battery life

could i get some tips as how to extend my battery life as long as possible? i know it will be the first thing to go in this shiny new thirteen inch macbook, for instance: i heard that leaving the power cord in once the laptop is fully charged is bad for it since it is "constantly charging" and wearing on the battery...

you heard wrong. leaving the cord in does not constantly charge. the power unit in the MB determines when the battery needs a charge, so the actual charge could fluctuate between 99% or so and 100% at any given time.

as i understand it, less deep discharges are better. though occasionally you should do a full discharge to "calibrate" the battery. so many shallow discharges should be better than a few deeper discharges.

thank you very much also i heard that the aluminum cases on these could "tarnish" quite quickly if not put in a cover of some kind...is this true or do i just need to take care of it?

i can't imagine that's true. unless you have something touching the aluminum that would react with it (like steel), it should be fine.

Here, from MSN Encarta:

"Aluminum is a strongly electropositive metal and extremely reactive. In contact with air, aluminum rapidly becomes covered with a tough, transparent layer of aluminum oxide that resists further corrosive action. For this reason, materials made of aluminum do not tarnish or rust."

ineresting, then as long as i am careful this laptop will be beautiful forever, if i seem a little neurotic it is because i am on a students budget and this laptop is now the most valuable thing i own next to my truck =p while we're on the subject of aesthetics...what would you recomend for cleaning it? just water and a rag or could i go as far as to dare windex...

To clean your MB use specific cleaner such as iKlear. It's made to keep your MB clean and shiny without damaging it

enjoy your MB

well, a soft, dry cloth should work for just a light cleaning on the aluminum and the screen. if the screen gets really bad, there are monitor wipes you can get. i'd stay away from windex, which is probably a bit harsh for that purpose. i also find after using the monitor wipes, that finishing with a soft dry cloth helps remove any left over streaks.