Batteries are an important part of having a portable. Being mobile is one of the reasons you got a portable and it can’t be portable if it can’t run on batteries right? So having a good set of batteries is important.

Calibrating your batteries is important to making sure you get a good amount of time running with it.

The Apple support site has a good article on how to calibrate your MacBook/MacBook Pro’s batteries.

From the Apple support site.

PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD), MacBook (all models), MacBook Pro (all models), MacBook Pro (17-inch) (all models) and MacBook Air

The battery calibration for the PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) and any model of MacBook or MacBook Pro has been updated because of a new battery released with this computer. With these computers, follow these steps to calibrate your battery:

1. Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook’s battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.

2. Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.

3. Disconnect the power adapter with the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, you will see the low battery warning dialog on the screen.

4. Continue to keep your computer on until it goes to sleep. Save all your work and close all applications when the battery gets very low, before the computer goes to sleep.

5. Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.

6. Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

View the complete article here.

Inspired by this recent post at TUAW. I’d like to share my own “switcher” story.

I purchased my first Mac on June 2004. It was a 1.5 Ghz 15″ Powerbook. I’ve been wanting to switch to a Mac since I saw the Powerbook G3 of a former office mate. At first I fell in love with the design and began reading about Macs. I later fell in love with the OS. I’ve always knew that a Unix based system was better than Windows but it wasn’t as friendly to use. I wasn’t a hardcore computer geek. I knew things but I don’t want to spend my time under the hood of a computer. I just wanted something that worked. OS X promised to give me that. A powerful Unix core under the hood with a simple, user friendly interface that Apple was known for. I was hooked.

So, I saved for a year or so. Putting extra money aside. On that faithful day in June 2004, I finally placed my order. The dealer delivered my Powerbook a day after. The, rest they say is history. Since then I’ve been an Apple convert. I loved most of the things about it. From how the computer was designed all the way to how it just makes my life easier.

I began advocating for the Mac with my family. Showing it off to my brother, mom and dad. I showed them how easy it was to do things on a Mac. They were skeptic at first but they soon realized how nice it was.

My brother was my first convert. He sold his few month old ASUS laptop and bought a 12″ PowerBook. My mom later followed when her Sony VAIO died. Instead of replacing it with another Windows laptop, my dad bought her a 12″ iBook.

To date, it’s only my dad in our immediate family that has yet to switch to a Mac laptop. Partly because he is tied to his office’s system which dictates that he has to use a Windows laptop. He is however, a very happy iPhone user. If not for being tied to his office, I think he would have been a Mac user as well.

The biggest factor I switched to the Mac is that it just allowed me to focus on the things I wanted to do. Do my design work, browse the internet, email, entertainment, etc. Instead of spending a lot of time, maintaining my computer. I don’t have to worry about virus, crashes or whatnot. It just life easier and more enjoyable.

So what’s your switcher story? Care to share it with us?

*Currently I’m using a 2.33Ghz 17″ MacBook Pro and wishing I could get a new 15″ Unibody MacBook Pro

Yes, we’ve all heard how the new Intel Macs are screamers. But most of us are still in the PowerPC age. While our Macs still run decently, you can never have too much speed and performance. If you feel that your Mac is slow the best would be to upgrade. If you can’t afford a new computer, upgrade some of its components such as RAM and the Hard drive. However for us who don’t have the money for upgrades or don’t want to spend any more money on a computer that they’ll probably be upgrading in 6 months or so, optimizing your Mac is the best solution. Try and squeeze out as much speed as you can from it.

Ed Eubanks Jr., from Low End Mac has a great article titled “11 Ways to Optimize Your Macs Performance“. This article is not exclusive to PowerPC users. Most Mac users will be able to benefit from this article but probably not all in the same degree.

I’ve done most of these things such as clean my start-up items, shut of all widgets I really don’t need and to a certain extent clean up my hard drive. I also use Onyx from time to time.

So go ahead and read the article and see how much more performance you can get out of your Mac.

I was at a presscon last week, purpose of which was to demo the new iLife and iWork ‘06 to the public. But deeper than that was the demo of the software on the new Intel-based Macs.

I’ll give it to Apple - they made the migration from PowerPC to Intel almost seamless. But.

Before the presscon I was having a conversation with Junior Tan, the guy from Apple Singapore in charge of the education apps. We were talking about the new Macs, specifically the MacBook Pro which was the next big thing in mobile computing. Dual core, built-in iSight, 4x faster than any notebook available.

Then he goes, “but I’m having such a hard time letting go of my PowerBook.” And I look down and see my own little white 12-incher that has saved my ass from being fried several times.

Man, it’s hard to replace a good thing.

And that’s the moral of this post.

I don’t know about you, but for the better part of my wireless life I’ve always enjoyed the benefits of a wireless connection coupled with friends to share it with. Nope, I don’t mean an open WiFi network. I’m talking about social WiFi.

WiFi as a social concept, at least here where I’m from, is null and void. On many occasions where my friends bring portables to a coffee shop, the buzz of conversation dies down being replaced by the muffled clicking of their trackpads.

I guess the best place to start is going wireless in a pizza joint. Social food is always good. That’s Adel and myself with our Powerbook and iBook chatting, downloading stuff and sharing photos while waiting for our pizza.

