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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > What's your mileage?

What's your mileage?
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Nawus
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Feb 23, 2002, 07:27 PM
 
When I unplug my ibook in the morning after charging it overnight, the battery indicator usually shows 4 hours or something less. I am using 10.1.3 with 384 mb of RAM. What's everyone else getting?
     
Technicolor
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Feb 23, 2002, 08:12 PM
 
10.1.3, 256mb, iBook 500 DVD, I'm getting 4 hours 5 minutes but then that quickly changes to 2 hours 45 minutes bummin.

     
vvedge
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Feb 23, 2002, 09:24 PM
 
10.1.3, 384 megs, 500 mhz CD-RW...

Gets 2 hours 45 mins to 3 hours on the road. Sleeping most of the time with the brightness at 3-5 above darkest.
--whats this button do?

Goodbye koobi
... we had fun, but Apple Repair and the years have not been kind to you... godspeed...
     
ramenite
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Feb 23, 2002, 09:43 PM
 
10.1.2 iBook 600mhz dvd/cdr combo drive and 384 megs of ram

I just got off the train(90 min ride) and when it was over I had 41% left. I was watching a DVD(Groundhog Day) at the time. I've been getting 4+ hours off my battery for the most part. I should time it for and exact total. The guy next to me with a recent Dell was very surprised at the battry life I got, I'll tell you that much
     
x user
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Feb 24, 2002, 12:28 AM
 
Battery life more me averages less then 2 hours for me 10.1.3
     
funkboy
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Feb 24, 2002, 01:20 AM
 
Originally posted by ramenite:
<STRONG>10.1.2 iBook 600mhz dvd/cdr combo drive and 384 megs of ram

I just got off the train(90 min ride) and when it was over I had 41% left. I was watching a DVD(Groundhog Day) at the time. I've been getting 4+ hours off my battery for the most part. </STRONG>
Wow, you really get 4 hours even in OS X? I get around 2 hours or so in there, maybe a bit closer to 3... but definitely less than in OS 9. I can sit on the couch for a long time (trust me ) before going back to plug in with 9, but with X it's not too long before I need to plug it back in. The hard disk spins so much in X...

<STRONG>
The guy next to me with a recent Dell was very surprised at the battry life I got, I'll tell you that much
</STRONG>
PC laptops suck in battery life I hear. I've never used one for a prolonged period of time, but the one I did come into use the most with was deemed unusable on battery and needed to be kept on AC power for real using of the system... made me appreciate my iBook all the more
     
dragonbong
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Feb 24, 2002, 06:09 AM
 
Wow 4hrs that's freaking amazing man. I can at most push around 3hrs off my battery. Ibook dvd 600mhz 256mb. I heard that some people have gotten extended battery life after 10.1.3? anyone else find this, i'm on 10.1.3 and no show.
________________________________________________
iMac 20" 2.66g GHz Dual-Core
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iPhone 16GB, iTouch 8GB
     
Nawus  (op)
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Feb 24, 2002, 10:03 AM
 
Originally posted by dragonbong:
<STRONG>Wow 4hrs that's freaking amazing man. I can at most push around 3hrs off my battery. Ibook dvd 600mhz 256mb. I heard that some people have gotten extended battery life after 10.1.3? anyone else find this, i'm on 10.1.3 and no show. </STRONG>
Yes, with 10.1.2, my indicator usually shows less than 3 hours when fully charged, but close to 4 hours (3:45) in 10.1.3.
     
ramenite
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Feb 24, 2002, 02:23 PM
 
Yeah, the does seem to be longer then what alot of people are getting, maybe it's because I have one of the more recient iBooks? I only got mine about a week ago, after they anounced the new iBooks. Maybe they have some internal differneces, or possibe a bigger battery?
     
Chimpmaster
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Feb 25, 2002, 02:25 AM
 
I can get 5 hrs in 0s 9.2.2 with minimum usage (ie just word or something).

If I game or use apps, maybe 4 hours.

In osx its a joke. Im lucky to get 3 hrs, and if i am gaming or something, it can be only 2.

Mind you, i have the 2000 model ibook, but still... osx chews up that battery life.
MacBook Alu, 13", 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, 256MB video
G5 Imac, 17", 1.9Ghz, 1.5GB RAM, 128MB video, built in isight, airport and bluetooth
Indigo iBook, 366mhz; 320MB RAM; CD; FW; Airport
     
vvedge
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Feb 25, 2002, 03:09 AM
 
3 hours sucks man... 40% less than the promised 5 hours...

If Apple's making the full blown move to OSX, they've gotta build better power settings into OSX, or newbies are gonna buy an ibook (booting into OS X by default, mind you) and start complaining.

Something maybe for 10.2... whenever thats supposed to be on the way...
--whats this button do?

