10.2.8 update release Oct 3

Okay, I downloaded the "updated" update patch for 10.2.8 yesterday. it supposedly fixes some problem in the battery meter. anyway, the minutes left in my battery meter are now jumping all over the place within a 10 minute interval. it'll jump from like 3:17 to 3:08, then to 3:15, then to 3:05, all within the course of 1 actual minute. before this patch i did not download the old patch which they later took down so this is my first 10.2.8 download. should i just let the battery drain out one time with 10.2.8 and then see if the problem gets fixed or is there no cure to this desease? and is anybody else having this problem with the new update? thanks for the help.

p.s.-somebody posted that they actually get 4 hours of battery time on their powerbook. does anybody find this to be true of their batteries? i have the new aluminum 1.25 GHZ 15" powerbook and it has yet to give me 3 hours of battery time. i timed it a few times and the most i got out of it was 170 min. and that's with airport extreme and bluetooth turned off. AND on top of all that, this is a new battery that apple sent me b/c the battery my powerbook came with only lasted 1.5 hours. 4 hours...i have battery envy now.

i have gotten well over 4 hours on my 15" 867mhz pb. all internet devices turned off sound turned off and brightness very low in a well lit area and i have hit 4.5 hours

Im with you fasheezy.. although I cant get 3 hours anymore. I purchased three batteries a year ago.. and the most I can get out of them now is a little over an hour.. plus my time was jumping all over the place also and still is with the new update.. som Im really not sure what's going on. Ill tell you one thing though.. if they were trying to get us to upgrade to panther.. it's going to work Although regardless of the battery problem I was going to upgrade.

trpnmonkey41 said:

i have gotten well over 4 hours on my 15" 867mhz pb. all internet devices turned off sound turned off and brightness very low in a well lit area and i have hit 4.5 hours

Click to expand...

wow, i hit 6 hours today with my powerbook after updating to the new build of 10.2.8. Now, note i wasnt using airport and had the monitor on really low brightness, but i get bored easily in Electrical Engineering classes, so i figured I would try it out.

wow thats pretty good.....were you using any applications or just letting it sit there

i have a new pb, and i think the battery life kinda sucks. i haven't installed the 2.8 update yet, but fully charged, the time meter says only 1.5 hours. i usually get more than that, but i don't think i've ever gotten more than 2. however, this is usually running illustrator, email and safari or at least two of those at once. should i be getting more than this? if a higher capacity battery ever becomes available, i'll probably be all over it.

somebody posted links for higher capacity batteries from a 3rd party company that made them look like apples batteries

brody said:

i have a new pb, and i think the battery life kinda sucks. i haven't installed the 2.8 update yet, but fully charged, the time meter says only 1.5 hours. i usually get more than that, but i don't think i've ever gotten more than 2. however, this is usually running illustrator, email and safari or at least two of those at once. should i be getting more than this? if a higher capacity battery ever becomes available, i'll probably be all over it.

Click to expand...

You shouldnt be getting more than that if Illustrator is the processor hog that I remember it to be. Check to see if your fan is running continuously when your programs are running. You shouldnt be getting that low of life with just e-mail and safari though. I would also say to download and install the 10.2.8 patch, as that corrected my battery meter from 10.2.6 which never got above 3hrs and 30 minutes. I got a new Titanium PB back in april, and i hit 6 hours of battery life yesterday when running Preview, and TextEdit (for notes in class).

Man 6 hours... **** of an update...

Emrys said:

Man 6 hours... **** of an update...

Click to expand...

The apple guy said the batteries say they last 4.5 and I wouldn't see more than 3.5 out of it though. But since the update I unplugged my computer on Sunday at 1 and left it unplugged I only surfed the web though no messengers no filesharer (legal music of course) no photoshop just the web and used it straight till 6:30 when my battery died. So I got 5 hours once out of mine to, I also had the sound muted and screen on lowest (I always have screen on lowest though as bright seems to hurt my eyes,) However most of the time the apple guy was right I pull anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5, but I do alot of multitasking.

Im going to have to do my own tests again. I know with everything I run I get around 1 hour from my battery.. Ill try stopping most everything and see what I get. It gets annoying to hear of everyone getting more than an hour.. although I do know I used to get around 3, never more though. I WILL have that much time on my batteries! I just have to figure out how now..

okay, i'm getting about 3 hours or a LITTLE less using these settings on the new Aluminum 15" 1.25 GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB Powerbook:

-automatic screen brightness control
-automatic keyboard illumination (unnecessary, but i love the fact that i have it)
-airport extreme enabled, bluetooth turned off
-sound on (set at half way hooked up to PC speakers)
-5 min. sleep
-3 min. turn screen off
-Reduced processor
-running Instant Messenger (w/sounds), Safari, iTunes(sometimes)

so if people are getting 6 hours, i'm guessing the biggest culprit of power drain for most is the screen brightness. if you want a longer battery then your best bet is to turn it down "all the way" like a lot of people do, but i think the most important thing is the screen and brightness is something that cannot be compromised for more battery life. i mean, i'm not a power user (using applications like iDVD or Photoshop or CAD) or anything like that and 3 hours of battery isn't so bad with all these options turned on, but they should make battery estimates based on a more real world environment.

If somebody can I would love an explanation of how software can increase battery life. that's something i don't understand. explanation?

brigthness is definitely the biggest thing with battery life