[Fellow2000]

So I have been waiting for abotu 6 months for the powerbook update. I sold my powermac about 6 months ago in anticipation for it. Then when it finally came, I was impressed with both products, the 12 and the 15. I am totally udecided between the 2 still as of yet, but one thing is really bothering me. The battery life.

Does anyone else find 3 or less hours rediculous. I moved to apple awhile ago because of this, and I was expecting at least 4 hours if not 5 or 6.

I just plain find this unusable, when I spend a whole day at university and would really like to take it to all my classes without having to plug it in.

I just might have to go with a centrino laptop. I would hate to move back to windows, but my gosh, 2 hours... just plain not an option.

[Bruck]

how bout getting a second battery? Then you'd get 4hrs.

a little hassle but worth it for OS x.

[MrK]

On a similar note, do the new 15 and 17 support live battery switching? Does the new 12"? I know my orinial 867 PB 12" has to be shutdown to switch a battery. What a pain in the keister.

[todrain]

i bring my AC Adaptor with me on the road, and plug in where I can. There are lots of jacks in airports and libraries, and most of the time they won't care if you need to plug in the PowerBook.

[waxcrash]

Originally posted by MrK:
On a similar note, do the new 15 and 17 support live battery switching? Does the new 12"? I know my orinial 867 PB 12" has to be shutdown to switch a battery. What a pain in the keister.

You couldn't put your 12" 867 to sleep and swap the battery? I know you can do that with the 15" TiBooks with no problems.

[Wiskedjak]

Is your university in a cave? Last time I checked, universities were introduced to the age of electricity several decades ago. Perhaps my university is simply more modern than your's, but we have power outlets almost everywhere.

I think you need to ask yourself if you want power or portability. It's rare that you'll get both. As for the Centrino, if you're willing to take that kind of hit in performance for battery life, perhaps you should be looking at the iBook line. Typically, I easily get 4 hours of usable battery life out of mine.

[ae86_16v]

I don't know why people are complaining. . . I get 3hrs just fine with mine.

Fellow2000 have you tried to use one of these machines before you are blaming it as "unacceptable"?

[iDaver]

I don't want to fan the flames but the more power expected in the way of CPU and hard disk speed, graphics performance, lighted keyboards, bright displays and the like, the more the battery takes a hit.

Hopefully someday we'll all have PowerBooks that run at 10Ghz and get 10 hours to a charge but it's only a dream right now.

As Wiskedjak suggests, perhaps an iBook would be better for you. Most people don't need the power of a G4 in the classroom. Some do.

Good luck with the decision.

[Fellow2000]

No, my university is not in a cave. But personally, that is where I like to study. Most places I study even have power outlets, I just find it a pain to have to look for one and then always be attatched to it by a cord. Secondly, I do not want to have to always sit in the same spot and get there early to get it for my lectures so I can be by a wall to type notes.

The power is important to me, as this will be a desktop replacement and I will be doing all my design work on it, I am definetly not going to a G3.

No, I have not actually gone and used one for 2 hours till the battery died, I personally just read everyone's reports. I am deaming it unnacceptable to me, because it seems like 2 hours of battery time for a computer is pathetic. It takes me 2 hours just to come up with my thesis, let along write a paper.

I don't know, maybe I am just being negative, but the fact is, I am willing to spend whatever it takes, I don't care if the powerbooks cost an extra 1000 just for longer battery life, it seems like there should be some solution.

I think that I will just buy an extra battery, but still, this is just more of a pain than only having one.

Can I just close the lid and then change the battery or do I need to fully shut it down and then restart it??

Thanx for your input guys, sorry for being negative, I just don't seem to like the thought of spending 2 thouseand dollars for something I can only use for 2 hours without finding an outlet.

[Drakino]

According to my manual that came with my new 15 inch Powerbook, I have 3 minutes in sleep mode to swap out a battery. So yes, the new 15 inch can have its battery replaced without shutting down.

[nagromme]

I think every PowerBook for a LONG time has been able to swap batteries without shutting down. Just close the lid (= sleep), swap, and open again.

[Peabo]

I get 3 hours in 10.2 with the brightness down. However, I get close to 5 hours with the same settings in 10.3!

[MusicalTone]

Why not tet a TiBook? Good price, excellent battery performance.

[toans]

You don't take a performance hit using a Centrino...a 1.5ghz Centrino is about equal to a 2.4-6 ghz P4 in most scenarios. The only performance hit you take is using Win XP

[Fellow2000]

Originally posted by toans:
You don't take a performance hit using a Centrino...a 1.5ghz Centrino is about equal to a 2.4-6 ghz P4 in most scenarios. The only performance hit you take is using Win XP

exactly.

