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Peter · Apr 19, 2003, 06:55 AM

I currently have a iBook 700, I am thinking about an upgrade to a 12" or 17" (unsure about the specs) My main worry is the battery life, at the moment I get 3 -> 3.5 hours, so what do you guys get with the Powerbooks?
Also, should I buy a 12"/17" now or wait until the next revision, if so when will that hopefully be?

xpander · Apr 19, 2003, 07:56 AM

Currently on my 12"PB I'm getting about 3 hours and 15 minutes.

eevyl · Apr 19, 2003, 08:43 AM

In the average I usually get about 3 hours and a half. Without networks (Aiport, ethernet or bluetooth) I can get 4 hours or more doing less intensive work (writing a document, reading PDFs and/or docs).

With Airport Extreme, surfind the web and doing more stuff it can go down to 2 hours and a half.

Really it depends on what you do.

AssassyN · Apr 19, 2003, 08:44 AM

On my 17" PowerBook with the ambient sensors controlling the screen brightness (it was at about 80% the whole time, sometimes a bit more) and AirPort Extreme on & in use, Bluetooth on, no power saver settings on (in other words, it was running at 1Ghz) and doing fairly intensive tasks such as surfing, typing in Word, watching a bit of a DVD, and installing some programs from CD's, I got about 2 hours & 45 minutes, which I'm sure could've been improved if I would have had the power saving settings on which downclocks it to 667Mhz & disables the L3 cache, had the screen dimmer, and done less intensive tasks. Nevertheless it's battery life for the tasks I was doing surely impressed me.

AssassyN · Apr 19, 2003, 08:46 AM

Also, about whether to purchase now or later...for the 12" PB, I'd certainly wait as I feel the 867Mhz processor and lack of L3 cache just handicaps the machine a bit much. The 17" PB is fine, however, if you can wait til possible August/September, you'll most likely see a processor increase as well as a few other speed increases including possible a DDR system bus. It really boils down to whether or not you can wait...if you're *sure* you can hold off until around September, then you'd be better off waiting, but if not, jump on it.

Peter · Apr 19, 2003, 09:34 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
Also, about whether to purchase now or later...for the 12" PB, I'd certainly wait as I feel the 867Mhz processor and lack of L3 cache just handicaps the machine a bit much. The 17" PB is fine, however, if you can wait til possible August/September, you'll most likely see a processor increase as well as a few other speed increases including possible a DDR system bus. It really boils down to whether or not you can wait...if you're *sure* you can hold off until around September, then you'd be better off waiting, but if not, jump on it.

Well it seems I could afford the 12" within the next month or I could hang on and get a 17" in a couple of months, I think I'll wait and see what happens with the 17".

AssassyN · Apr 19, 2003, 09:41 AM

Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
Well it seems I could afford the 12" within the next month or I could hang on and get a 17" in a couple of months, I think I'll wait and see what happens with the 17".

I'd call this a very smart move.

You'll be fine w/ your 700Mhz iBook for awhile, and the nex revision of the 17" PB should feature a 1.25Ghz G4, a better video card, and *possibly* a full DDR system bus, if we're lucky.

ngrundy · Apr 19, 2003, 10:39 AM

my Ti does about 3-3:30 with only the cpu being in low power mode. if i'm going crazy with power management i can squeeze 4:50-5 hours out of the thing

Peter · Apr 19, 2003, 10:51 AM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
I'd call this a very smart move. You'll be fine w/ your 700Mhz iBook for awhile, and the nex revision of the 17" PB should feature a 1.25Ghz G4, a better video card, and *possibly* a full DDR system bus, if we're lucky.

wow a 1.25Ghz, then I am gonna wait and preorder one of those. Then I can waste hours checkin my order status. Hurrah!

AssassyN · Apr 19, 2003, 12:01 PM

Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
wow a 1.25Ghz, then I am gonna wait and preorder one of those. Then I can waste hours checkin my order status. Hurrah!

Hehe, yep, those hours or order checking sure bring back fond memories!

But yeah, if all goes as it should, Apple should just pop the next highest G4 into the PowerBook, which is 1.25Ghz up'ed from the 1Ghz. If you can wait, it'd definitely be worth it.