Battery Life

[afortner]

I just bought a 12" Powerbook G4. It's my first mac since using them in elementary school, and I am pretty excited.

Does anyone have any tips on how to make the battery last? I can uaually get about 3 hours- but it would be nice to get that 5 hours.

Throw me some suggestions please. (I hope I am not asking a question that has been asked over and over. If so, feel free to point me in the right diffection of another thread.)

Thanks

 

[stoid]

I'm certain that there is a thread somewhere, but I'm too lazy to search.

If you haven't yet, run your battery until the computer puts itself to sleep. This calibrates the battery. You should do this at least every other month so that the battery continues to display the correct percentage left.

You should run it off of it's battery at least once a week, even if this means running it on your desk with the power adaptor unplugged. The battery lives longest when it's juice is kept flowing.

One other note of importance is that you need to plug the power adaptor into the wall before you plug it into the laptop. Doing it the other way around can confuse the power management chip in the laptop, and cause some funky problems.

And most importantly, enjoy your new PowerBook!

 

[abhishekit]

One other note of importance is that you need to plug the power adaptor into the wall before you plug it into the laptop. Doing it the other way around can confuse the power management chip in the laptop, and cause some funky problems.

why would that be ?? , until you plug the adaptor in the wall, your pb won't even know that you have the power cord attached.

 

[abhishekit]

 

[cluthz]

I just bought a 12" Powerbook G4. It's my first mac since using them in elementary school, and I am pretty excited.

Does anyone have any tips on how to make the battery last? I can uaually get about 3 hours- but it would be nice to get that 5 hours.

Throw me some suggestions please. (I hope I am not asking a question that has been asked over and over. If so, feel free to point me in the right diffection of another thread.)

Thanks

I don't get 5 hours with the powerbook, but i get a good 4+ hours.
(with airport on, bt off, running mozilla, terminal, amsn and subethaedit. i never brings the power adapter to classes)
First you'll need to calibrate the battery. (drain it completely and the recharge it).
Use the Energy Saver Control panel, and be sure to NOT have processor performance to Highest... Also check "put hard drive to sleep whenever possible".

Dim the screen as much as comfortable, and turn of bluetooth and airport whenever they aren't used.

 

[afortner]

Thanks for the tips everyone. It is much appreciated.

 

[BakedBeans]

when you have the laptop running on battery do these things to improve life
(not read other replies so might repeating this)

1, in energy saver make sure settings are set to longest battery life

2, turn off bluetooth and airport extreme

3, turn brightness on the screen down

4, calibrate batt (as in user manual)

thats all i can suggest...