126. Monitor Your Laptop's Battery LifeBEFORE YOU BEGIN 125 Choose a Power-Saving Profile SEE ALSO 43 Create and Configure a Location 44 Switch to a New Location 126. Monitor Your Laptop's Battery Life If you have a laptop Mac (an iBook or PowerBook), a crucial piece of status information for you to have available at all times is the Battery Status System Menu. This icon appears at the top right of the screen and shows your battery's current level and whether the computer is plugged in or not. The icon also gives you access to a menu that shows the battery's status in more detail. You can also use the menu to jump directly to the Energy Saver Preferences pane. Different kinds of computing tasks can use up more battery power than others; some of these tasks might even be occurring without your knowledge. The Battery Status System Menu can help you keep an eye on how fast your battery's power is draining; if you're not getting as much life out of your battery as you believe you should be, consider a few of these tasks that may be robbing it of juice unnecessarily:
If your laptop is doing any of these things where AC adapter power is unavailable (such as on a plane), it may be best to wait until you land before you resume your power-hungry work.
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