[jpennane]

Hi!

I am thinking of updating my 12" iBook to a 15" Powerbook some time in the summer. The only thing I am concerned about with the 15" PB is battery life.

Any of you that have the new model, how long does the battery last on those, with "normal" usage (like web surfing and such)? What about full load?

One of the things I like about my iBook is long battery life, and would not like to downgrade too much...

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Jussi

[itguy05]

I have a 3 week old 15" 1.67 with 1GB (64MB Video) and I get about 2-2.5 hours depending on the room lighting (auto dimming) and what I do. Hit it hard and you're lucky to get 1-1.5 hours.

But it's no match for the 3-4 hours of my wife's 2.5 year old iBook with it's original battery.

[Randman]

One advantage with the PB15s and 17s is you can hot swop the battery. Put it to sleep, pop a battery out and put the new in, all without a restart. Big advantage when on the road.

[jpennane]

Thanks for this info, still not sure if I should buy one or not. My iBook can run for about 4-5 hours, and I'm really pleased with that.

Hot-swapping the battery was news to me. I always thought that I would have to shut down in order to swap the battery. So carrying around an extra battery really does extend my battery life

--
Jussi

[ericssonboi]

You'll find a lot of answers doing a search..
a thread was started not long ago a few posts down..

http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/257024/typical-battery-life-15-albook/

[jpennane]

I believe that was posted after my question...

[belldandy]

Sorry to disappoint you, but I haven't seen Apple releasing a powerbook that has better battery life than the iBook. Mainly because of the following reasons: Faster CPU, Higher-clock Graphic chips, all lead to more power consumption. There is no significant hardware changes that enables greater power saving technology. I am getting jealous of my friend's IBM X41 that lasts longer even when I have an extra battery with my 15" powerbook (1.25Ghz)... =(