G4 Powerbook (15") and sleep

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Duncan Farrow - 29 Jul 2003 03:45 GMT

Hi,

I have just got a new G4 Powerbook (15"), 1GHz with 1GB of RAM. The price
was too good to resist!

Anyway, I'm finding that under sleep I'm losing about 1% per hour of sleep
of battery. This seems much more than I used to lose with my Wallstreet
under 8.6. Is this normal? If I put the machine for sleep over the weekend,
there's barely enough power to wake.

I know you're supposed to shutdown for extended periods of non-use but I
like to have the machine up and running quickly when I pull it out. Of
course, I could leave it plugged in but then it would not be very secure.

Cheers,

Duncan.

Reply to this Message

Thomas Otto - 29 Jul 2003 04:12 GMT

> I have just got a new G4 Powerbook (15"), 1GHz with 1GB of RAM. The price
> was too good to resist!
>
> Anyway, I'm finding that under sleep I'm losing about 1% per hour of sleep
> of battery. This seems much more than I used to lose with my Wallstreet
> under 8.6. Is this normal?

Unfortunately yes. My 12" iBook2 with 386MB RAM is a loosing power at
about the same rate.
Actually IIRC the 1GB of RAM are probably only worsening the problem
since the complete Gigabyte has to be kept under a certain current so
that it doesn't loose its content.
(I don't know if something is developed yet that can distinguish "used"
from unallocated RAM and powers of the latter when suspending).

> If I put the machine for sleep over the weekend,
> there's barely enough power to wake.

Isn't the power-up time just long enough to get something to eat and
dring before starting to work? ;-)

> I know you're supposed to shutdown for extended periods of non-use but I
> like to have the machine up and running quickly when I pull it out. Of
> course, I could leave it plugged in but then it would not be very secure.

I'm quite exited about the software suspend-to-disk in the coming
Linux 2.6 kernel which will save the RAM to disk and then completely
power off. The bootup time will then only be the time it takes to copy
the memory stored on the harddrive back to RAM (ok, plus kernel
initialisation).
I wonder why OS X doesn't have something similar in Panther with laptops
being a key market for Apple.

-Thomas

Reply to this Message

Thomas Reed - 29 Jul 2003 13:21 GMT

> Of
> course, I could leave it plugged in but then it would not be very secure.

I'm afraid I don't understand this part. How is leaving it plugged in
less secure?

I leave my PowerBook plugged in all the time when I'm not using it (and
most of the time when I am). That way, when I need the battery power,
I'm always at full capacity.

Signature

-Thomas

e-mail me at thomasareed at philadelphia.net minus phil

Reply to this Message

Duncan Farrow - 29 Jul 2003 13:58 GMT

> > Of
> > course, I could leave it plugged in but then it would not be very secure.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> e-mail me at thomasareed at philadelphia.net minus phil

If I leave the machine on my desk, plugged into the power, it is less
secure from theft than if it is locked away somewhere out of sight.

I lost a machine a few years ago in such circumstances (a 5300 so it
didn't matter too much!)

Cheers,
Duncan.

Reply to this Message

Neill Massello - 30 Jul 2003 02:52 GMT

> If I leave the machine on my desk, plugged into the power, it is less
> secure from theft than if it is locked away somewhere out of sight.

Have you considered the security cable products, such as Kensington's
<http://www.microsaver.com/>?

Reply to this Message

Duncan Farrow - 30 Jul 2003 04:32 GMT

On 30/7/03 9:52 AM, in article
1fyv72g.mhslo916s50ggN%neillmassello@earthlink.net, "Neill Massello"
<neillmassello@earthlink.net> wrote:

>> If I leave the machine on my desk, plugged into the power, it is less
>> secure from theft than if it is locked away somewhere out of sight.
>
> Have you considered the security cable products, such as Kensington's
> <http://www.microsaver.com/>?

I have one of these - but I don't trust it to hold out against a determined
thief that has gone to the trouble of breaking into my office in the dead of
night. I've not tried it but I bet a hand-held cable cutter or bolt cutters
could get through a cable lock in less than a minute. The thief can then
remove the part still attached to the powerbook at their leisure.

Reply to this Message

Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / July 2003

G4 Powerbook (15") and sleep