I'm looking at a new 15" Powerbook, and I was wondering, on average, what people who have them think of the battery life. Thanks 
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How are the batteries in 15'' PBs?
- Thread starter phreakout13
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Around 2.5 hours on CPU 'automatic performance' setting...
About 4.2 hours on 'low'.....
And....(I love this one) 40 minutes on 'maximum setting'.
Also, the battery is loose and it wobbles (very annoying). Not to mention the keyboard adhesive problems.....*sigh*. If you haven't heard, the keyboard is held onto the computer with tape. It's very cheap tape. And, if you're lucky (like me), your keyboard keys (mostly K, L, Arrows, Right Shift) have a weird sort of 'sticky' feeling to them. That's the key tapping against the top of the computer case, thanks to faulty tape.
Probably the most depressing discoveries after spending $2,524...I hope I don't run into any more. If I do, I may be forced to get a PC notebook next time...
I must admit, my old 12" felt a lot more 'solid'. If it weren't for those two flaws, I would be 100% satisfied with the computer.
But to answer your question...I don't mind the battery life. For browsing / chatting / simple things...dim the screen to '1' brightness, set the CPU to 'low' in the energy saver and you're looking at around 4.2 (or more) hours of usage. Sadly, battery life for gaming / dvd viewing / burning or ripping dvds / video editing / music production / anything else a powerbook is purchased for instead of an iBook is pretty....what's the word? Oh yeah, 'lackluster'...
About 4.2 hours on 'low'.....
And....(I love this one) 40 minutes on 'maximum setting'.
Also, the battery is loose and it wobbles (very annoying). Not to mention the keyboard adhesive problems.....*sigh*. If you haven't heard, the keyboard is held onto the computer with tape. It's very cheap tape. And, if you're lucky (like me), your keyboard keys (mostly K, L, Arrows, Right Shift) have a weird sort of 'sticky' feeling to them. That's the key tapping against the top of the computer case, thanks to faulty tape.
Probably the most depressing discoveries after spending $2,524...I hope I don't run into any more. If I do, I may be forced to get a PC notebook next time...
I must admit, my old 12" felt a lot more 'solid'. If it weren't for those two flaws, I would be 100% satisfied with the computer.
But to answer your question...I don't mind the battery life. For browsing / chatting / simple things...dim the screen to '1' brightness, set the CPU to 'low' in the energy saver and you're looking at around 4.2 (or more) hours of usage. Sadly, battery life for gaming / dvd viewing / burning or ripping dvds / video editing / music production / anything else a powerbook is purchased for instead of an iBook is pretty....what's the word? Oh yeah, 'lackluster'...
4 Hours on automatic and DVD playback
up to 3 hours on highest
4.5 on Highest Battery mode
and
4 hours on Presentation
I run off the battery once a month, to make sure the cells are all working and running properly.
Hope this helps.
up to 3 hours on highest
4.5 on Highest Battery mode
and
4 hours on Presentation
I run off the battery once a month, to make sure the cells are all working and running properly.
Hope this helps.
You will never reach 4 hours with DVD playback!!!!
No apple laptop has reached 4 hours with dvd playback.
My 12" has larger battery and smaller screen than the 15" and mine doesn't reach more than 2.5-3.0 hours of dvd playback. Not even ibooks reach more than about 3-3.5 hours of playback.
The 15" IS the apple laptop with the poorest battely life...
(But its still better than most PC-laptops except the centrinos)
Normal usage gives better battery life than dvd playback.
I get about 4-4.5 hours with airport on and running a texteditor, mozilla and msn. Screen brightness on about 50%.. The 15" will be about 30 min less.
No apple laptop has reached 4 hours with dvd playback.
My 12" has larger battery and smaller screen than the 15" and mine doesn't reach more than 2.5-3.0 hours of dvd playback. Not even ibooks reach more than about 3-3.5 hours of playback.
The 15" IS the apple laptop with the poorest battely life...
(But its still better than most PC-laptops except the centrinos)
Normal usage gives better battery life than dvd playback.
I get about 4-4.5 hours with airport on and running a texteditor, mozilla and msn. Screen brightness on about 50%.. The 15" will be about 30 min less.
2:30 real-world work, everything enabled and actually working. might be longer if i did nothing and had everything extras disabled, but why would i do that?