[JKT]

I'm interested in getting the top end 15" PB. Can anyone tell me:

1. If upping the VRAM to 128MB will cut the expected battery life (and if so, by how much - significant or insignificant?)

2. If upping the HD to 5200 rpm will cut expected battery life?

3. What could I expect the typical and max battery life for the 1.5GHz processor to be? Apple states 4.5hours max for the 1.33GHz.

A big TIA for any replies.

[macwayne]

1. Increasing the ram will not affect battery life at all. Go for it and put as much in as you can. Ram is cheap right now and will probably be going up in price will soon, so why not spring for a 512 chip?
2. Not really
3. I get about 3.5 hrs with airport enabled, simple surfing etc.
go out and enjoy your book!

[JKT]

Originally posted by macwayne:
1. Increasing the ram will not affect battery life at all. Go for it and put as much in as you can. Ram is cheap right now and will probably be going up in price will soon, so why not spring for a 512 chip?
2. Not really
3. I get about 3.5 hrs with airport enabled, simple surfing etc.
go out and enjoy your book!

Thanks for the reply, but it isn't the RAM, but the VRAM on the graphics card... any ideas if that would impact battery life (would the graphics card e.g. require more cooling than the 64MB version?)

[wtmcgee]

the only thing that will cause some battery life loss might be the HDD.

the VRAM won't be an issue when compared to a 64mb card.

as far as battery life goes, i had a 800mhz TiBook a while ago, and when new, i got about 4 hours max. a normal charge was closer to 3 hours or so. your milage will vary, depending on what you're doing, etc. good luck with your purchase!

[sbc]

I had some quick questions to add too. Can you dock a webpage window and a word document window side by side on either the 15" or 17"? Often I like to surf the net and be able to jot stuff down in an Office program without having to minimize and maximize windows constantly.

Also, what is the battery life difference between the 15 and 17"?

Given how thin the PBs are, is the portability of either that cumbersome?

[xylon]

Originally posted by sbc:
I had some quick questions to add too. Can you dock a webpage window and a word document window side by side on either the 15" or 17"? Often I like to surf the net and be able to jot stuff down in an Office program without having to minimize and maximize windows constantly.

Also, what is the battery life difference between the 15 and 17"?

Given how thin the PBs are, is the portability of either that cumbersome?

You can easily fit a Word document and a Web Browser window on a 17" screen. I have a 17" and have found that I can fit 3 (with a bit of resizing) Word documents on my screen. Handy when editing.

Battery life for the 17" will be significantly lower. I tend to get around 2 hours and 45 minutes with the screen dimmed down a touch. My coworkers with 15"ers tend to get around 3 to 3 and a half hours of battery life.

I actually really like the thinness of the 17". When I work on the 15", I'm a bit offset by the added thickness, but that really isn't (or shouldn't be) an issue. The 17" is a bit tougher to carry about however and so I don't carry it around every day. That said, I still carry it around when I need to give presentations, so it isn't too bad.