Goodbye koobi
... we had fun, but Apple Repair and the years have not been kind to you... godspeed...
     
ccsccs7
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Feb 25, 2002, 04:35 AM
 
With a full battery, online running Netscape 6.2.1, OS X 10.1.3 and screen set to one notch I get a reported 3 Hours 30 Minutes of battery time after pulling the plug.
12" Powerbook 1.5GHz/SuperDrive, 1.25GB Ram, 80GB HD, Airport Extreme, Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger
iBook (Late 2001)600MHz/Combo, 640MB RAM, 20GB HD, Airport, Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther ā€” web server
     
joltguy
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Feb 25, 2002, 07:43 AM
 
I seem to get about 3 hours off of my battery in X (haven't ran 9 for more than 10 consecutive minutes on this machine). I'd agree with vvedge though, now that Apple is shipping OS X as the default, they're either going to have to seriously build up power management in X or stop promising 5-6 hour battery life. It seems to be one of the primary bullets they refer to when selling the iBook and Powerbook, so I'm sure we can expect them to devote some programmer resources to it.
     
msc1974
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Feb 26, 2002, 03:57 AM
 
iBook 600Mhz 14" with 256Mb RAM
9 hours 42mins for about 6 secs and then it changed to 3hours 43min
     
stew
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Feb 26, 2002, 02:51 PM
 
(iBook dual USB 600MHz DVD 640MB RAM)

normal usage (usually with the display at low brighness):
3-3.5 hrs in OS X, 3.5-4 hrs in OS 9
watching DVD in OS 9 gives me 2.5 hrs


Stink different.
     
gacuna
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Feb 26, 2002, 09:27 PM
 
yeah I am also getting around 4:25, when I leave it to fully charge and well yeah I think if you set the processor to a slower speed u willl get the closest to the advertised 5 hours.
     
ringo
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Feb 27, 2002, 01:31 PM
 
iBook 500mhz 256 MB RAM, OS X.1.3 w/ Airport card:

Showing 2 hr and 31 minutes after pulling plug.

Currently running IE, Terminal, Xwindows, and FINK.

Not at all happy with the battery life on this computer. Apple promised 4 hours, and they were the ones who configured my iBook to boot in osX, so they should know better.

Liars.

Cheers,
Ringo
     
voodoo
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Feb 27, 2002, 04:11 PM
 
Well, I use my book at school, and get somewhere between 100 to 120 minutes of power on a full battery. During that time I am running M$ Word and AirPort using Mac OS X 10.1.3

I'd like to see better results, but I can work with this.

The working time in OS 9 is about 200 mins., but I don't use 9 anymore...

Apple MUST be able to tweak OS X so the power consumption is on par with OS 9. Here's me hoping.
I could take Sean Connery in a fight... I could definitely take him.
     
Scooterboy
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Feb 27, 2002, 07:02 PM
 
I average between 2 and 3 hours on my iBook 600 Combo 12.1" with 384 MB RAM. That's with the screen brightness between half and full (I like it bright) and Airport, Explorer, Omniweb, Mail, Sherlock, and
Fire running all the time, and occasional Quicktime movies playing and with iMovie 2 sometimes running, and maybe ripping a CD now and then. Burning really drains the battery fairly quickly. I'll try playing a DVD on battery the next time I fly. I'd like better but I can't complain the way I use mine.
Scooters are more fun than computers and only slightly more frustrating
     
gacuna
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Feb 27, 2002, 11:07 PM
 
there are a lot of tricks u can do to improve battery time, you can dim the screen, u can set for the lower minimal settings on the processor hard disk, etc.
     
nick h
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Mar 1, 2002, 07:29 AM
 
About 3 hours. Brightness up all the way. Couple small programs open. USB mouse plugged in.
Roam: iBook (Dual USB) ~ 600Mhz, 384MB, 15GB, DVD, 12.1", OS X
     
SeSawaya
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Mar 1, 2002, 09:43 AM
 
So MY quesitons is, do you leave it pluged in all the time when oyu can? I've had my iBook for about 9 months and think the battery is crap now. I rarely use just the battery anymore. Yesterday my wife called and said the ibook wouldnt turn on no matter what she did. I told her I didnt turn it off!! She took the battery out and put it back in and it started up.....but it was still always pluged in!!! WTF! I've been thinking about buying a new battery but $120 is a bit much. How long do these things last and can I re condition it like in my old 1400?

Oh yah 500/320 with 10.1.2
     
aloner
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Mar 1, 2002, 11:58 PM
 
When I pull the plug, the battery icon on the menu bar shows 4h. 25 m.
However, after 15 minutes surfing the Web using Airport, it went down to 3h. 36m
     
   
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