powerbook battery life disappointing M9969LL/A

my M9969LL/A powerbook 15" battery has gone thru 3 cycles, and NEVER reads over 3.5 hrs at full charge. I tried coconutbattery and it confirms 3.5 hr max battery. also disturbing is that after 3 cycles, and 1 week of ownership, the battery has already lost 5% of its life. VERY DISAPPOINTING. My Titaniu, of 2.5 years, still holds a 2.5-3 hr full charge on original battery. i have display on low, and all reduced settings. but here are my battery specs on system profiler. your input welcome:

System Power Settings:

AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Wake On Modem Ring: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 5
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 1
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On Modem Ring: No
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: Yes

Battery Information:

Battery Installed: Yes
First low level warning: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 4495
Remaining Capacity (mAh): 2474
Amperage (mA): -2043
Voltage (mV): 11148
Cycle Count: 3

AC Charger Information:

AC Charger (Watts): 0
Connected: No
Charging: No

Hardware Configuration:

Clamshell Closed: No
UPS Installed: No

While I agree that the Aluminum Powerbook battery life sucks, that's not exactly a secret. Even the most love-happy Powerbook review tends to mention that the battery life is mis-advertised and is closer to 3.5 hours. You're partially responsible for researching this sort of thing before you buy, so it's kind of hard to feel sorry for you.

Personally, I deal with it by owning a Newer Technologies battery and ONLY putting it in when I really need good battery life. Is that an ideal solution? No. Should Apple sell OEM batteries at their advertised battery rate? Yes. But welcome to the world of the Powerbook--so many advantages, and a few very crappy disadvantages.

Most battery life stats are overstated it has to be said. This PBook will run for 4hr 20mins on a full charge, dimmest screen setting, airport and bluetooth off and running a USB ADSL modem.

Batteries are consumables and can never be guaranteed, they are just a bunch of chemicals. The best thing you can do with a battery is to just use it; an not worry too much over, and when it is exhausted, buy another -- or indeed keep a spare.

This goes for all notebooks, and it is no secret that Apple like all laptop manufacturers I know quote battery life times with basically the bare minimum running.

Vicky

my old pentium 3 dell battery lasted 1.2 hours, be thankful its not that

to be honest, it sounds like theres something wrong with your battery. I downladed that coconut battery thing you were talking about, it says that my battery is 3 months old, and has 99% of its original capacity 4357/4400

it says its been through 28 cycles

yours should not have lost 5% already