I'd like to share with the list the way I manage power consumption with my iBook 500 dual USB with 640 Mb RAM.
I wish also to excuse me because English is not my first language I bought the iBook on august 2001, and I use OS X as a main OS from november. Right now I use Jaguar from six days. In the first eight months of use I had an average of four hours of battery (more or less), in the last four mounts I had al least three hours. With Jaguar, I have less than three hours. Seems to me that Jaguar drains more battery than Os 10.1.x. I suggest to: 1) Always finish to discharge the battery until you plug in to recharge, and in Jaguar use the "Longest Battery Life" set in Energy Saver. 2) Use as less as possible the display light. Adjust it dinamically, Try to limit it to the first eight degree. The iBook screen is really crisp, and usually you don't need full lights if you work in a room. 3) Create a new location in Network' System Preference, call it "Everything Stop" or whatever and go in tab Show: Network Port Configurations. Deselect all: Modem, Ethernet (and AirPort, if you have it). If active, all those devices wait for network signals consuming energy. 4) Minimize disk access: do not open and close lot of applications, just open them and let them stay in background. 5) If you would like to play a game, here is a trick: before create a disk image with disk utility and mount it on the desktop. You can use it instead of a real cd-rom. Cd-rom eats a lot of power. 6) Try to use less powerful applications: TextEdit instead of Word, OmniWeb instead of Explorer, Mail instead of Entourage. Remember that Microsoft Office activate "underground" services when you use any application of the suite. It means much power from the CPU, and much more battery consumption. Also if the application is in the background. (Microsoft's applications are a little disrespectful of hourse-power economy 7) I can't watch a two hours movie with Dvd, but I can watch a three hours Divx movie from my hard disk... 8) Every few months reset the recharging circuit of the Powerbook (Apple Knowledge has pages about it, because the procedure vary for different models). This circuit has a memory about your battery's life. But sometimes it garbles data... 9) Try to alternate the use of computer between battery and plugged mode. I don't think that an "always plugged on" 'book live better. Ancient Romans said "In medio stat virtus", (It means: The truth is in the middle). 50/50 of battery and plugged use should be better to take care of your battery' health.. 10) Put to sleep the computer every time you know you don't need it: hit power switch (the lonely key in the upper-right side of the keyboard) and then "s" key. Actually it is the fastest way. Do it if you have a phone call, or need read something just for five minutes, or whatever. Put to sleep your computer is a good habit. Hope someone could find useful my "policies" about battery use and power consumption. Wish to have more from you. Antonio -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
