New PowerBook battery life

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 57
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Guartho

    I'm not seeing an option to turn them off? Is this a PowerBook only feature? I'm attempting to maximize battery on a 12" 800 iBook.



    Open Network System Preference

    Show/Network Port Configurations

    You can turn off the ports there



    Sorry, didn't see last post
  • Reply 42 of 57
    Quote:

    Originally posted by LoCash

    Guys, this whole discharging the battery nonsense doesn't necessarily apply to Lithium based cells. Back when Apple was still shipping batteries with memory issues, they made a utility that would drain the battery completely to assist in doing this. But Lithium batteries don't have memory issues... or am I missing something?





    The batteries that are in all G4 powerbooks have a microprocessor that calculates the time a battery has left. So if the processor gets corrupted or isn't calculting your battery power correctly, Then u could have 50% left but your powerbook says u have only 25% left. When you hit the "reserve power" you could really be in normal power but the information that the powerbook is receiving from the battery tells otherwise.



    By going from a complete charge to a complete drain and charge again resets the processor in the battery, thus getting it back to normal.



    This only applies if you battery is losing its juice.
  • Reply 43 of 57
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Some people have gotten better results with battery after resetting their power management unit.



    Apple-PMU



    Nick
  • Reply 44 of 57
    I'm really disappointed by the reported 2 - 2 1/2 hours of battery life and I'm trying to find an explanation for the huge difference to Apple's statement (4,5h).



    Am I correct in the following assumptions:



    The tested model was a 1,25 GHz. A 1 GHz model would run longer on one battery charge (say 20%? Or more?)



    During the "test", the keyboard backlight was turned on ("used it last night as the missus was sleeping"). Without that, we might get 5% more time?



    Airport Extreme was in use. How heavy? Maybe 10% more time without using Airport Extreme?



    I hope the battery life of the 1 GHz is closer to what apple states than what was described by jwolfe9 - because I want to buy one. But if the battery dies earlier than my g/f's 2 1/2 year old iBook, then I might think about it again.
  • Reply 45 of 57
    [QUOTE]Originally posted by Copprhead

    I'm really disappointed by the reported 2 - 2 1/2 hours of battery life and I'm trying to find an explanation for the huge difference to Apple's statement (4,5h).



    Am I correct in the following assumptions:



    The tested model was a 1,25 GHz. A 1 GHz model would run longer on one battery charge (say 20%? Or more?)



    During the "test", the keyboard backlight was turned on ("used it last night as the missus was sleeping"). Without that, we might get 5% more time?



    Airport Extreme was in use. How heavy? Maybe 10% more time without using Airport Extreme?



    I hope the battery life of the 1 GHz is closer to what apple states than what was described by jwolfe9 - because I want to buy one. But if the battery dies earlier than my g/f's 2 1/2 year old iBook, then I might think about it again.
    [/QU



    Yes, I am using a 1.25 GHz, backlit keyboard was on, I use Airport Extreme constantly when away from my desk. turned off Modem, Ethernet, Bluetooth. The other day I got closer to 3 hours on one battery charge. The minute meter is incorrect much of the time so I use the battery % remaining.



    I had an iBook several Macs ago. The iBook did have better battery life than this PBook. In regards to turning off Airport, backlit keyboard, etc., these are several of the reasons I got this portable. Easily 50% of my computing time is spent away from my desk. I plan to get another battery as they are available to compensate for the battery life.
  • Reply 46 of 57
    Well 10.2.8 came out today, they said that power management is better in this version. I'm updating now I'll let you all know if there is any difference in my 1.25 powerbook.

    Josiah
  • Reply 47 of 57
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by howyoudoin

    Well 10.2.8 came out today, they said that power management is better in this version. I'm updating now I'll let you all know if there is any difference in my 1.25 powerbook.

    Josiah




    Love to hear about it =)
  • Reply 48 of 57
    Strange, I just updated to 10.2.8 and when I started the computer it was at 80% and had 1:25 minutes left. I checked it a half hour later and its at 68% with (this is the weird part) 1:18 minutes left. I've been using word and surfing the internet so I would have to say so far that it's improved from the looks of it.



    I'll update in an hour or so and give some more results (doing safari and word because I have homework).
  • Reply 49 of 57
    Quote:

    Originally posted by howyoudoin

    Strange, I just updated to 10.2.8 and when I started the computer it was at 80% and had 1:25 minutes left. I checked it a half hour later and its at 68% with (this is the weird part) 1:18 minutes left. I've been using word and surfing the internet so I would have to say so far that it's improved from the looks of it.



    I'll update in an hour or so and give some more results (doing safari and word because I have homework).




    Maybe you should drain the battery and fully charge it again?



    For some reason I thought 10.2.8 wouldn't apply to the new PowerBooks. Don't ask me why I thunk it though.
  • Reply 50 of 57
    Well two hours in I have 25% left (and this was on a 80% charge). So I'll have to do more results later but I'm going to drain the battery until the end and see my final time. Then probably by the end of the week I'll have a better idea about the 10.2.8

    Josiah
  • Reply 51 of 57
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Well, assuming the battery time is semi-accurate, it sounds like 55% (80 - 25) is about 2 hours, so just a tad under 4 hours for full charge if you assume 100% charge? Sounds like that's in a reasonable range.
  • Reply 52 of 57
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MCQ

    Well, assuming the battery time is semi-accurate, it sounds like 55% (80 - 25) is about 2 hours, so just a tad under 4 hours for full charge if you assume 100% charge? Sounds like that's in a reasonable range.



    THIS is what I want to hear. Not all this crazy 2hrs. Man I realy want at least 3.5
  • Reply 53 of 57
    Well did a full charge last night and worked through it surfing the web and downloading some big files (with the keyboard back light off) and when I hit about 10% left my total time was 3 hours and 15 minutes so it seems that 10.2.8 actually improved my battery life.
  • Reply 54 of 57
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by howyoudoin

    Well did a full charge last night and worked through it surfing the web and downloading some big files (with the keyboard back light off) and when I hit about 10% left my total time was 3 hours and 15 minutes so it seems that 10.2.8 actually improved my battery life.



    I hope panther does this even more!



    Can someone with a 15" tell me how well u can see the screen in the sun?
  • Reply 55 of 57
    well I was at a coffee shop yesterday and was next to a window with the sun directly shining on my screen. The brightness of the LCD's on the new powerbooks is much brighter then the Ti's (that's the only way I can compare it as of right now). I mean its usable in the sun but still hard to do.
  • Reply 56 of 57
    I found that the spin hard disk when possible option never spun my hard disk down on my iBook SE.



    I think the default setting is to spin down the hard disk after 10 mins but I guess something on my system kept on accessing the hard disk before it could be spun down.



    I fixed this by using Cocktail, this app lets you change the spin down time.

    Set it while your machine is on the battery profile..



    I changed it to 4 mins and this really improved my battery time!
  • Reply 57 of 57
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jwolfe9

    Where can one find the newer 65Wh battery?



    Sorry for the late reply. Go to www.newertech.com
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