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Battery question

So, I had been using my laptop as a desktop the last few days and just used it as a proper laptop for the first time last night. The battery only lasted 2 hours! My question to you experienced laptop folks:

Is this normal? I let the battery die yesterday, and I am letting it recharge fully today before I power it up. Does this help? Is there anything else I can do to help my battery? 2 hours is just not enough to be useful on the road. Do laptop batteries usually start out poor and then get better with age?

Any experience with this, or advice appreciated, thanks!

PS - I am also looking for a laptop bag for this thing as well. I remember on one of the Merom threads a few months ago someone had a link to a UK company that had all sorts of funny names for their bags, does anyone know what company that was?

PPS - Does anyone know if I can have Apple upgrade my harddrive in the future? Or do I need to plan on performing surgery in another 6 months?
 
Charge-Discharge Several Times To Get The Battery To Last Longer

damienvfx said:
So, I had been using my laptop as a desktop the last few days and just used it as a proper laptop for the first time last night. The battery only lasted 2 hours! My question to you experienced laptop folks:

Is this normal? I let the battery die yesterday, and I am letting it recharge fully today before I power it up. Does this help? Is there anything else I can do to help my battery? 2 hours is just not enough to be useful on the road. Do laptop batteries usually start out poor and then get better with age?

Any experience with this, or advise appreciated, thanks!

PS - I am also looking for a laptop bag for this thing as well. I remember on one of the Merom threads a few months ago someone had a link to a UK company that had all sorts of funny names for their bags, does anyone know what company that was?
Click to expand...
You have to charge and discharge it several times before it starts lasting longer. Also use the Energy Saver settings, lower the screen brightness and minimize background operations.
 
damienvfx said:
So, I had been using my laptop as a desktop the last few days and just used it as a proper laptop for the first time last night. The battery only lasted 2 hours! My question to you experienced laptop folks:

Is this normal? I let the battery die yesterday, and I am letting it recharge fully today before I power it up. Does this help? Is there anything else I can do to help my battery? 2 hours is just not enough to be useful on the road. Do laptop batteries usually start out poor and then get better with age?

Any experience with this, or advise appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...

Maybe this helps ?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86284
 
Battery Conditioning Instructions Are In Your Owners Manual

Triplenickle said:
Just curious.. what is "several times"? 3, 5, 10, 20?
Click to expand...
3-4. Read in your manual how to condition your battery for longer life. Plus the more often you use it the longer it will hold a full charge. If you don't use it much, the maximum charge level will go down.
usvi4me said:
Maybe this helps ? Calibrating your computer's battery for best performance
Click to expand...
Zactly. Great post. :) Hell it's so small I'm just gonna reprint it right here:

"MacBook Pro (all models), and MacBook Pro (17-inch) (all models)

The battery calibration for the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) and any model of MacBook or MacBook Pro has been updated because of a new battery released with this computer. With these computers, follow these steps to calibrate your battery:

1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook's battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
2. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
3. Disconnect the power adapter with the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.
4. Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.
5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
6. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Tip: When the battery reaches "empty", the computer is forced into sleep mode. The battery actually keeps back a reserve beyond "empty", to maintain the computer in sleep for a period of time. Once the battery is truly exhausted, the computer is forced to shut down. At this point, with the safe sleep function introduced in the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) computers, the computer's memory contents have been saved to the hard drive. When power is restored, the computer returns itself to its pre-sleep state using the safe sleep image on the hard drive."
 
damienvfx said:
PS - I am also looking for a laptop bag for this thing as well. I remember on one of the Merom threads a few months ago someone had a link to a UK company that had all sorts of funny names for their bags, does anyone know what company that was?
Click to expand...

