Author Topic: iBook Battery life (Read 9221 times)

Nick S. · « **on:** November 14, 2003, 08:55:47 AM »

For the Mac users out there, was toying with the idea of trying some 24bit taping on my ibook tonight. Will be running out of the V3 and into a usb powered U2A into the ibook. Was wondering what to expect out the swappable batteries that come with the ibook.

Also other mac tips for the field (prefs, system settings . . . )

thanks,
Nick

MattD · « **Reply #1 on:** November 14, 2003, 09:02:15 AM »

Which OS?

Nick S. · « **Reply #2 on:** November 14, 2003, 09:12:49 AM »

MattD · « **Reply #3 on:** November 14, 2003, 09:13:42 AM »

Can you be more specific? I've used 10.2, 10.2.6, 10.2.8, 10.3 and thinking of going to 10.3.1.

-Matt

John Kelly · « **Reply #4 on:** November 14, 2003, 09:13:46 AM »

Swappable batteries? If you just mean the internal battery, you can get around 4-4.5 hours if you turn the screen off. Also, it's not a powerbook so you have to turn the machine off to replace the battery.

As for settings, I have my processor set to highest, the hard drives to never spin down, the system to never go to sleep (bad for taping), and the display to go to sleep at 1 minute. This probably isn't the best way to conserve battery power (with the hard drive and processor settings), but I've found it to be the safest settings to tape with...

MattD · « **Reply #5 on:** November 14, 2003, 09:19:13 AM »

Where's that processor setting in 10.3? I have the same with HDs and power settings, and also same for the display. I also turn off my built-in ethernet connection and have a 4 GB OS partition with a 16 or so GB data partition.

I haven't figured out memory settings in 10.3 yet, but back in OS9, I used to allocate a shit load of RAM for DP3.

Nick S. · « **Reply #6 on:** November 14, 2003, 09:20:52 AM »

I'm using 10.2.8

John, thats what I meant about the battery . . . so one show is no problem as long as I am conservative with the battery usage?

in best Burns voice "excellent . . ."

What software are you guys using?

scb · « **Reply #7 on:** November 14, 2003, 10:13:24 AM »

i'd say 3 hours not 4...

the real question is which ibook?

Nick S. · « **Reply #8 on:** November 14, 2003, 10:29:31 AM »

800 Mhz PowerPc G3
256 mb ram

Will Sound Studio do 24 bit? If so are there any settings I need to engage in it? The U2A control panel only has sample rate settings. Is the bit rate set by the V3 automatically picked up by the U2A and then in Sound Studio?

thanks for the help guys,
Nick

scb · « **Reply #9 on:** November 14, 2003, 10:48:51 AM »

>>Will Sound Studio do 24 bit?<<

i don't think so. try spark me (www.tcworks.de). it's free and does up to 24/192

>>Is the bit rate set by the V3 automatically picked up by the U2A <<

no idea, never used a u2a

greenone · « **Reply #10 on:** November 14, 2003, 11:40:20 AM »

I don't think the U2A can do 24-bit, Nick - I'm pretty sure the U2A dithers to 16-bit before it sends it out over the USB even though the digital i/o's can take a 24-bit signal. To do that in an ESI-Pro product you'd need a U24, which they advertise as having "true 24-bit capabilities". Or maybe the new Quata-Fire (thread elsewhere on this forum).

Sound Studio does do 24-bit now as of the latest beta version. I've never used it myself, but the capability was just added in 2.1.1b3 - unfortunately it only supports up to 96khz, so if you're looking for 24/192, like Scott says, Spark ME is your best bet...

nic · « **Reply #11 on:** November 16, 2003, 08:02:14 AM »

fyi, while not a iBook, I had to use the fully charged internal battery of our 867MHz PowerBook to record a show on friday night(we forgot the power adaptor).
we saved some battery power by writing the show on a external/powered hard-disc.

we recorded 4 channels from a MOTU828 @16/48 in DP3(OS 9.2) for 1hr 40' and the battery was almost dead(meter said 2 minutes left). we turned the LCD all the way down and even let the LCD turn itself off after 5 minutes.
there was no dropouts or artifacts when the LCD turned itself off. we couldnt close the screen as it would put it to sleep and therefore loose its firewire connection.

