Aluminum PowerBook (15-inch) Battery Update 1.0

I just saw this pop up in my Software Update, it didn't have much of a description something like "Allows the battery to use it's full capacity" or similar. I've installed it and restarted without any visible problems although it did take a while to reboot.

It isn't listed on http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ yet though.

Fascinating.

I thought I read awhile back that the 15 inch PowerBook batteries could hold a 4600 mah charge, but Apple had firmware limited to filling to 4400 mah for some reason, perhaps this lifts that restriction?

On further investigation it seems to have installed a new utility "PowerBook G4 Battery Updater" that has the following blurb upon launch:

The PowerBook G4 Battery Updater improves the performance of batteries that may develop short run times. The update process will take about 15 minutes and must not be interrupted.

To upgrade the firmware on your battery, read through the instructions below. When you're ready, click Update.

The PowerBook G4 Battery Updater is installed in Applications/Utilities.

During the update process your PowerBook G4 needs to be running, the power adapter must be plugged into a working power source and the battery should not be removed. Your battery will appear to have no charge and will not power your computer until the update process has been completed.

If the update is interrupted retry the update process again until successful. If you have more than one battery to update be sure to complete the update process before starting to update another battery.

1. Click Update to start the update process. The status bar shows the progress of the update.

2. Wait until the update is complete. When complete a dialog will show that your battery was successfully updated.

3. Remove your battery, then put your battery back into your PowerBook G4 for it to be recognized.

4. Repeat the calibration process for your battery, to get the longest running time possible.

For more information, go to www.apple.com/kbnum/n303035

That link 404's though so no further information is available at the moment.

Now do I run it or do I not? :D

EDIT: I went ahead and hit Update but apparently the reason it took a while to reboot after the Software Update was that it was running the Firmware update for the Battery, now to dig around in the .app to see if there are any more hints to what exactly it does...

Same deal here...took a while to reboot after the update (and also turned my screen brightness way down). Running the battery updater just gives a message that my battery doesn't need to be updated.

mine doesn't need an update yet either but the battery has been acting pretty strange for me ..

Mine came up as "update not needed". So much for my uptime... ;)

I just wish they brought one out for my 12"PB (revB)

Same deal here...took a while to reboot after the update (and also turned my screen brightness way down). Running the battery updater just gives a message that my battery doesn't need to be updated.

I ran the update and rebooted while on battery power and it (obviously) didn't do anything.

Plugged the AC back in and immediately was notified to run the update in the Utilities folder.

If this is anything like the Bluetooth updater, then no thanks. That piece of crap sludged my Bluetooth just before a big business trip. Shame on me for trusting Apple the way I thought I could!

Hey is this update working on any April 2004 PowerBooks? Mine installed the update but keeps telling me that my battery does not need it when I run the updater app. Thanks!