bad ibook battery... can new OS help me?

[QCassidy352]

reading another thread a minute ago I saw someone post that he gets 5-5.5 hours battery life on his ibook. I get under 3 for every day tasks, and under 2 watching a dvd. Apple tells me this is "normal," but I think it's garbage. Battery life was a big selling point of the ibook for me, and I can't even get through a short dvd.

So here's my question- do I need a new battery, or is there a chance that 10.2.5 (or Panther) could help me? My ipod's battery was suffering badly, and 1.2.6 made it literally better than the day I bought it, and better even than advertised (I get 11.5 hours now). I'm hoping that an OS update will resurrect by ibook battery in the same way, but is that a pipe dream?

 

[NavyIntel007]

10.2.4 has done some funny things to a lot of people's batteries. Some people are getting no battery life, others get normal. I went from getting 3.5 hours a charge to barely 2 hours and that's not even playing a DVD. My dad thinks it's normal but he has a PC so what good is his opinion (jk gotta love pops).

Anyway I was in the apple store in the falls talking to the resident geniuses and they said Apple knows about it and is working on it. Whether or not this is true, remains to be seen.

 

[BillyShears]

Kind of related, but not exactly what you want:

Try this for a hint on watching DVDs on your iBook.

Rip first, watch later.

 

[iJon]

Re: bad ibook battery... can new OS help me?

Originally posted by QCassidy352
reading another thread a minute ago I saw someone post that he gets 5-5.5 hours battery life on his ibook. I get under 3 for every day tasks, and under 2 watching a dvd. Apple tells me this is "normal," but I think it's garbage. Battery life was a big selling point of the ibook for me, and I can't even get through a short dvd.

So here's my question- do I need a new battery, or is there a chance that 10.2.5 (or Panther) could help me? My ipod's battery was suffering badly, and 1.2.6 made it literally better than the day I bought it, and better even than advertised (I get 11.5 hours now). I'm hoping that an OS update will resurrect by ibook battery in the same way, but is that a pipe dream?

apple does state this. battery life is CUT in half when you watch a movie. apple does have good battery life, its just common sense that a dvd cuts it in half. go look at alienwares laptop, cant even finish the battery test on the 1 battery.

iJon

 

[CrackedButter]

I get 5.5 hours regularly and all i do is reduce everything inside the laptop, processor, screen brightness, volume and send it to sleep as often as possible.

5.5 is enough for me but i can get 6+ if i put some effort into touch typing and stare at a black screen.

 

[Giaguara]

5 hours? lucky you.

i go now with 40 minutes of "safe time". anytime the battery is under 80 % it can go down .. i mean, forced sleep or shutdown with NEVER any preadvice.

more of that here . the 10.2.4 battery killer update. i still need to get a new battery ... 40 minutes suck, really.

 

[QCassidy352]

Re: Re: bad ibook battery... can new OS help me?

Originally posted by iJon
apple does state this. battery life is CUT in half when you watch a movie. apple does have good battery life, its just common sense that a dvd cuts it in half. go look at alienwares laptop, cant even finish the battery test on the 1 battery.

iJon

You sound just like the apple tech I talked to... kept telling me over and over how dvd watching is putting the heaviest possible load on the battery, blah blah blah. I know that. None the less, I get under 3 hours doing word processing. So when Apple says "up to 5 hours," under what condtions would that be? Not dvd watching, fine. That's not what I'm asking for. But word processing in appleworks is about as undemanding a task as you can get. If I'm under 3 hours doing that, seems to me that "up to 5 hours" is not accurate.

edit: anyway, this is all beside the point. Apple told me 8.5 hours battery life on my ipod was acceptable, so I said "fine," and went on my way. But then they released 1.2.6 and now I get 11.5 hours. So really, my only question was whether an OS update could possibly help this battery life, regardless of whether you think it's acceptable as it currently is.

 

[BillyShears]

What version OS are you using?

I'm pretty sure you could get "up to [and over] 5 hours" by turning off backlight, running the processor slower, turning off airport, not typing and letting it sleep...

 

[QCassidy352]

OS 10.2.4. I know that this has caused battery problems for others as well, but my battery has never performed as well as others have told me theirs have performed.

 

[iJon]

Re: Re: Re: bad ibook battery... can new OS help me?

Originally posted by QCassidy352
You sound just like the apple tech I talked to... kept telling me over and over how dvd watching is putting the heaviest possible load on the battery, blah blah blah. I know that. None the less, I get under 3 hours doing word processing. So when Apple says "up to 5 hours," under what condtions would that be? Not dvd watching, fine. That's not what I'm asking for. But word processing in appleworks is about as undemanding a task as you can get. If I'm under 3 hours doing that, seems to me that "up to 5 hours" is not accurate.

edit: anyway, this is all beside the point. Apple told me 8.5 hours battery life on my ipod was acceptable, so I said "fine," and went on my way. But then they released 1.2.6 and now I get 11.5 hours. So really, my only question was whether an OS update could possibly help this battery life, regardless of whether you think it's acceptable as it currently is.

this is with most laptop companies. you get 5 hours with all energy saver things on and just letting the computer sit there. real world specs will be about 3-4. my 12 inch powerbook gets about 3-4. not 5 but i already knew it wouldnt. just some things you gotta realize and just squeeze as much out of it as you can. thanks, good to know i sound like an apple tech.

iJon