[icec0ld]

so i am a complete n00b when it comes to apple computers (been a pc user all my life). anyways, i intend to purchase a 12 inch ibook by week's end (hoping for the refresh tomorrow) and i have this question...

has the battery life of the ibook decreased since youve moved from panther to tiger?

the reason why i ask this is ive been reading on apple support's discussion forum and people have been noticing a loss in battery life since the switch and it has me curious as to whether or not i should downgrade to panther so i can obtain better battery life. since i am only using the laptop for predominantly internet use, programming (java) and general word processing with the occassional photoshopping, i would like to have as much battery life as well. thanks a lot for the help

[Brad]

I've definitely not experienced any marked battery loss for my 12" with the transition of Tiger, nor have I seem this as a widespread problem.

[icec0ld]

thanks brad for the quick response. might i ask, about how many hours do u get?

[Brad]

Well, my battery has had a solid nine months of very rigorous use on it, going through a full charge cycle probably once every two or three days. Keep in mind that lithium-ion batteries are subject to reduced output over time. Read more here. Also, remember that you'll see much longer battery life if you reduce the brightness of your screen and disable wireless connectivity when not necessary.

That said, I just unplugged my PowerBook G4 (12", 1.33 GHz) and with AirPort Extreme enabled, Bluetooth disabled, and screen at half brightness (my usual setup), it gives an estimated time of 4 hours 31 minutes. That is actually really close to real-life performance. I typically get about 4 hours on a full charge when surfing the web and typing documents and up to 5 hours with AirPort disabled and just working on various documents.