For some strange reason, it’s more fun to socialize when you have a transparent Apple logo on the back of your ‘book.

Having really not much to do stuck in morning rush hour traffic, I recently had a vigorous discussion with my brother, a Windows user (but the distinction is irrelevant for the subject we were discussing in this case, so I don’t know why I’m even mentioning it at all) and mobile warrior like me, about the concept of power.

Specifically, we were discussing the age-old question of plugging in, and when and when not to. My brother believes that one should charge the laptop, and once it’s topped up, unplug and use at will until such time charging is once again required.

On the other hand, I am of a mind to keep the laptop always plugged in if there is a socket handy, whether or not the laptop needs it (and in these days of trickle charging lithium-ion batteries, it isn’t the problem it used to be). I will only be unwired if the situation will make it necessary.

Both reasonable points of view, right? Here are the more detailed arguments:

I do my thing because it keeps me prepared for whatever working environment will pop up in the day. In the event I need to work, say, in the park, or in the car, or at a cafe where some parsimonious manager says I cannot plug in, I can maximize my power usage and work for as long as possible.

My brother argues that laptops, by their very nature and reason for existence, are meant to be used without wires, at all times, and be plugged into a socket only when it needs to. That is why they are called mobiles. If you’ll be plugged in almost all the time, they why even use a mobile computer? Get a desktop.

Being just the only two siblings in the family, of course we draw the line in the sand and argue our points to death, a time-honored tradition that dates back to when we were arguing as toddlers who gets the bigger slice of birthday cake, regardless of whose birthday it was.

Working unplugged all the time bothers me greatly. Being forced to makes me antsy, and the first thing I do at Starbucks is head for the tables closest to the power outlets, and if they are already occupied I become royally pissed. (I think I am obsessive-compulsive about this whole thing. That’s why I got the extended battery I wrote about in a previous post, even if I could survive on the older one.)

Just the idea of unnecessarily increasing the charge cycle count and eventually shortening the useful life of an expensive battery disturbs me. Working in a place where there is a perfectly useful outlet handy and not using it is an idea alien to me. And the idea of my Powerbook going dead at Starbucks for no good reason while I’m trying to beat a deadline is something I cannot stand. It doesn’t just make sense to me.

Despite all these logical arguments, amazingly, a considerable number of people I know still have not gone past the novelty of working unwired, or simply don’t care what their battery status will be later on in the day. Even my co-blogger here at The AfterMac, Jayvee, often works at our magazine office - amidst a sea of ready-and-waiting power outlets - on his single iBook battery. I wouldn’t be too concerned if he had an extra one in his Crumpler, but he doesn’t. (Then again it might be because he’s afraid to use that funky duckhead he posted about earlier.)

In the end, as a positive sign of how mature we’ve become since those birthday cake days, my brother and I just agreed to disagree, and just continued to wordlessly stare out at the sea of cars, thinking about how we both needed a life.

What do you guys think? Comments are welcome.

The battery of my two-year-old 12” Albook is showing signs of serious wear.

Recently it was hovering at 57% charging capacity and was giving me about two-and-a-half hours of juice. Then in the space of two days that setting dived 12%, and I was getting an hour less Mac time on the road. Additionally, recharging the thing fully now took a whole day, as opposed to the usual couple of hours or so; it took forever to hit 100%, and I was getting erratic indication of how much power was left. The plug’s light ring would hardly turn green, and when it finally did (usually after an overnight charging), as I used it, it would turn orange and the indicator would drop to 97 or 98% - while being plugged in all the while.

Hmph.

Then again, it’s had 202 cycles already, and all things considered, it was about time. Maybe I’m asking too much of it. I’ve tried resetting the PRAM and the PMU, charged, drained and recharged the battery to condition it, all the usual stuff, and there’s been no change. I guess it’s on its last legs.

I had my friend (the one who went to Macworld and gave me a Belkin smartwrap) get me a Newertech enhanced battery in San Francisco, with a claimed 20% more battery life. I charged it for 12 straight hours overnight, as the included flyer said, and used it the whole day – amazingly it’s held up pretty well.

When I started using it this morning on batteries alone, it claimed 5 hours and 25 minutes, shifting back and forth from 4 hours, to 5, then to 3 and half and so forth. I used it to write three short articles, two posts, ran Bluetooth with Address Book so I could easy send text messages, and often tried to connect with the several wifi networks where I was. I did this on and off the whole afternoon, and it ran fine.

It finally warned me it was running on reserve power and said it was about to shut down at any time around 5 in the afternoon. The indicator said 6 minutes left. I continued using it. Then it said 4 minutes left, then 2, and soon hit 0%. I kept working, and it wouldn’t shut off until forty minutes later. Whoa. Forty minutes running on empty. Later that night, after its first recharge, the indicator said, tantalizingly, 6:22. I like this battery.

Batteries are important things, of course. Particularly for the mobile warrior. That’s why it disturbs me a great deal that Apple is apparently being deliberately vague about the battery behavior and characteristics of everyone’s new object of lust, the MacBook Pro. Even my friend who covered Macworld couldn’t get a straight answer from the Apple PR flacks.

Maybe when it ships we’ll have some word. If not from Apple, from the legions of early adopters who’d rather take the plunge now than wait for Revision B. Can’t wait.