10 minutes before battery is empty... change

[willybNL]

Hi there,

I always get a message when my battery is almost empty, exacty 10 minutes before it's empty.

Though, this thing in OS-X is buggy:

- If i change my cpu usage (by killing a program) or making the display less bright, mostly i can make my macbook to work for another 20 minutes. And I'll receive that message up till a couple of times.

So, i started to ignore it... but since my macbook sometimes doesn't save the system into a correct sleep state (yeah, hate it, but i hate applecare more ;p) i sometimes loose my data if i'm not connecting the battery a minute before it collapses.

My question is:
How can I change the time that this message arrives. I would like to put it on 3 minutes instead of 10 (under windows i know it, under OS-X i couldn't find it).

 

[Cromulent]

Hi there,

I always get a message when my battery is almost empty, exacty 10 minutes before it's empty.

Though, this thing in OS-X is buggy:

- If i change my cpu usage (by killing a program) or making the display less bright, mostly i can make my macbook to work for another 20 minutes. And I'll receive that message up till a couple of times.

So, i started to ignore it... but since my macbook sometimes doesn't save the system into a correct sleep state (yeah, hate it, but i hate applecare more ;p) i sometimes loose my data if i'm not connecting the battery a minute before it collapses.

My question is:
How can I change the time that this message arrives. I would like to put it on 3 minutes instead of 10 (under windows i know it, under OS-X i couldn't find it).

Why is it buggy?

If you stop using your computer as much it does not use as much power thus enabling your Macbook to work for longer. It is just common sense.

If you run it completely empty why are you surprised you lose data? The whole point of that message is so that you can save your work and stop using the laptop until you either charge the battery or replace it with another one.

 

[smurfy]

Well if it shows up ten minutes before you have ten minutes to save your stuff and shutdown.

 

[synth3tik]

My question is:
How can I change the time that this message arrives. I would like to put it on 3 minutes instead of 10 (under windows i know it, under OS-X i couldn't find it).

Thats not a feature you can change. If you just generally have the screen dimmed and use less programs at the same time you will have a longer run before the message shows up. It's there for a reason.

It's kind of like asking how you can shut off the low oil level indicator on your car.

 

[mkrishnan]

Unless I'm misunderstanding... even with Macbooks with Safe Sleep, the computer shouldn't be shutting down immediately or even very soon after the battery runs to "zero." It should stay in regular (ie still battery powered) sleep for some time... my experience, IIRC, more than a day. It should not be particularly easy at all to run the battery down enough to have the Macbook shut down. At least, with my iBook, I've never had that happen in four years. I have had it get all the way down to auto sleep, though.

Isn't the Macbook the same?

So this behavior just doesn't sound right all the way around.

 

[ingenious]

Why is it buggy?

If you stop using your computer as much it does not use as much power thus enabling your Macbook to work for longer. It is just common sense.

If you run it completely empty why are you surprised you lose data? The whole point of that message is so that you can save your work and stop using the laptop until you either charge the battery or replace it with another one.

No, even after it goes to :00 on the battery menulet in OS X, you still have enough residual charge to maintain memory state for a few/several hours.