Apple Portables: Tips for maximizing your battery charge

You can take some easy steps to prolong the charge of your Apple portable's battery.

Here are some simple settings and steps you can take to get the most out of your MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iBook or PowerBook battery.

Optimize your battery settings in Energy Saver preferences

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Energy Saver.
3. Click Show Details.
4. Choose Battery or Battery Power from the "Settings for" pop-up menu.
5. Choose Longest or Better Battery Life from the Optimize Energy Settings pop-up menu.

These settings will put the hard disk to sleep whenever possible and reduce the computer's microprocessor performance in order to maximize its battery life. If you are using processor-intensive applications, you may wish to change these settings so the microprocessor performance is no longer reduced.

Set your screen brightness to the lowest comfortable level

Press the F1 (dimmer) and F2 (brighter) keys to dim the screen until the brightness is as low as possible and the screen is still comfortable to look at.

Turn off unused features and technologies.

Just as you would turn off the lights in an unoccupied room, turning off unused features and technologies can help maximize your battery life, too. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Eject CDs and DVDs you're no longer using. Every so often, the optical drive spins up to read CDs or DVDs. This consumes a small amount of power.
2. Disconnect peripherals when you're not using them. Connected peripherals, such as printers and digital cameras, can draw power from your battery even when you're not using them.
3. Shut down any runaway applications.

If you're not in a location where you need to use AirPort or Bluetooth, you can turn them off to save power.

To turn off AirPort:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Network.
3. From the Show selection, choose Network Port Configuration.
4. Uncheck Airport from the list.
5. Click Apply Now.

To turn off Bluetooth in Mac OS X 10.2 or later:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Bluetooth.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Click Turn Bluetooth Off.

Tags: battery, iBook, laptop, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBookPro, PowerBook