The reason I want an Al, is because it has the updated features like the faster RAM..

ZONE81 - are you serious? 5 hours! That is wonderful news. What exact version of panther are you using? Please share. IF this is the case, I will surely get the pbook!!!! please tell!!!!!

[amazing]

The 15" and 17" Albooks have internal batteries, so the battery is hot-swappable during sleep.

The 12" does NOT have an internal battery. You have to shut the 12" down to swap batteries. That, plus the lower quality XGA TFT screen like the iBook's (along with a few other things more akin to iBooks) are what led many people to call the 12" a "super iBook" rather than a powerbook.

The present Rev B 12" has gone a fair ways towards rectifying that perception.

[pantalaimon]

Will 10.3 really make a big difference in battery life? How can an os make the battery last so much longer or is this just a myth or wishful thinking?

[ae86_16v]

Originally posted by pantalaimon:
Will 10.3 really make a big difference in battery life? How can an os make the battery last so much longer or is this just a myth or wishful thinking?

Better management.

Like I said, I regularly get up to 3hrs with Energy settings on and w/ the screen dimmed a bit. (The screen is so bright anyways, it doesn't matter when it is dimmed. It'll dimmed automatically if you have the sensors on.)

[Peabo]

Originally posted by Fellow2000:

ZONE81 - are you serious? 5 hours! That is wonderful news. What exact version of panther are you using? Please share. IF this is the case, I will surely get the pbook!!!! please tell!!!!!

it was 7B80. I didn't do anything other than turn the brightness down to minimum and I got 4:45 on the battery time. It's pretty impressive!

[woodsman]

You are right to be worried. I sold my 667Ti and got the 1.25 15"Al Pb. After 5 days of use, and draining and recharging the battery, I have a hard time getting more than 1:55 with reduced settings. That's pretty bad!
I need to use the PB in the field as a portable "darkroom" to capture big images from a 16 megapixel Kodak Digital Back. I ordered a spare battery, but it is on 3-week back order from Apple. I'm leaving town today, and I expect to have a dead battery way too soon.

I bought an "iGo" charger for use in the car and in the air (business class has outlets on many flights). That may save the day!
I expect that I will be tethered to some kind of plug until I can get 3 or 4 spare batteries from Apple.

How come this PB is bigger and weighs more than my Ti -- but has a smaller and weaker battery??? Isn't the battery kind of an important part of a laptop? I'd carry 4 more Oz. if it could be in the battery compartment!

Must say it was a disapointment, but other than the battery I love the new 1.25 Al PB.

So, get some power adapter cords and a spare battery - and then you will love this 15" Al PB.

Dick


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fellow2000:
[B]So I have been waiting for abotu 6 months for the powerbook update. I sold my powermac about 6 months ago in anticipation for it. Then when it finally came, I was impressed with both products, the 12 and the 15. I am totally udecided between the 2 still as of yet, but one thing is really bothering me. The battery life.

[Toutgood]

My 15" 1 gig tibook is offically a desktop computer. I've reset the nvram, drained the battery and it's just gets WORSE and WORSE. Sure I could do an archive and install and reinstal 10.2.6 but a friend in the same boat as me did that and it didn't work.

Apple's silence to me means they're hearing about it ( aren't they?) but don't care. I bought a laptop that now has about 1:15 of battery and Apple says nothing. I'm going back to my old Windows laptop and screw Apple I say! I've got work to do.

[MrK]

Originally posted by amazing:
The 15" and 17" Albooks have internal batteries, so the battery is hot-swappable during sleep.

The 12" does NOT have an internal battery. You have to shut the 12" down to swap batteries.

WAXCRASH: This is what I was referring to. Good to see the larger PBs still have the hot swap ability. Wish they would upgrade this feature on the 12" Or bring out 10 hr. batteries so I never have to carry a backup...

[Person Man]

Originally posted by Toutgood:
My 15" 1 gig tibook is offically a desktop computer. I've reset the nvram, drained the battery and it's just gets WORSE and WORSE. Sure I could do an archive and install and reinstal 10.2.6 but a friend in the same boat as me did that and it didn't work.

Do it anyways. I think that continuing to use the flawed version of 10.2.8 will continue to kill the battery more and more the longer you use it. Go back to 10.2.6.