If it's the thread that I'm thinking about, I think the company was Pakuma who flogged bags with names like Akara (big-ass backpacks) and Choroka (messenger bags). Personally, I went with Booq and received today my Python XL with the Vyper XL2 sleeve for added protection. At the moment I'm not sure how good it will work since the compartment/pocket arrangement is significantly different to my current Brenthaven but I'm sure it'll be great once I have a 17" MacBook Pro to actually go in the thing.
 
not quite

Kelmon said:
If it's the thread that I'm thinking about, I think the company was Pakuma who flogged bags with names like Akara (big-ass backpacks) and Choroka (messenger bags). Personally, I went with Booq and received today my Python XL with the Vyper XL2 sleeve for added protection. At the moment I'm not sure how good it will work since the compartment/pocket arrangement is significantly different to my current Brenthaven but I'm sure it'll be great once I have a 17" MacBook Pro to actually go in the thing.
Click to expand...

Close, but no. These bags were called things like "lazy man's bag" and "holds your lappie and a six pack, easy".
 
they seeem to be moving pretty fast now on getting them out the door

Ship date Nov 2, 2006
Estimated delivery Nov 6, 2006 10:30 AM

Ordered 2.33ghz C2D, 15.4" (matte), with the 160gig drive.

I wish I had thrown in an 80 gig ipod video now. Been doing a lot of traveling lately and an Ipod video would be just the ticket for those plane rides.

-def
 
Estimated Delivery Date - FINALLY

FedEx finally provided me with an estimated delivery date...
However it seems pretty weak for 'Overnight Shipping'

Estimated Delivery: Nov 6, 2006

Cheers!


-TYC-
 
A Director/Memory Question

I do a lot of Director presentations with my 1GHz/1Gb TiBook and I'm planning to upgrade to a 15" MBP. Today, I find that many of the transitions that are smooth on my display are jerky when I get them up on a projector. I'm sure the jump to 2.33GHz will help but I'm also wondering about the memory. I'm already planning to go for 2Gb RAM but wondering if 3Mb will give me more flexibility in Director. I know there's the "more is always better" school of thought but does anyone know if the extra Gb will help the projected director presentations. Thanks in advance.
 
Just placed my order on macconnection.com. The base 15" Core 2 Duo MBP model is in stock so I ordered with overnight shipping for $1849 after $150 rebate :) I also got parallels free after rebate as well. Not really sure if I will use that or not but nice to have since it is free (with some patience waiting for the rebate).
 
Same here but...

Just checked the status of my base 15" 2.33 (matte) and it says "Shipped Nov 3rd". Although the tracking number still shows no status in the Fedex site, it's definitelly moving. :)

uv23 said:
Also ordered a 15" 2.33, on the 31st with an estimated ship by the 3rd and no movement. :(
Click to expand...
 
HA!

My brand new C2D Macbook Pro has arrived! It was here when I woke up this morning. It's a factory low end, but I'm going to be putting 3 gigs of ram in it, and possibly swapping out the screen for a high def screen.

my samsung 20 inch wide screen came in last week, so my set up is pretty much complete.

And I gotta say, I think it's just the bee's knees.

no more time for typing, I need to spend some quality time rubbing my face agaist its aluminum surfaces.
 
defsquad said:
IVC,

Looks like our MBP's are going on a road trip together. Mine shipped this morning also! Good luck to yours, hope it sees you soon. :)

Was your estimated delivery date around Nov. 9th? Oh, and I ended up getting the 160gig hd with matte screen if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...

Mine is going to Norway, the estimate delivery date was Nov. 10th. On the tracking page I get a new delivery date of Nov. 17th, which sucks even more.

I got the stock hi-end 15" with norwegian keyboard and english Mac OS X.
 
murraymj1 said:
I do a lot of Director presentations with my 1GHz/1Gb TiBook and I'm planning to upgrade to a 15" MBP. Today, I find that many of the transitions that are smooth on my display are jerky when I get them up on a projector. I'm sure the jump to 2.33GHz will help but I'm also wondering about the memory. I'm already planning to go for 2Gb RAM but wondering if 3Mb will give me more flexibility in Director. I know there's the "more is always better" school of thought but does anyone know if the extra Gb will help the projected director presentations. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Do your director projectors (on a projector;) ) run through Rosetta ? I guess if you have a problem on intel OS X you could run them on windows/bootcamp. Apparently a universal Director version is on the way - phew!
 
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