[crazeinc]

Having owned an iBook, Powerbook, and MBPro, I'm familiar with laptops of the finest quality and rather poor battery life.

I held off on buying a new machine for few months hoping Apple would rectify the situation with the now-released Air, but 5 hours is a massive disappointment. Had changing the battery not involved unscrewing the case, I would have just bought a spare battery, but that's not happening.

So, I'm left in an awkward position, because I love Apple products, but there's nothing they offer for what I'm looking for.

Then I come across the Thinkpad X-series where reviewers are saying that they get 8 hours of battery life and I'm wondering why I even switched to Apple in the first place.

Did I miss something or is over 5 hours of battery on any Apple laptops just a dream? Is there some aftermarket battery that magically give a MacBook 8 hours of battery I'm unaware of?

My iBook used to get 5 hours when I first got it, it's lucky to get over 1.5 these days. My Powerbook gets 1.5 on a good day, and my MBPro never really got over 3 hours.

I wish I could just run OS X on the Thinkpad, that's a no-brainer.

[msuper69]

Thinkpad - Heavier, only runs Windows, smaller screen, no trackpad, etc., etc., etc.

Go for it.

[Cadaver]

For your iBook and PowerBook, higher capacity 3rd party batteries are available. The MBP I agree has lousy battery life (I have a 2.16GHz Core Duo).

The MacBooks are pretty good in terms of battery life. And Apple is claiming 5 hours of battery life with wifi for the MacBook Air. If even close to valid, should last longer with the wifi off. Perhaps wait for some hands-on reviews before making a purchase decision.

There are also some external battery solutions that'll work with current Apple laptops, too, so this may be a potential solution for you. They wont charge the laptop's battery, but will some are big enough to supply 12+ hours of juice.

[macbookfreak]

What should I get for longest battery life?

A very long power lead for your charger!

Seriously, if you follow Apple's advice on calibrating your computer's battery for best perfomance you'll get the best out of it.

[peeb]

What do you like for third party Apple batteries? How long do you get with them?
I second the thinkpad - you can get great extended batteries for them.

[ibookuser2]

Seriously, if you follow Apple's advice on calibrating your computer's battery for best perfomance you'll get the best out of it.

The calibration affects primarily the displayed time/percentage remaining in the menubar. It has minimal (if any) effect on the amount of time that the battery will run.