Also, visit Macintouch to see that AppleCare is starting to acknowledge the problem. (Sept. 30 update).

[agentmouthwash]

yeah actually I heard the same thing about Panther. It's got a much better battery Management thus giving you more battery life.

[michael_on_mac]

Originally posted by Toutgood:
My 15" 1 gig tibook is offically a desktop computer.

Talking about desktop computers:

the german c't magazine recently stated that keeping a fully charged Li-Ion in a warm place (read: your PB) is the worst thing you could do in terms of battery life. We should expect a >40% decrease of capacity within one year...

but seems to be true,

Michael.

[cambro]

Is the battery life that bad on the new Al15" PBs??

I have a Ghz Ti book and, if I turn the screen down a bit, set performance to reduced, and avoid running randomly CPU gobbling applications (such as Illustrator 10, which sucks down CPU like crazy when it isn't doing a darn thing..seriously folks, run TOP and see if idle applications are sucking on the CPU), I can easily get 3.5 hours, usually more if just coding or something.

Obviously, battery life depends on what you are doing, but I have a hard time believing that people can't get more than 2 hrs with at least some power management.

EDIT: And for the love of peat don't base your estimate of battery life performance on what "time remaining" says!!! That is completely unreliable. Set your battery indicator on percent remaining and use the darn thing until you go in the red.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by cambro:
EDIT: And for the love of peat

Marvellous!

I think I'll take to spelling it that way!

Thanks,

-s*

[Peabo]

Here is the battery system menu in 10.3:
My battery life

This is on a rev b 17" which gets around 3 hours max in 10.2 with the same settings (brightness all the way down)

[Peabo]

I just tried it with 'longest battery life' checking in system prefs and got close to 5:30!

Battery Life

[sorkinesque]

if tomorrow I were to walk into an apple retail store with the powerbook I ordered online through apple edu and received yesterday, would they take it back, and the printer, and the iPod for a full refund? would there be some sort of open box fee?

there isn't anything wrong with any of the hardware per se, though 2:30 minutes on a full battery charge seems a little ridiculous to me...

thanks for any info

[ae86_16v]

I think there is a open box fee. . .

[icruise]

Originally posted by z0ne81:
I just tried it with 'longest battery life' checking in system prefs and got close to 5:30!

Battery Life

Are you actually getting that much, or are you just relying on what the display says? Because it can be quite a bit off in some cases. I've gotten as much as 4.5 hours on my 12" powerbook with everything (bluetooth, airport etc) off and the screen all the way down. It's probably closer to 3 if you have the screen higher and do more than just word processing.

[brapper]

I honestly get ~ 50mins on a full battery on my Tibook...it's pretty ridiculous when my classes are typically 1.5hrs.
Does anyone know if batteries are covered under warrantee?
'cause thatd make this guy pretty damn happy!
actually for that matter, are those flimsy adaptors covered under warrantee?

edit: Fine. I'll post my own thread.

[fisherKing]

and...that's true? the 12" batteries are NOT hot-swappable? bad news for me (as i was looking forward to that)

[cobra27]

Originally posted by fisherKing:
and...that's true? the 12" batteries are NOT hot-swappable? bad news for me (as i was looking forward to that)

Yes, it is CONFIRMED.

Just go to this link: http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html

Then click on the "Tech Overview" (near the top right side) to open the PDF file. Then turn to page 15. The 2nd paragraph only mention sleep-swapping for 15" and 17" models, not the 12".

[amazing]

Originally posted by Toutgood:
Apple's silence to me means they're hearing about it ( aren't they?) but don't care. I bought a laptop that now has about 1:15 of battery and Apple says nothing. I'm going back to my old Windows laptop and screw Apple I say! I've got work to do.

Have you called applecare--if so, what did they say? Anyway, if you want a better battery, check out newertech:

http://www.newertech.com/newer_bats.html

[wildcard]

I had problems with doing a "clean" install of 10.2.6 (not an archive/install, an actual fresh install)on a Rev A 12" Powerbook. The battery indicator didn't revert to normal until I booted to the OS CD, ran disk utility, initialized the hard drive, and then installed 10.2.3 fresh (and later updated to 10.2.6)

[icruise]

Originally posted by cobra27:
Yes, it is CONFIRMED.

Just go to this link: http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html

I've also "confirmed" it a few times by trying it myself... It's really quite annoying, since you have to shut down everything just to change the battery. I guess most Windows notebooks are like that too, but they have "save to disk" features so you can resume where you left off, which is better than nothing.