Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Mercury On-The-Go FW800+USB2 up to 1.0TB. Bus Powered, no external power supply needed. Macworld ‘Editor’s Choice’, CNET ‘Very Good’ Starting from $99.97, 500GB $159.99. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

The Review Vault

TruePower Battery Can Run WallStreet PowerBook Past the 5 Hour Mark

- 2008.10.10

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEM

Rating: 4 out of 4

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

For mobile warriors who are constantly on the go and for those who love the Macintosh, the one laptop that comes to mind that screams durability is none other than the Powerbook G3 Series, most notably the WallStreet.

With a tough casing, more than capable power, and the option of having two batteries installed, how can you not love the WallStreet? But if your WallStreet is suffering from less mobile time and more time plugged in, then it's time for a new battery!

Today I review the FastMac TruePower Battery for the WallStreet.

The TruePower battery has been highly regarded for its long-life when compared to other batteries. FastMac claims one can get up to 68% more battery life depending on the model of Macintosh used.

Does it live up to its reputation?

The packaging is minimal but sufficient. Inside the box you'll find the battery, as well as instructions on how to get the most from it. It's important that you let it fully charge when you first charge up the battery, which takes a while. For the first few times, let it completely discharge, then charge it again. This calibrates the battery and helps you start out on a prosperous, long-lasting relationship between you and your battery.

I conducted a simple test after a few charge cycles when the battery was calibrated. Running Mac OS 9.2.2 with processor cycling on, brightness turned down to its lowest level, WiFi off, no CD-ROM or floppy module inserted in the secondary bay, and spinning down the hard drive after a minute of inactivity, I found that I could not only get the claimed 5 hours, but also an extra 15-20 minutes out of it. Truly outstanding!

With WiFi enabled, the time was more like 4 hours and 30 minutes, maybe a little less. But that's still impressive.

It's fair to say that I don't do a lot of processor intensive tasks or run demanding programs that tax the processor and result in more battery consumption. Your mileage may vary if you use OS X or use more CPU hungry applications, such as Photoshop or visit websites such as YouTube.

The TruePower Battery is designed just like the standard Apple battery that shipped with the WallStreet. If you press the button on the front of the battery, you'll see green status LEDs light up telling you how much charge is left. 4 lights means a full charge, 1 means not much is left.

What will this kind of battery life set you back? $109.95! It includes a 1 year warranty.

It's a very good bargain if you can't seem to let go of one of the last PowerBook's that were durable enough to be considered true road warriors machines. (I'm also partial to the WallStreet because it's the last Macintosh ever stamped with the rainbow Apple logo.)

FastMac makes a whole range of batteries for G3 and G4 PowerBooks and iBooks, as well as the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. LEM

Recent articles in The Review Vault

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

This article copyright ©2008 by Tommy Thomas. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.