Resonant Constellation

Today an odd thing happened: I had watched a movie previously on my laptop (Macbook pro 15.4 inch) while plugged into power, then unplugged it and went elsewhere to work. I was surprised to find that, even though 100% full, my cpmputer only predicted about an hour battery life. I thought this odd, since it is usually around 2.5-3 hours if I’m not trying to conserve power, and about 5-5.5 if I am. I looked up battery issues with my computer model and found that it has about 300 cycles in the battery until it’s supposed to degrade, but this didn’t solve my problem (mine is at about 100, which is not bad for a year old computer).

So what’s the problem? I found a great site with a bunch of tips to maximize battery life. My problem? I had left the DVD in the drive after watching the movie. Turns out that the moving parts and laser diode of the CD/DVD drive burn a lot of power. I quickly rectified this, and followed the rest of their recommendations. I am now “Calibrating my battery,” which includes completely running it down…as it is about to do. I shall leave you now before my laptop dies on me.