[P1] Battery Observations

[Brian Pearce]

> My 2 cents on Li-ion batteries. I know there is not supposed to be a 
> memory effect, but I still run my batteries all the way down and then 
> charge them all the way up.

I've done the same, out of habit (because there's so much conflicting 
information on the subject), and I think I've gotten reasonably long 
life from the battery that came with my Key Lime iBook, which is about 
two-and-a half years old; these days, it holds a charge of about 90 
minutes. (I suspect that some of this is due to an increase in disc 
access in OS X, but I don't spent enough time booting from OS 9 these 
days to make an accurate comparison.)

I'll have to find out how the battery that shipped with my Tangerine 
iBook (which was passed along to my father-in-law) is fairing these 
days. (I employed the same technique, but I doubt he's been as 
compulsive about it as I was.) It's about three-and-a-half years old.

(By the way, anyone have a good source for the "clamshell" batteries? I 
could certainly use a new one, and my father-in-law has to be about 
due...)

BRIAN/bpearce at cloud9.net