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Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Configure your laptop for maximal battery life

Written by LL from Norwich

13-Mar-2009

I've had this battery for 3 years now and have been very satisfied with it. 532 charge cycles so far (i.e. 133% of its original capacity) despite having the charger on all day. I can still get up to one hour battery life depending on what I'm doing. From my experience, it's all a matter of configuration. Don't leave your battery to drain completely, configure your energy settings for longest battery life (put the screen and hard disk to sleep as soon as possible, reduce processor speed, turn off bluetooth and wifi if not using them…) and remove your battery when your laptop is running on the mains. I also avoid to do anything that is too energy consuming while running on the battery and make sure my computer goes to sleep if idle after one minute. That's how I was able to get up to 4-5 hours autonomy for a long time.

Apple also gives £10 off for this battery to students and teachers through the education store and if you compare the price with Dell, these batteries are not particularly expensive (many of Dell's batteries are priced £90 and over). So it may not be THE best battery in the world, but it's still pretty good.

7 of 10 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

an honourable death

Written by MH from BRISTOL

04-Mar-2009

Well I don't know. Reading some of the other reviews I wonder whether I've just been lucky.... very trusty old G4 with its antique processor, dropped on hard floors, dragged around on trains, planes, boats and a thousand surfaces, after 6 years hard labour the battery's finally giving up the ghost. A new battery will cost about what the old machine's worth, but if it's half as good as the original that'll be plenty good enough.

6 of 7 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Why your battery dies

Written by MY from Alesund

21-Nov-2008

If you click on the apple symbol in the top left corner, choose 'about this mac', then click on 'more info' and select the option 'power' on the left hand side, you'll see how much power you have left on your battery, and the 'full charge capacity (mAh)' ...now, if you check this periodically, you will see that every time you completely drain your battery (that is, leave the laptop on until it puts itself to sleep and won't wake up until you plug it into the mains) your 'full charge capacity' will drop - CONSIDERABLY. Therefore, never drain your battery fully, always plug it in when you get the warning thingy, and (perhaps, i do not know what the true effect of this is) don't leave it plugged in for days and days.

18 of 20 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Battery use.

Written by KH from BATH

09-Jan-2008

We have two powerbooks, one is well over 3 years old, the other 2 years . The older powerbook still has its original battery, the newer powerbook has had two (so far). The reason for the difference? Me! Yes, me! ...Keeping the machine plugged in when the battery is fully charged... I now avoid doing this. I allow the battery to drain and then recharge as much as possible and when the charge is showing 100% I remember to unplug it....

115 of 158 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Remove Battery when running on Mains

Written by HM from PRESTON

23-Nov-2007

I have had my Powerbook for 2 and a half years, after the first 18 months or so the battery power reduced dramatically over time to 5 minutes. When purchasing a new one I was told that when sat at home and using the mac running on the mains that to save wasting and draining battery power to remove the battery when not charging it. This stops the battery being overcharged and discharging, pershaps worth a try?

105 of 156 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

possible reason why the battery dies

Written by RO

08-Nov-2007

I have had my powerbook G4 12 for 2 years and always had 4 - 5 hours from my battery. When it gets low I've always plugged it in and not let it drain completely. But Mac advises that you drain it completely and recalibrate every month. I did this recently and apart from the clock resetting my max power dropped considerably to only 1 hour from a full charge and Coconut shows that I can have a max of 39% charge.From my experience I would say that draining the battery completely reduces the battery life; it's better to give it juice when the battery indicator hits red (10 minutes of life left). I've also had the same problem as other writers - the foot on the battery fell off

112 of 184 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Battery don't fit right.

Written by JD from Lisduff

16-Sep-2007

3 year old powerbook and the batt died. Laptop would not work without plugging into mains. Only issue with this product is that the batt does not fit 100%. Got no real answers to as why it will not fit right. Still works but it a strange one alright!

48 of 104 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Alternatives?

Written by BW

28-Aug-2007

I have had my PowerBook G4 for 2 years now. I have no idea what the people below are complaining about, they must throw their laptops around the room to get it in such conditions. I have dropped my laptop on a few occasions but only once did the aluminium alloy body bend... so I just tap-hammered it back into place. I have nothing wrong with the computer and no, the legs aren't broken.

The only thing wrong with it is the battery life which has seemed to dwindle recently. I haven't exactly treated the battery with respect and so this is the price I'll now have to pay. £89 quid might seem steep, but what other alternatives can you offer me? It's either that, or a new Mac. Don't consider PC's, the batteries may be cheaper, but they typically die after 6 months to a year. Answer me this; isn't it better than the alternatives?

48 of 101 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

iBook 12" battery

Written by GW from Pwllheli

29-Jun-2007

I have had my iBook 12" laptop since 2003 and have never had to replace the battery but I have recently noticed that it shuts down when on battery mode with no warning at all. I re-charge but even then the maximum I can achieve on battery power alone is one hour - sometimes less. Obviously, I will soon have to spend £89 on a new battery but , from reading everybody else's experieinces, it is a small comfort to know that I am not alone. (By the way, I love the iBook computer itself. I recently bought a Dell with Windows Vista as a "standby" but it takes so long to boot up and is so complicated to use in many ways, I will stick with my Mac for everyday use and cough up the £89 quid for a new battery soon.It's only a pity that the battery life isn't a bit longer or, at the very least, the cost of a replacement is a bit less expensive).

22 of 42 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

The time is now...

