Apple Duo 270C manual Maximizing work time, Ways to conserve battery power

Maximizing work time

Your PowerBook’s battery can provide from 2 to 6 hours of work time before you need to recharge it. The actual work time available depends on what equipment you’re using with your computer and what steps you take to conserve power while you work.

Ways to conserve battery power

The more of these steps you take, the longer you can use your battery before recharging it.

nTurn down the screen brightness whenever possible. At its brightest level, the screen consumes about a third of the power your computer is using.

nKeep screen dimming turned on in the PowerBook control panel. This feature dims your screen automatically if you haven’t used the computer for a few minutes.

nAdjust the battery conservation settings in the PowerBook control panel for maximum conservation.

nKeep processor cycling turned on in the PowerBook control panel; set the computer’s microprocessor to run at a reduced speed; and keep the automatic power conservation settings turned on. The rest of this section describes these settings in detail.

nKeep virtual memory turned off in the Memory control panel.

nIf your computer has 6 MB of memory or more, use a RAM disk as your startup disk to minimize hard disk use.

nQuit any program that uses a modem unless you’re using the program for telecommunication. As long as the program is open, your modem is consuming power.

nIf you’re working near an electrical outlet, plug in the power adapter.

nIf you aren’t using the computer, put it to sleep and plug in the power adapter.

nIf you have a PowerBook Duo 270c, use the Battery Reconditioning application every 30 days.

Chapter 6: Power Management 99