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powerbook care

P

PBG4

macrumors member
Original poster
May 19, 2005
40
1
Orange County, CA
just got my powerbook about 3 weeks ago,
wondering if anything i should keep my eyes on.
a few question for everyone who have powerbook/ibook
do you leave your powerbook/ibook on for a long period of time?(without sleep)
go to sleep or shut down by the end of the day?
keep powerbook plugged and battary out? or leave the battary in and plugged the same time?
what kind of case you use to carry your powerbook/ibook?

i used my powerbook like a desktop, so i use it about 4-8hrs a day. and most of the time i will leave it sleep over night instead of shutting down.
and i let my powerbook plugged with the battary in at all times...
since i dont have a case yet, im not taking my powerbook out YET.

thanks for sharing. any additional tip would help too.
 
I use my 12" powerbook if I'm working which is about everyday, its turned on 6-8 hours each day, and I just put it to sleep don't turn it off during the week, may turn it off if I know I will not be using it the following day. I have it plugged in with the battery in. for carrying it around with me, I have a glove for it, made of this weird material thats absorbs impacts, can't remember who made it sorry.
 
I put my PB to sleep. It's turned off only if I'm not going to be using it for several days which is rare.

Try to avoid using the PB with the battery in and plugged in if you can. Batteries only have a certain number of charge/discharge cycles (500-800?). If you go through them, you'll end up buying a new battery sooner than you expected. Don't be like these guys and think that a rechargeable battery will last forever. (If I'm wrong on this, someone please point this out.)

If you're looking for a case, check out the case thread.

My favorite is the Vyper sleeve by BOOQ
 
I have a Crumpler School Hymn and it is a great case. Someone wrote a great article which made me buy it and im glad i did https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/78952/

I have heard the ZeroShock sleeve is good too. And the Booq ones look good too but I havent read a review of one.

sw1tcher can u write a review of the Viper sleeve with pictures? That would be great!
 
cwedl said:
I use my 12" powerbook if I'm working which is about everyday, its turned on 6-8 hours each day, and I just put it to sleep don't turn it off during the week, may turn it off if I know I will not be using it the following day. I have it plugged in with the battery in. for carrying it around with me, I have a glove for it, made of this weird material thats absorbs impacts, can't remember who made it sorry.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the ZeroShock. It is also released under some other names as well.
 
I never shut my PB down, since I use it every day. During the day, I let it sleep when I am not using it. I sometimes run it off the battery, and sometimes plugged in, in accordance with this faq. Personally, I never take the battery out when I'm not using it. I try to calibrate the battery once every two weeks or once every month, by letting the battery drain out and then recharging it. This helps to keep the battery life approximation accurate. I agree that you should check out the Case thread if you're interested in cases, since what you will want depends on your personal needs in terms of bag capacity. My personal choice is the Booq Powersleeve, since it has a couple of pockets but is not bulky. Other people might want something slimmer still, or something with more space. To clean my PB, I use the iClean, since it was recommended by the guy at the Apple store. It's a little pricey, but it seems to work great.
 
Even at home I tend to move around with my PowerBook, so I leave my battery in all the time and alternate between plugged and unplugged. I find that generally with laptops, if you use them intensively, the battery will only last 2 or 3 years, after which you'll probably only have about 5 minutes of usage between charges. But you can always pickup a replacement.
 
I'm on the verge of buying a 12" PB

One thing you can do to reduce wear and tear is to use an external keybd and mouse when you can - like at the office or at your home office - this just reduces wear on the mechanical parts of the notebook - and its cheap to do -- use the laptop keybd and track pad when your really remote or mobile
 
From the Apple site:
You have to fully charge and then discharge your battery only once to calibrate it. After that, you can connect and disconnect the power adapter when the battery is at any charge level.


Keep in mind they say only ONCE is this needed !!!!!!!!!!

I worked in R+D at Intel for many years - had the priviledge of working with one of their battery experts ---- bottom line is this .... the new lithium Ion batteries DON'T LIKE TO BE FULLY DISCHARGED !!!! - These are not like NiCad
batteries ----------- just the opposite -- they LIKE TO BE ON TRICKLE CHARGE. So to extend battery life - plug in often - and don't discahrge fully unless you have to - same goes for cel phones - palms - etc
 
I keep this PB on all day and night, only switching it off if not going to be used for a couple of days. As others have said - this is rare so it doesn't often get turned off. I plug it in when I'm at work but don't take the battery out. If it lasts for 2-3 years and I have to pay £40 for a new one, then no big deal. I wouldn't expect a cell-phone battery to last longer than 2 years so no reason why the Powerbook one should under constant use?

Anyone offer any times for a power charge on their PB? Mine is hovering around 2-2.5 hours if not allowed to go to sleep (ie, pretty constant use).
 
my powerbook is on 24/7 except for updates.

i just have the annoyance of the keys getting dirty in between them which is hard to clean with kleenex and such. so i do something that i prolly shouldn't do, but i use a needle and just rub it off with the needle, because it is smaller than my finger so no worry of the key popping out
 
Bad_JuJu said:
From the Apple site:
You have to fully charge and then discharge your battery only once to calibrate it. After that, you can connect and disconnect the power adapter when the battery is at any charge level.


Keep in mind they say only ONCE is this needed !!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Where did you find this? I was looking at the battery calibration information on Apple's website (linked) where they said it should be done "when you first use your computer and then every few months thereafter". I've done it probably 3 times since getting my machine in February, and from my experience it is necessary to keep the display accurate--last time I recalibrated (yesterday) it had been at least two months since the previous time, and the computer shut off before ever reaching the low battery warning, seeming to indicate that the information had become inaccurate. I'm a recent switcher and was hoping that following Apple's advice wouldn't reduce the life of my battery--are you saying it will? And if so, what is to be done then about the battery display being inaccurate?
 
I just re-read the apple site and they sort of contradict themselves - by saying do this only once and then saying do it every few months to recalibrate the accuraccy of the battery predictor SW - sooooooo - based on what I know I might do this a few times a year --- I was just trying to get the point accross that LiOn batts really don't like or need to be constantly discharged - and like to be trickle charged
 
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