Laptop battery life

Despite what laptop manufactures claim, I’ve never seen a battery last more than 3 hours. I carry two batteries with me when I travel and normally don’t use applications like Microsoft’s Word, which are processor intensive and suck the battery right down. Apple offers a Lithium-ion battery resource that explains how they work and offers tips for maximizing the battery’s life (the guide applies to PC laptops as well). The first is to remember that batteries wear out, including iPods, and to cycle them at least once a month. A full discharge/charge cycle is to let the battery run down until the laptop goes to sleep and then plug it back in.