Written by DR from Edinburgh

07-Jun-2007

Unfortunately i have to say that i've shared pretty much the same experiences as the people below. However, my battery has lasted me 3 and half years without much trouble. i used to be able to watch a movie (or two) on the train without ac power but these days i can only get through 1 3/4 episodes of Lost using vlc before it dies (no full movies unless it's very very short).

the battery foot fell off mine straight away too, but the other 3 are fine. I'll be happy if the new battery lasts as long but, considering i'm on my 3rd ac adaptor (at £70 each) due to poor design, i'm none too pleased about havin to spend £89 on a new battery! Still, some (not close) friends have other makes of laptops and their troubles far outweigh mine!

Still feels like £90 down the drain though...

15 of 31 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Surprised...

Written by RT from wakefield

05-Feb-2007

I've just begun to notice a drop in power from my battery after 3 years. It has started to cut out at 30 or 40% occasionally, but mostly lasts to 20%. After reading all the other reviews it seems I have done well. I regularly calibrated the battery, so I guess this helped. I am not surprised at the cost of a new battery, being Apple and all, and if I get the same use from a new one, it's not too bad. Better than the stories about iPod batteries - but then again mine is 2 years old and healthy as ever!

19 of 35 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Expensive, but what's the other option

Written by JS from LONDON

12-Jan-2007

Yes it sucks to have to replace the battery after 2 years, but I guess I'd rather spend £90 than £1500 on a new computer... especially as I love my little 12" and don't wanna go to the big macbook pro yet.

and even though delivery says 1-2 weeks I got mine in less than 24 hours!! that is good.

12 of 22 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

It's not all bad!

Written by OC from Staines

08-Nov-2006

I really wonder what other people do with their batteries to have such bad experiences.

I am writing this on an original 12" powerbook (early 2003, 867mhz model).

According to CoconutBattery, my machine is 46 months old and the battery has had 525 load-cycles.
Original battery capacity: 4200 mAh
Current battery capacity: 3418 mAh

In other words, my battery has 80% capacity after almost 4 years of use!

No, its not perfect. From time to time the laptop goes to sleep suddenly with 20% charge remaining. In fact, that has started to happen with more frequency lately which is why I started to look for a replacement. But when that happens all I need to do I a full recharge (overnight) and the battery is calibrated again for a few more weeks.

Its hard to say exactly how long the battery lasts. I turn the brightness down to 50% and if i'm not doing anything intensive it should give 2 hours i think. In fact, if I use an external screen / TV and turn the brightness all the way down, I can play a full football match .avi (90 mins) in VLC without the battery running out!

Maybe try treating your battery differently and it will last longer...

PS. My 5 month old Dell (work) laptop seems to be deteriorating considerably faster. Maybe that's not so surprising though.

21 of 39 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Works a treat

Written by GC from Whittlesey

08-Nov-2006

Had my 12" Powerbook for a couple of years now, it gets used at least 5 days a week and the battery has only just died on me in the last couple of months (now only lasts 12mins from full charge) If the new one I order lasts as well I'll be very pleased... far better than the battery in my PC laptop which only lasted one year.

10 of 29 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Three batteries in three years!

Written by HH from WIRRAL

30-Oct-2006

Love my 12inch and use it every day. Now I have to purchase my third battery in as many years. This is truly bad, I was hoping that this one would last longer than just a year. I am also annoyed that the battery-meter does not work properly once the battery comes to the final cycles, no matter what calibration you try to perform. It leaves you with some guessing before the computer suddenly shuts down and everytime you have to reset the date and time etc.. Why can these tiny Vaios go on for hours and hours and hours? There must be better batteries out there for 89£!

15 of 35 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Useless

Written by EB from LONDON

29-Oct-2006

Useless, erratic, unreliable, overpriced.

18 of 34 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

Good battery life, but poor foot design

Written by EG from Bristol

25-Aug-2006

I have always got a good battery life from my 11 month old battery, probably because I've looked after it quite well. It's had over 120 cycles, and lasts 2.5-5 hours, depending on what I am doing. I always use AC power when it's nearby, and usually let the battery run flat every 2-3 weeks. People who complain about their battery not having the capacity it had when it was new usually keep running it completely flat. Usually because they are too lazy to plug in the power supply, when there's an AC socket 3 feet away. Lithium Ion batteries dislike being deep cycled (run totally flat) often.
My battery is fine, it holds about 4200mAh now, about 4600mAh when it was new. Certainly can't complain about the energy side of it.

One major design flaw is that the feet of your PowerBook and battery will fall off within a year, unless you take action to stop them falling off. You can prize them off and superglue them back on, which is what I did with mine as soon as the battery foot went AWOL, about 2 months after getting the computer. They have been on ever since.

The quality of the dark grey plastic used around the edge of the computer is very poor, and cracks in around 4 months. I have seen this on all PowerBooks. The same type of plastic is used in the feet. Apple melts part of the foot to keep it on, which is a poor design, due to the stress on the small feet. The poor quality plastic consequently cracks due to the stress and the foot drops out. Try superglue, Apple. Works fine for me.

18 of 23 people found this useful

Extra Battery - 12" PowerBook

must be able to find cheaper?...

Written by MC from pontypridd

17-Aug-2006

We really can't expect to pay this much every year for a battery... After all when we spend well over a thousand GBP you'd expect more... don't expect this battery to last more than a year... dissapointed...

19 of 28 people found this useful