John Kelly · « **Reply #12 on:** November 16, 2003, 09:56:43 AM »

I thought the 12" PowerBooks couldn't run OS 9???

But in any case, that sounds like a jacked up battery. If you're not even accessing the internal hard disc, it should last for a minimum of 3 hours, and I would say closer to four. If you're still under warranty, get Apple to replace the battery.

nic · « **Reply #13 on:** November 16, 2003, 10:25:03 AM »

15" PowerBook, about 2 years old.
even without using the internal hard-disc for the recording, you are still using it by the OS. audio processing is CPU intensive, so thats a big power drain. even the constant refreshing of RAM is a power draw.
the battery isnt bad and it actually exceeded our expectations.

even on my 14" iBook last year I could never achieve 3 hours when actually using it

scb · « **Reply #14 on:** November 16, 2003, 04:10:34 PM »

i got 3 hours no problem on my 2 ibooks and 12 inch powerbook...

John Kelly · « **Reply #15 on:** November 16, 2003, 04:16:34 PM »

I consistently get around four hours from my iBook, and that was even powering an emi 2|6 while it was on...

The 14" iBook should be even better, it's battery is a lot bigger than the 12".

nic · « **Reply #16 on:** November 16, 2003, 05:41:01 PM »

hmmm, I get 3-4+ hours when it(ibook and powerbook) sits idle with the occasional refresh of a web-page.
if I put a big load on them(audio processing, recording, playing a cd, watching a dvd) then battery life drops in half.
bear in mind the only power setting I change from fullpower for recording is the LCD brightness as I want fullpower to the cpu and HD

John Kelly · « **Reply #17 on:** November 16, 2003, 06:02:49 PM »

I set my CPU to full and the hard drive to never spin down. However the 4+ hours is while recording, meaning the screen is off and the only program running is Spark XL. But even when I use it on battery for every day stuff, I get around 3-3.5 hours.

joeshambro · « **Reply #18 on:** November 19, 2003, 05:05:17 AM »

With my Pismo, I used two batteries and easily got 4 hours in with a little time to spare... wasn't cheap for that extra new battery, either. Then the thing dies two weeks later... :-(

But as far as my 12" Powerbook goes, I found that at first I was getting great time, now it won't last through one whole show.. I think I need a new battery from Apple, best I get is like 2:15 on a full charge, with the LCD just about off.

Otherwise, I love the 12" PB... Now to get that Superdrive upgrade that Scuba Jeremy has me convinced I need..

scb · « **Reply #19 on:** November 19, 2003, 07:11:44 AM »

did you calibrate the battery when you got it?

MattD · « **Reply #20 on:** November 19, 2003, 07:24:23 AM »

Quote from: joeshambro on November 19, 2003, 05:05:17 AM

With my Pismo, I used two batteries and easily got 4 hours in with a little time to spare... wasn't cheap for that extra new battery, either. Then the thing dies two weeks later... :-(

With 2 batteries in my Pismo, I have NEVER run it down at a show. I estimate I'd get 8+ hours with the screen manually turned 'off.'

-Matt

joeshambro · « **Reply #21 on:** November 19, 2003, 11:14:49 PM »

Quote from: scott brown on November 19, 2003, 07:11:44 AM

did you calibrate the battery when you got it?

I did, per their instructions. Charged it full, let it fully discharge, then charged back up... I also re-did it a couple times when I was having the overheating problem (it's noted in an Apple support doc, talking about how the 12" models are overheating because the batteries think they're not charged, yet continue to overcharge... which makes them very warm).

Keep in mind it was a refurb unit when I bought it, so who knows...

scb · « **Reply #22 on:** November 20, 2003, 11:39:35 AM »

have you reset the power manager?