PowerBooks on long flights

You've got two approaches: Get more power. Use less power.

You've already covered the first one. For the second, try to shut off everything you won't need.

Set the Energy Saver prefs for maximum conservation, particularly setting the CPU to Reduced power consumption.

Try to do work on the plane that uses the disk and CPU as little as possible. For example, catching up on your e-mail, or writing in Word or TextEdit. In the best case scenario, the work you're doing fits in RAM so that the disk stops spinning for long periods of time. But if you do video editing or Photoshop work, you'll kill that battery fast!

Everyone probably knows by now that the backlight uses the most energy. Turn it down all the way. Actually, a darkened airplane cabin makes it easy to read a laptop screen that's dimmed. And in the Displays preference, turn off automatic brightness adjustment. Someone once wrote an article about how their battery gave out early because the auto brightness had slowly raised its level during the flight.

Shut off both Airport and Bluetooth. I turn off all network interfaces, because I wonder if some of them use power even when they're not connected (does the Ethernet jack do that?).

Don't keep any peripherals connected, and that includes a card you might have in the PC card slot. Don't keep a disc spinning in the optical drive, take it out. I'm not sure if it takes less energy to watch a movie from an optical disc or the hard drive. Of course, it takes the least energy to spin neither.

That's still not going to make it last 14 hours, so reading material will still be needed...

You've got a two-pronged approach you can take to this:

1) stock up on batteries and other ways to keep your laptop going.
The biggest battery I've ever seen are flat batteries the size of the
laptop -- they weigh something like twelve pounds and give up to 10
hours of battery life. Brand name escapes me, but should be
available in Google.

2) come up with non-computer things to do for 14 hours. The most
important of these -- which is a jet lag trick I've been using for 20
years -- is to set all of your watches/clocks to Taiwan time when you
board, and do your best to immediately follow that schedule. Sleep
when you can. Bring a book, and if your reading time is "before
Taiwan bedtime", bring the kind of book that puts you to sleep rather
than a thriller.

In general, between my laptop, iPod, and onboard entertainment,
there's plenty to keep me entertained for 14 hour flights. The trick
is to stop looking for entertainment and try to use that period as
advance adjustment time. I sometimes board European flights on a 24-
hour sleep deprivation jag so I can sleep the entire flight and start
off refreshed on day one -- why waste a day in Europe?

Best,
Jeff

On Feb 7, 2007, at 12:06 AM, Craig Turner wrote:

> This might be a good moment for me to poke my head in here and ask
> for advice from others about carrying my laptop onboard a
> transatlantic flight. I'm going to Taiwan in a few weeks and am
> flying EVA Air since they are connected to American from LA. The
> bummer is that Business class I'm in does not have power ports in the
> seats.
>
> With a laptop that can do close to four hours (new enhanced OWC
> battery), that still leaves me way short for the 14 hour flight.
>
> I'd be interested in hearing how others use their laptops especially
> when power is not available. Extra battery (or two)? A power pack of
> some sort??

I haven't gone on any flights this long for years, but on cross
country flights I have packed an extra charged up battery that has
come in very handy. You might want to consider two if you'll be using
the computers for a long stretch. However, do be prepared for some
rigorous baggage screening at the airport.

Marilyn

When I need to conserve power I usually adjust the Energy Saver
settings to be extremely conservative, mute the sound, turn Airport
and Bluetooth off, unplug USB devices, dim the backlight as much as
possible, set the processor performance to low in Energy Saver.

All of these are done to use less cpu cycles, and thus less power.
Using as few applications as possible will also avoid using your
drive for pageing memory, which would help keep the drive spun down..

I remember when.. I was taking the train, and had my PowerBook 180
with me. I was able to turn the backlight completely off and scrunch
down in my seat so I had the sun shining on the screen, and thus was
able to still use the PB. I don't recall how many hours I managed
that day, but it was a lot more than normal!

A friend of mine uses an external power pack, that is similar in
surface area to the powerbook, and about a centimeter thick. He says
he can double or triple his battery life that way.

