Starbucks didn’t have a table available near an outlet this morning, so I was (unwillingly) able to test my battery life for the first time. I remember turning on the Macbook, watching it calculate a battery life of 3:12. To my dismay, it went to 2:45 after about 1 minute and I ignored it after that, just assuming it would outlast my visit, working at the coffee shop. It seemd to last approx. 2.5 hours running Photoshop for about 30 min, and then Firefox, MSN, Transmit, and Taco HTML for the remaining time. Unfortunately, my car wasn’t fixed before the macbook took a nap.

Spending about 25 minutes eating a dry muffin and reading yesterday’s newspaper allowed me to brainstorm. I came up with a brilliant idea but I didn’t have a pen and my Macbook battery was dead.

Anyhow, when I returned home, I found some information on the macbook battery life and how to improve it!

Calibrate Your Battery!

1. Plug the power adapter in and fully charge your computer’s battery until the battery indicator lights turn off and the adapter plug light goes from amber to green, which indicates that the battery is fully charged.
2. Disconnect the power adapter and use your iBook or PowerBook. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen. Continue to use your computer until it goes to sleep. At that point the battery has been sufficiently drained for calibration.
3. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Note: You have to fully charge and then discharge your battery only once to calibrate it.

Apple recommends charging and discharging its battery at least once per month and not leaving the macbook plugged in at all times. Using the battery life frequently helps keep the “juices flowing”.

Although Apple claims up to 6 hours , the actual life of your battery depends on several factors.

Here’s a few tips for a longer lasting charge:

1. Disconnect peripherals not in use
2. Quit applications not in use
3. Turn off AirPort and Bluetooth if you?re not using them
4. Eject CDs and DVDs not in use
5. Dim the screen / Turn down brightness
6. Choose Energy Saver in System Preferences, click the Show Details button, and:

• Select ?Better Battery Life?
• Set MacBook to sleep after five minutes (or less) of inactivity
• Put the display to sleep after five minutes (or less) of inactivity
• Check the box next to ?Put the hard disk to sleep when possible?

Share This Post:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new websites