Charge!

The time has come to say goodbye – that’s right, the time has come.   You knew this day would happen – we all did.  It was inevitable.  It was a good run while it lasted, but there is no avoiding it.  No tears please… No cries, no weeping, no condolences, regrets, or farewell parties are needed.  As the old saying goes – all good things must come to an end.  For better or for worse, it was a tough decision to come to, but I have decided that it is time to say goodbye – there’s just not enough time left.  It’s time to charge forward into the future.

Goodbye.

There are those among you that are wondering where I am going, and what is going to happen next.  There is good news and bad news in this.  The good news is that I actually am not going anywhere.  The bad news?  I’m not going anywhere!   So, why the heartfelt goodbye?  Because my Macbook battery has finally bitten the bullet and died on me.  It’s not all the way gone, but I can barely hold a charge for more than 30 minutes before needing to plug in.  I am going with the replacement option from Apple direct, though the $129 price has me cringing.  Thank goodness for NAPP discounts!  It also has me looking at other options though for external power that is also portable.  A friend in the NAPP forums linked me to a product called the Hyperdrive, and it looks like a pretty cool option.  Here’s the link for it in case you are interested:  Hyperdrive Website

So, why is this in the hardware review section?  It’s not for lack of products to review, rather because of the timeliness of it.  As I encounter roadblocks or problems, I like to share them with you – so that we can learn and develop and grow from the shared experiences.  My lesson this time?  To always use an AC source when available.  Just because your laptop is capable of being cord-free doesn’t mean you simply must be cord-free.  If you have an AC source, use it!  As I learned, replacement batteries are expensive, and having to get a new one in under 3 years is not an easy pill to swallow. Since batteries are finite in the number of recharge cycles they can take, you don’t want to deplete your battery when not necessary, so plug in when you can!  Make sure you charge!

Here’s a couple resources from the Apple website on batteries, their conditioning, and maintenance (yes, batteries need maintenance too – perhaps I should write a maintenance schedule for batteries! 🙂 ):

So, make sure you charge, discharge, and calibrate your batteries.  I’ve done so with batteries in other devices, like my camera, flash batteries and all, but had never thought to do so for the laptop.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Grab the Feed

6 comments for “Charge!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.