I decided to write Apple a letter on the MacBook...

[Diatribe]

What is this feature that allows us to swap out a battery without shutting down the computer? If you are referring to keeping the PowerBook plugged in and switching out a battery, well, that is hardly handy.

You can swap the battery in sleep mode, which is what he is referring to and you don't have to have it plugged in for that.

 

[gauchogolfer]

Current gen compatibility also?

You're welcome. Now if it would fit in the PC-Card slot and recharge there....

Any idea if the new Apple remote with G5 iMacs will also support this in iWork '06? I can't find any documentation on the iWork site, even in the user manual. I can't imagine this is specific to MacBook Pro....


EDIT: Hey, I'm a member!

 

[Diatribe]

Any idea if the new Apple remote with G5 iMacs will also support this in iWork '06? I can't find any documentation on the iWork site, even in the user manual. I can't imagine this is specific to MacBook Pro....


EDIT: Hey, I'm a member!

I would think that this is a Keynote feature. This should work with the iMacs too.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

You can swap the battery in sleep mode, which is what he is referring to and you don't have to have it plugged in for that.

I thought this was a feature of the existing PowerBooks, but no matter how fast I am, I can't swap the battery in sleep mode. As soon as I remove the existing battery, the pulsing light on the front immediately turns off, showing it is all the way off.

Even a 'hibernate' mode, like on most PeeCee notebooks, would be nice. Something where my state is saved, and I can swap batteries.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I thought this was a feature of the existing PowerBooks, but no matter how fast I am, I can't swap the battery in sleep mode. As soon as I remove the existing battery, the pulsing light on the front immediately turns off, showing it is all the way off.

Even a 'hibernate' mode, like on most PeeCee notebooks, would be nice. Something where my state is saved, and I can swap batteries.

That's because only the 15" and the 17" PowerBooks get it. Even the original TiBooks had it. But no go for the 12" PowerBooks.

The bigger PowerBooks have ~60 seconds in sleep without a battery.

 

[dr_lha]

I thought this was a feature of the existing PowerBooks, but no matter how fast I am, I can't swap the battery in sleep mode. As soon as I remove the existing battery, the pulsing light on the front immediately turns off, showing it is all the way off.

Even a 'hibernate' mode, like on most PeeCee notebooks, would be nice. Something where my state is saved, and I can swap batteries.

On a 12" PB you need to enable SafeSleep mode, which is unsupported by Apple but works great on my 12" PB (1Ghz DVI).

In this case the PB saves the contents of memory to disk when put into sleep mode. When power is lost, the OS just starts up reading the memory from disk. Works great and I've used it to swap batteries in flight, with no loss of work.

 

[yankeefan24]

Very nice well written letter.

But rather than have a slot for the remote control, what I would like to see is a feature a Fujitsu tablet pc has. With it you can pop out the cd drive entirely and put in it's place a spare battery. When the existing battery runs out the computer automatically ticks over to the spare one. It's a great idea if you're out and about. Put that in your letter

that's my exact idea i posted a few days ago in another thread. I would love that. Also, if you could put a spare hdd, etc. it would be nice.

the above mentioned thread is what do you predict in the new ibook.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I thought this was a feature of the existing PowerBooks, but no matter how fast I am, I can't swap the battery in sleep mode. As soon as I remove the existing battery, the pulsing light on the front immediately turns off, showing it is all the way off.

Even a 'hibernate' mode, like on most PeeCee notebooks, would be nice. Something where my state is saved, and I can swap batteries.

Oh.. might want to verify your startup disk if you've tried that a few times. See if there are any errors. Technically, HFS+ can be Journaled, but you still run into the occasional issue.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

On a 12" PB you need to enable SafeSleep mode, which is unsupported by Apple but works great on my 12" PB (1Ghz DVI).

In this case the PB saves the contents of memory to disk when put into sleep mode. When power is lost, the OS just starts up reading the memory from disk. Works great and I've used it to swap batteries in flight, with no loss of work.

Thanks for the tip! A little bit of Googling, and I found out how to do it. That's exactly what I wanted. (Since it appears the 12"er doesn't have the swap-during-sleep capability.)