Cheers,

Dave

On 7-Feb-07, at 12:06 AM, Craig Turner wrote:

> This might be a good moment for me to poke my head in here and ask
> for advice from others about carrying my laptop onboard a
> transatlantic flight. I'm going to Taiwan in a few weeks and am
> flying EVA Air since they are connected to American from LA. The
> bummer is that Business class I'm in does not have power ports in the
> seats.
>
> With a laptop that can do close to four hours (new enhanced OWC
> battery), that still leaves me way short for the 14 hour flight.
>
> I'd be interested in hearing how others use their laptops especially
> when power is not available. Extra battery (or two)? A power pack of
> some sort??
>
> Say, this also means I'll run out of iPod music real early as well!!
> Sigh. Wonder why putting power ports in seats is such a rarity still?
>
> Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
>
> Craig Turner
>
>
> On Feb 6, 2007, at 2:26 PM, Ben Rubinstein wrote:
>
>
>>
>> On a similarly anecdotal note, I fly transatlantic - same airline,
>> same route
>> - 3 to 4 times a year. A couple of years ago I would notice if
>> there was
>> another PowerBook user in the departure lounge, and we'd exchange
>> looks.
>>
>> Last week, all four of the six people in the row ahead of me
>> (Continental are
>> flying smaller planes LGW-EWR than they used to) that were using
>> laptops, were
>> using Mac laptops.
>>
>> - Ben
>
>
>
> --
> If you want to unsubscribe or change your address, use this link:
> http://emperor.tidbits.com/webx?unsub.3c3f6899!u=30544649

On 2/7/2007 10:56 AM, "Jeff Porten" wrote:
> 1) stock up on batteries and other ways to keep your laptop going.
> The biggest battery I've ever seen are flat batteries the size of the
> laptop -- they weigh something like twelve pounds and give up to 10
> hours of battery life. Brand name escapes me, but should be
> available in Google.

Are you thinking of Lind's packs?

<http://www.lindelectronics.com/cgi-bin/store/shop.cgi/!ORDERID!/ppack/Apple
/dbx_gen_ppack_mfg_products?industry=>

They weigh only about 3 to 4 pounds, but give you a (total) runtime of
around 10 hours. The biggest drawback, nowadays, is that there are no models
compatible with the latest Apple notebooks -- Apple doesn't license the
MagSafe connector.

On Feb 6, 2007, at 9:06 PM, Craig Turner wrote:

>
> I'd be interested in hearing how others use their laptops especially
> when power is not available. Extra battery (or two)? A power pack of
> some sort??

See:
http://www.amazon.com/APPLE-PowerBook-Aluminum-External-Battery/dp/
B0009O4RRY

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (3rd, 4th, and 5th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________

On Feb 7, 2007, at 3:54 PM, Dan Frakes wrote:

> On 2/7/2007 10:56 AM, "Jeff Porten" wrote:
>> 1) stock up on batteries and other ways to keep your laptop going.
>> The biggest battery I've ever seen are flat batteries the size of the
>> laptop -- they weigh something like twelve pounds and give up to 10
>> hours of battery life. Brand name escapes me, but should be
>> available in Google.
>
> Are you thinking of Lind's packs?
>
> <http://www.lindelectronics.com/cgi-bin/store/shop.cgi/!ORDERID!/
> ppack/Apple
> /dbx_gen_ppack_mfg_products?industry=>
>
> They weigh only about 3 to 4 pounds, but give you a (total) runtime of
> around 10 hours. The biggest drawback, nowadays, is that there are
> no models
> compatible with the latest Apple notebooks -- Apple doesn't license
> the
> MagSafe connector.

I do the east coast to Japan flight three or four times a year, and
in the past an external battery pack for my G4 iBook was
indispensable. I used the one from NCharge (they used to sell them
at Brookstone), which gave me a total work time of about 9 hours.
Weighed about 3 lbs, and worth every pound.

With the MB/P, solutions are harder to come by because of the MagSafe
issue.

BatteryGeek.net claims that their external batteries now come with
MagSafe connectors. Since Apple doesn't license the connector, I'm
not sure how they are doing it. Probably some grey-market deal where
they disassemble MagSafe airline adapter or something of the sort. I
don't have any experience with this product, and am honestly a little
scared to try. (Though in fairness, their external iPod battery
works great.)

