Barry Lake writes:
>You're right, [the iBook] is a bit underpowered, and it also happens to be
>a bit on the heavy side. ... However, the
>professional grade laptops they currently offer aren't underpowered at all,
>and they are quite lightweight (and quite pricey). I believe the batteries
>for these units are supposed to be rated at 4+ hours. Not too shabby...
I'd been shopping for a new laptop machine to replace my five-year-old
PowerBook 520c when Apple announced the iBook. I almost ordered one, but
just before hitting the "Submit" button on the order, the engineer in me
took over and I checked the specs. Comparing Apple's PowerBook
professional laptops to the iBook, I discovered that the professional
machines were significantly lighter and somewhat smaller. The iBook would
not have been underpowered for most of what I use it for, but small and
light is what matters most to me, assuming that the machine is otherwise
suited to my needs. (On the other hand, the PowerBook is also 60 - 120%
more expensive than the iBook.)
So I bought a PowerBook instead, a week before HPWorld. (I believe in
wringing all the value I can out of a purchase, and I succeeded in this
case: when I opened the door to the office on returning from HPWorld, I
was greeted by a noise that sounded like a blender full of ice cubes.
This turned out to be coming from the old laptop.) Living with the
PowerBook for just over a month, here's what I've discovered about
battery life:
1. Doing word processing, the battery lasts about 4-1/2 hours. (It
had gone four hours and the magic meter claimed another half-hour
of battery life.)
2. Doing software development, the battery lasted about 3-1/2 hours.
This is a lot more disc- and processor-intensive than word
processing.
3. Driving home from HPWorld, my kids watched a 2-1/2 hour DVD
movie on it. The magic meter claimed 20 minutes more battery
power at the end of the movie, which I'd started on a full
charge.
So far, incidentally, the battery has never died before the magic meter
indicates it should. Also, the system has an additional 128MB of memory
installed (for a total of 192MB); without this -- an additional 3 watts,
if I remember correctly -- I could expect longer battery life than I'm
getting.
Note that I follow all the manufacturer's recommendations to insure long
battery life: the hard disc is set to spin down after one minute of
inactivity, the processor power saving features are enabled, the display
backlight is set to minimum (which on this machine is perfectly adequate
except in direct sunlight), and the machine is set to go to sleep after
five minutes of inactivity. One thing that the original poster should
check is that the machine that's exhibiting short battery life has its
power management controls set properly.
-- Bruce
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