clock time.
BTW, I'll just be selling this Ti500 when my NEW AL 1.25 Superdrive gets here late this or early next week. whoohoo!!!!
Originally posted by kyogen
On the battery condioning subject in general, is there any value in draining the battery on an old Ti500's battery? Will it help recondition it? or is it just speeding the inevitible permanent drop in time?
BTW, I'll just be selling this Ti500 when my NEW AL 1.25 Superdrive gets here late this or early next week. whoohoo!!!!
In my experience, nothing can help a worn-out battery.
I've found that cursing a lot helps me feel better, though.
Originally posted by fuzz_ball
Curious, did you run your laptop for 2.5 hours before it went into auto-sleep, or are you just reporting what your meter indicated? I mention this because sometimes my meter will indicate 2+ hours, and not drop as fast as actual clock time.
Fuzz, I used clock time, not the time on the meter. I've been using my PBook on battery and powered all day. I just got 3 hours on my last battery with settings on Longest Battery Life and Processor Performance on Automatic. Apparently the Automatic setting powers up the disk based on demand.
Again, I was doing low processor demand computing today. The bottom never even got remotely warm.
Good enough battery performance for me. Everything else about this PBook is great IMO.