[damnyooneek]

besides the sleep settings, how does the better performance setting actually affect the performance?

[JKT]

IIRC, when using the Better Energy Savings setting, your processor speed is modulated depending on demand which increases battery life by sucking less juice (in other words, if you are only entering text in a word processor, the CPU runs at a lower speed as it isn't necessary for it to run at top speed for such a simple operation, but if it is needed, it will up the speed to the highest level). When you use the Better Performance setting, I think this modulation is switched off and the CPU always runs at full whack. Also, I believe the hard disk isn't put to sleep as often and/or as quickly as it is under the Better Energy Savings setting.

[SpaceMonkey]

The settings in the battery menu are just shortcuts to different configurations in the Energy Saver system preferences. They don't provide any additional functionality that you can't adjust yourself in the Energy Saver preference pane. If you want to know what exactly they do, just open the Energy Saver pane in system preferences and switch between the different presets. Make sure you look at the "options" tab as well, because that has additional features that are either enabled or disabled depending on what preset is used. These include wake options, display dimming options, and processor performance options.

[powerbook911]

It is best to go into the custom settings, make your own profile.

I always have my CPU to "fastest."