[Ti] Battery Life-Fact or Fiction

[Kynan Shook]

Like it or not, it's industry-standard practice, and it's very unlikely 
it'll change any time soon.  Since everybody uses their computer in 
very very different ways, it's hard to benchmark a battery.  I have 
certainly gotten very close to, if not over the 4.5 hour rating on my 
17" PowerBook.  On my iBook, I left it unplugged and running one time 
for about 7.5 hours; the display was off, but the hard drive was 
spinning the whole time, which eats up a fair amount of power.  
However, if you crank up the backlight, or if energy saver is set to 
not drop performance when on battery, or if the hard drive is set to 
not go to sleep (or you just use it and it doesn't go to sleep), you'll 
get a lot less battery power.  Other things that drain a lot of power 
are the optical drive, most things that plug into the computer (USB, 
FireWire, DVI, VGA).  I'm not sure exactly how significant the power 
drain of Airport is; the actual wattage used to broadcast the radio 
signal is almost zilch; however, many times that amount of power are 
needed to run the airport circuitry.  The processor is also a HUGE 
drain, if it's being used a lot.  For that reason, I keep a CPU monitor 
in the dock all the time; when something is monopolizing the CPU, I can 
try to correct it before my battery starts getting used to heat my lap. 
  Similarly, the graphics chip will drain more power if it's under heavy 
use.

There are literally hundreds of things you can do to extend your 
battery life, but if you really really have problems with your battery 
running out, either buy a second one, or carry your power adapter 
around with you.  I go between work and classes all day; charging at 
work, using it on battery in class.  I've never run out of battery 
anywhere, and I sometimes will use it for several hours plus a class or 
two between chargings without getting too close to running out of 
power.


Terry Houle <houle at citilink.com> writes:
> Wondering want others thing of battery life claims by Apple on the
> Power Book.  I have a 12"AL that I bought in February.  While Apple
> claims UP to 5 hours I don't believe that is realistic.  I think 2 or 3
> might be more accurate.  I feel I am being lied to.  While it may be
> indeed UP to 5 hours I feel that is no way indicative of reality and
> all spin.  I think Apple should come up with a better benchmark of
> REALITY and not publish this misleading information.
>
>   Maybe if enough say " I am mad as hell and will not take it anymore"
> Apple  might consider a reality check.  Other thought on agree or
> disagree?