If you are handy with the soldering iron, I suppose you could hack
the MagSafe airline adapter to have an standard coax DC power
receptacle on one end, and you could then plug an external battery
pack in that way.

http://www.mikegyver.com/ideas/airline-car/index.html

shows you how to do it. Or you can just pay the guy to do it for you.

Of course, you could always cary an additional battery or two (which
is what I do). But then charging the spare batteries becomes an
issue. Newertech doesn't have a battery charger for the MB or MBP
yet, so you will have to remember to swap out the batteries to charge
them in the laptop.

Tomoharu

On 8-Feb-2007, at 10:29, Tomoharu Nishino wrote:
> Probably some grey-market deal where
> they disassemble MagSafe airline adapter or something of the sort.

So, do the airlines not provide power on these long flights? I
thought that was the whole point of the airline adaptor?

--
#242755 <jshock221> a freudian slip is when you say one thing but
you're really thinking about a mother.
<Spadgeroonie> no, a freudian slip is sexy underwear your mother wears

On 8 Feb 2007, at 21:45, Google Kreme wrote:

> So, do the airlines not provide power on these long flights? I
> thought that was the whole point of the airline adaptor?

Some provide real power ie 110/220V so you can plug a laptop PSU in
directly, in all classes.

Others only provide the specialist socket in Business/FIrst Class.

Then there is a spectrum in between and always the risk that you
might be on a different plane that doesn't have the power layout you
were expecting.

        f

Some planes have power outlets available, but only in a few rows. There is
a website that lists which planes airlines have them.

<http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,111982-page,1/article.html> has information
on what you need for the plane.

<http://www.seatguru.com/> shows which flights have usable outlets, but from
previous experience, don't always count on it. They are also the best for
finding the most comfortable seats.
 
Thanks
 
Bob Lauterbach
Lauterbachpacbell.net

On Feb 8, 2007, at 4:45 PM, Google Kreme wrote:

> On 8-Feb-2007, at 10:29, Tomoharu Nishino wrote:
>> Probably some grey-market deal where
>> they disassemble MagSafe airline adapter or something of the sort.
>
> So, do the airlines not provide power on these long flights? I
> thought that was the whole point of the airline adaptor?

The issue is really one of consistency. Most first/business class
seats on long-haul flights have power. So when I fly for business
(with clients willing to pay for business travel), power usually
isn't an issue. Though occasionally, you might get an old 747-200
which doesn't have power even in first/business.

Getting power in economy seats is far less reliable. Continental
provides power in some economy seats in its 777s---though these seats
are harder to get by the virtue of their scarcity. ANA provides
power only in their "premium economy" seats on the 777s. And NWA not
at all in their 747s. (These are the three that I know about.)

An useful resource in finding out whether your seat is likely to have
power is:

http://www.seatguru.com/

Tomoharu

Everyone needs to remember that the airlines do not sell you a seat on a
particular airplane. The ticket is to get you from point A to point B.
If a particular plane has trouble or is needed elsewhere you might wind
up with power everywhere or nowhere on the replacement plane. A plane
swap doesn't happen often, especially on long overseas flights, but it
can happen. Or they can put you on another airline.

My point is do not make having a particular kind of power at your seat a
life or death / deal or no deal matter.

        I seem to recall a few solar power solutions for situations like
this - google turns up at least a few good candidates under "apple laptop
solar battery", including these folk in England who will design one for you:

<http://www.gosolar.u-net.com/Portable_solar_power_systems.htm>

        The laptop probably draws too much current for a solar panel that
fits into your airplane window, but a panel might be able to give you a few
extra hours of running time.

        The iPod might be a different story. Solar power might be able to
do quite a bit of recharging, and you can probably get external battery
packs that could easily last the whole flight. Here is the "Solio" which
combines an external battery with a solar charger and some others with and
without integrated batteries:

<http://www.welovemacs.com/s13a11e.html>
<http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/sf_solarmio_31.html>
<http://www.siliconsolar.com/shop/catalog/Solar-iPod-Charger-p-16157.html>


--
* Johann Beda - contact link: <http://xri.net/=j-beda> *
* Johann's MostlyMac Computer Consulting - <http://mmcc.beda.ca/> *

On 13/2/07 16:36, Johann Beda wrote:
> The laptop probably draws too much current for a solar panel that
> fits into your airplane window, but a panel might be able to give you a few
> extra hours of running time.

