mac diddy

Part 3: Make the battery last.

Battery technology has come a long way, but there’s still a long way to go. When your Macbook is new, its battery life is great and all is well in the universe. But the honeymoon doesn’t last. Used batteries hold their charge for less and less time and they can be expensive to replace, especially for Mac users.

A battery is only good for so many cycles, one cycle representing a battery going from completely charged to completely depleted and then completely charged again. If you run your battery down to 50 percent and recharge it, that’s a half cycle. If you have a white or black Macbook, the battery is only good for a couple of hundred cycles and they add up quickly. A new aluminum Macbook Pro has a new/improved battery which will supposedly be good for several times the life of the older battery types, which is a good thing because they’ll be more difficult and more expensive to replace. Let’s start with an all-too common myth.

Myth: you should always run down a battery all the way before recharging it.

I’m often surprised by how many people work under this assumption. This belief is a throwback to a truth from the days of nickel-cadmium batteries, but no longer relevant in the world of Lithium Ion batteries like those found in Macbooks. In fact, Lithium Ion batteries “like” to be charged and will last longer if you don’t let them fall below 50% too regularly.

However, there are reasons to let your battery deplete all the way once in a while: if you let your computer run until it completely runs out of juice and goes into “deep sleep”, then you are effectively resetting or recalibrating the battery life meter. Or if you’re a laptop user who most of the time happens to use the laptop plugged-in at a desktop, Apple suggests that you run the Macbook on battery once per month in order to cycle the battery.

Did you know that you can check how many times your battery has been cycled? Open up the System Profiler (Macintosh HD->Applications->Utilities) and click on Power in the column on the left. You should find the Cycle Count along with other details.

Part 2: How to safely clean a Macbook or desktop LCD screen.

OK, now that we have the safety tips out of the way, let’s talk about the most common question I hear: how do I safely clean the screen? Well if you’re like me, the worst thing to ever happen to the screen should be a little dust. That’s because I don’t touch the screen, I don’t sneeze on the screen, I don’t open fizzy drinks near the screen, and I don’t touch the screen (repeated for emphasis).

Yet even my screens get the occasional splotch, mostly due to my nemeses: screen-touchers. You know who I’m talking about. Screen-touchers are that reprehensible sort who feel they can’t point to something on a display without actually pressing their greasy fingers against the optical-grade plastic or glass, sometimes with enough force to cause a little rainbow-spehere of liquid crystal distortion. Every once in a while one of them smudges up my Macbook screen or desktop LCD before I get a chance to politely intervene (simultaneously quelling my desire to non-surgically remove the offending digit).

I digress. Every LCD will eventually get some kind of mark or smear on it, so let’s talk cleaning. Matte screens are especially delicate and glossy/glass screens smudge easily, so either way cleaning effectively is a challenge. I’ve never found a great pre-pagacked solution. Most of them are of questionable quality or tend to leave lots of smudgy badness behind. So let’s start with some dos and don’ts.

• Don’t use household cleaners.
• Don’t use paper products – tissues, paper towels, napkins, lens wipes – as they can scratch your screen.
• Don’t use much force. It there’s something on your screen that could scratch it, you don’t want to press it into your screen while you wipe. Also, LCDs – especially matte ones – are fragile and don’t like much pressure.
• Do start with a dry microfiber cloth. Softly use this cloth to get rid of dust and any potentially scratchy debris.
• Do unplug your computer and remove the battery before using anything which could get moisture into the system.
• Don’t spray anything directly onto the screen. This gives liquid a chance to get into sensitive areas where it can cause damage. If you’re going to use a liquid, then spray it on the cloth.
• Don’t use tap water because it contains lots minerals which can leave residue on your screen.
• Do use distilled water, as it will not leave its own residue.

Here’s my standard procedure:

1. Start with a dry microfiber ultra-soft cloth and very gently remove any dust and particulates.
2. Next slightly moisten a clean microfiber cloth with distilled water and gently attempt to wipe away stuck on debris.
3. For oil-based stains (fingerprints) or other more persistent stains, you may need to use something stronger. I find that a 50% (or less) solution of isopropyl alcohol is pretty safe and effective. Use distilled water in equal parts to isopropyl alcohol to make your own solution. This is not something you should do commonly on plastic screens, as repeated contact with alcohol can discolor plastic. However, using this weak alcohol solution on occasion to get rid of stubborn spots shouldn’t be problematic.
4. Optional: go smack the scamp who touched your screen.

You can also use the 50/50 solution to clean your keyboard on your Macbook. Again, unplug the Macbook and remove the battery, make the cloth moist (not wet) and gently wipe down the keyboard. White Macbook keyboards are dirt magnets. Avoid using your keyboard/trackpad immediately after putting on hand lotion, as the white plastic readily soaks up oils and discolors quickly. In fact, avoid using lotion altogether, allowing your hands to naturally mummify while your Macbook stays clean and neat. Actually, you should avoid using your Macbook altogether, encase it in glass, and protect it from dust and sunlight. Don’t touch it. Don’t even look at it. I’ve got to go wash my hands…

Apple’s Magic Mouse has been on the market for just a few months now and while many users are very pleased with its functionality, the magic has been short-lived in one area: battery life.

When Apple annouced the Magic Mouse in late October of 2009, they claimed that it would have an impressive 4-month battery life. So needless to say I was surprised when my Magic Mouse’s batteries died after about a month of use. A quick search of some forums and it quickly became apparent that this was not an exception, but rather the norm. When it comes to battery life, a couple of AA alkalines will get you little more than a month of moderate-to-heavy use. Apple’s 4-month claim was either extremely optimistic or based upon a very low-use scenario.

I should mention that the Magic Mouse has been a pleasure for me to use in every way and is in many ways a fantastic evolution in this input technology, so I’d still recommend it for anyone with a Mac with bluetooth and 10.5.8 or higher. Just while you’re at it, get some high-quality rechargeable batteries to go with it. The buzz on these ones has been quite good.