Improve 17inch Powerbook Battery life

Does anyone have any suggestions to improve battery life (external battery packs, etc) and opinion if they are worth the expense.
EmuPooh Nonames wrote on :

Hi,

I have one of the lovely 17inch powerbook's, however one of the draw backs is the limited battery life one gets on them.

Does anyone have any suggestions to improve battery life (external battery packs, etc) and opinion if they are worth the expense.

Thanks Paul

Thomas Reed replied on :

In article BB6BA08C.3AEB3%someone@redacted.invalid, EmuPooh Nonames someone@redacted.invalid wrote:

I have one of the lovely 17inch powerbook's, however one of the draw backs is the limited battery life one gets on them.

I don't think the battery life is that bad -- I don't recall getting any more battery time on my old Wallstreet. One catch, though -- if you've got Bluetooth and AirPort active, you will get somewhat reduced battery life, but that makes sense. Just create a location called something like "Battery Saver" that has AirPort and Bluetooth turned off, and use that when you're using the battery. (Unless you're also wanting to surf the web!)

Also, use the other typical ways of reducing drain -- turn down screen brightness, turn off the keyboard lights if they're on, fine-tune your Energy Saver settings, etc.

Simon Slavin replied on :

In article BB6BA08C.3AEB3%someone@redacted.invalid, EmuPooh Nonames someone@redacted.invalid wrote:

I have one of the lovely 17inch powerbook's, however one of the draw backs is the limited battery life one gets on them.

How long are you getting ? And are you getting that long while doing something low-drain like word processing, medium-drain like downloading stuff from the internet, or high-drain like playing first-person shooted-em-up games.