Just make sure you book your seat on the correct side of the aircraft for
maximum solar attention!

- Ben

Urban myth claims that the derivation of "Posh" is an acronym for "Port Out,
Starboard Home" - for those travelling from England to India in the days of
Empire, booking a cabin in this sequence gave shade and breezes. Do we need a
new acronym to express those folk who when flying to Taiwan in business class
get the optimum seat for charging their laptop?

Ben Rubinstein wrote:
> On 13/2/07 16:36, Johann Beda wrote:
>> The laptop probably draws too much current for a solar panel that
>> fits into your airplane window, but a panel might be able to give you
>> a few
>> extra hours of running time.
>
> Just make sure you book your seat on the correct side of the aircraft for
> maximum solar attention!
>
> - Ben
>
> Urban myth claims that the derivation of "Posh" is an acronym for
> "Port Out,
> Starboard Home" - for those travelling from England to India in the
> days of
> Empire, booking a cabin in this sequence gave shade and breezes. Do
> we need a
> new acronym to express those folk who when flying to Taiwan in
> business class
> get the optimum seat for charging their laptop?

I use a high tech paper notebook on the Express Bus from Horseshoe Bay
to Downtown Vancouver and back. Notes can be diagrams or text; pen,
pencil or crayon. They can be improved and transferred at once to the
Widescreen Mini Solo after making tea to recover from the POSH journey
that keeps the sun out of my eyes.

Outline form is flexible and powerful for this; Mind Maps + diagrams
are my style: I did a first draft of The Virgin World Challenge for
$25M without electricity. And quadrupled it's value by revising while
transferring to the MacMini.

That is an ultra reliable way to compute on long hauls. I'm wondering
if the iPhone will be Ok for making outlines or diagrams and might
compete with pencil and paper.

George

Ben Rubinstein wrote:
> On 13/2/07 16:36, Johann Beda wrote:
>> The laptop probably draws too much current for a solar panel that
>> fits into your airplane window, but a panel might be able to give you
>> a few
>> extra hours of running time.
>
> Just make sure you book your seat on the correct side of the aircraft for
> maximum solar attention!
>
> - Ben
>
> Urban myth claims that the derivation of "Posh" is an acronym for "Port
> Out,
> Starboard Home" - for those travelling from England to India in the days of
> Empire, booking a cabin in this sequence gave shade and breezes. Do we
> need a
> new acronym to express those folk who when flying to Taiwan in business
> class
> get the optimum seat for charging their laptop?
>
As or even more important was the ability to see land at times for the
months on the voyage. Never heard of the breezes explanation. Shade?
 From what?

On Feb 13, 2007, at 5:15 PM, Ben Rubinstein wrote:

> On 13/2/07 16:36, Johann Beda wrote:
>> The laptop probably draws too much current for a solar panel that
>> fits into your airplane window, but a panel might be able to give
>> you a few
>> extra hours of running time.
>
> Just make sure you book your seat on the correct side of the
> aircraft for
> maximum solar attention!
>
> - Ben

One more wrinkle.

On the way to Asia, most flights leave in the early afternoon, and
arrive in evening, the whole time chasing the sun (but not quite
keeping pace). So you might get some sun, especially early on in the
flight, but a progressively waning light.

On the way back, most flights leave early afternoon and arrive in the
late AM, but since you are flying in the opposite direction from the
sun, you lose light very quickly, and most of the flight is in the dark.

At least you won't have cloud cover to worry about.

Tomoharu

I'm sorry this is off-topic, but I just can't not comment on this...

At 14:15 on 13-02-2007, Ben Rubinstein wrote:
> Urban myth claims that the derivation of "Posh" is an acronym for
> "Port Out, Starboard Home" - for those travelling from England to
> India in the days of Empire, booking a cabin in this sequence gave
> shade and breezes.

Supposedly this really is no more than an urban myth. No proof exists
that the acronym was every used, and the shipping company supposed to
have used it has denied doing so. Many more details on the origin of
'posh' at the link below.

<http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pos1.htm>

_________________
=> Jolin