OWC iBook battery worth it?

[Kyros]

My parents are buying me a laptop as a graduation present, and are willing to pay up to the price of the lowest end powerbook (If I want better, I pay the difference). I was thinking about getting an iBook, partly because of the better battery life. There is a good chance that after other upgrades (more RAM, probably a faster HD) I would still be able to get one of OWC's high capacity batteries. They claim a 50 percent increase in batter life. New iBooks get around 5 hours at normal usage by the sounds of it, does anyone know if the OWC battery will get over 7 hours? I figure that at college having insane battery life is always a good thing, but I don't want to bother getting it if it will only get me an hour increase. Also, what would be the best way to store the battery the iBook ships with for whenever the high capacity battery dies?

[pv2b]

You don't store batteries if you can help it. Batteries will go bad eventually, they have a limited shelf life.

From what I've heard, the best way to minimize capacity degradation on Litium-Ion batteries is to charge them at 40% capacity, and then store them cool. (But absolutely not below freezing.)

[atomicbartbeans]

Drain it fully, charge it fully, then drain it halfway once a month.

Or, if it's practical, keep it in your bag to use when your other one dies, for spending insane amounts of time away from an outlet. Just remember that iBook batteries aren't sleep-swappable. :(

[Kyros]

Apple should bring back double battery laptops :) . It seems like storing it effectively would not be worth it, so I guess it would be best just to sell it right away or something. Still wondering if anyone has experience with the OWC batteries (or if there are any better deals or anything out there).

[pv2b]

The fact that the iBook can't do sleep-swap of batteries is one of the reasons that my next notebook will be a Powerbook.

But yeah, I have two batteries. One that's fine and one that's okay. I keep both charged to 100% and store one in my bag. (Against my own recommendations.) I swap them out once a month or so to keep them evenly drained.

Oh. One thing. Never store a battery when it's drained. Always store it half-charged or even charged! Drained batteries lose capacity pretty quick, from what I've heard.

[atomicbartbeans]

PB batteries are sleep-swappable? :eek:

[Kyros]

PB batteries are sleep-swappable? :eek:
15 and 17 inch ones are. I wouldn't store the battery completely drained. Swapping the battery every month might be the best way, but it might just make both of them die faster, and I'd be using the bigger battery only half the time, which kind of defeats the purpose anyway.

[pv2b]

15 and 17 inch ones are.

12 inch pb batteries aren't? :eek:

[Dorian Gray]

Yes, only the 15- and 17-inch PowerBooks allow you to switch batteries while the machine is sleeping (within a 3 minute window). I hope Apple uses the next chassis update to really improve the feature set of the 12-inch PowerBook. As things stand, the 12-inch PowerBook is probably the least value-for-money option of any laptop Apple sells (excluding the 14-inch iBook with SuperDrive). The 12-incher only sells so well because it's the cheapest PowerBook, and obviously the most desirable notebook on the market. :-)

This Apple page (http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/) has lots of information on how best to care for your batteries.

[pv2b]

Yes, only the 15- and 17-inch PowerBooks allow you to switch batteries while the machine is sleeping (within a 3 minute window). I hope Apple uses the next chassis update to really improve the feature set of the 12-inch PowerBook. As things stand, the 12-inch PowerBook is probably the least value-for-money option of any laptop Apple sells (excluding the 14-inch iBook with SuperDrive). The 12-incher only sells so well because it's the cheapest PowerBook, and obviously the most desirable notebook on the market. :-)

This Apple page (http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/) has lots of information on how best to care for your batteries.

Thank you for telling me that. Now I have one less reason to buy the PB12" when the time comes to buy myself a new notebook.

[Kyros]

Thanks for the help with storing batteries, etc, but does anyone have any experience with the OWC battery?