Spare Battery Usage

[jesuisme]

Dear All,

I'm about to buy a 15" Al PowerBook 1.25 GHz and I have some questions regarding buying a spare battery:

1. If I buy the spare and don't use it that often, will it "go bad" from not being used?

2. How much battery life can I expect if I'm doing 3D visualizations, mathematical simulations, etc? I've seen the new posts from members getting 4.5 hours and I'd love to hear from some of the members who use their powerbooks as desktop replacments...

Peace,
jesuisme

 

[sahnert]

I'm sorry I don't have info on battery life when using it as a desktop replacement. I always use the power adapter at my desk. Isn't that an option?

 

[jesuisme]

Thanks for the response.

I will be using it at my desk at work. However, one of the benefits of a notebook is mobility. I'd like to use my PB at full power without having to scrounge for an outlet all the time. Also, I want to frag while flying . So, having an idea of how much battery life I can expect is important to my decision (or maybe I should just get really good at outlet hunting )

Any suggestions as to how long a battery is "good" when it is used sparingly?

 

[sahnert]

Okay sorry for not being much help again, but for what it's worth apple just released a battery update for powerbooks and ibooks in software updater. Some users noted that this more than doubled the life they were getting before with numbers like up to 4.5 hours. I think that might be the high end. I personally don't do intensive stuff away from an outlet a lot because I always have to be hooked up to other things like scanners, cameras, audio stuff etc. but every once in a while I purposefully run as much stuff as possible on battery power to run it down in order to calibrate it. Apple recommends doing this when you first use the computer but i've been doing this about once a month or maybe a bit less. anyhow, after I installed the battery updater I did this again. I had everything in my dock open which is 14 applications plus opened iMovie, BIAS Peak, Sibelius and maybe a few others, oh yeah the full screen visualizer in iTunes. I had the CPU monitor running and it was running full speed most of the time. I started with the battery at about 45% and it took I think over an hour to run it the rest of the way down even with all that stuff running. So I would imagine if you are just doing a few apps at a time, even if its photoshop, you should be good on one battery. I am running the 12" PB and don't know how the 15" compares, but it seems like I remeber reading that the 15" is better(?). maybe not. Again, sorry i'm not much help. I would suggest getting it without the extra battery first and assesing your useage. Unless it's a significant discount to get the extra battery at the time you order the machine. Hope any of this helps.