If you ’re a laptop substance abuser , you require to be aware of the status of your assault and battery : whether or not it ’s in full charge , how much sentence you have left before it run out of powerfulness , etc . Mac OS X provides a assault and battery status point for the menu bar — enabled via the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences — but it has two drawbacks . The first is that it adopt up a lot of menu bar blank . The 2nd is that it does n’t ply many options : It ’s limited to indicate either an icon that shows the battery ’s charge stratum , that image plus the percentage charge continue , or that icon plus the estimate time stay before the battery runs out .

That ’s all useful information , to be indisputable . But if you have an iBook or PowerBook , you owe it to your ’ Book to check out Colin Henein ’s excellent — and free — SlimBatteryMonitor 1.2(;www.orange - carb.org / SBM/ ) .

What makes SlimBatteryMonitor well ? First , as the name entail , it ’s slim than OS X ’s built - in battery presentation by a fair margin , cave in you more room for other carte bar item . ( It also bechance to attend much nice , in my opinion . ):

Apple monitor vs. SlimBatteryMonitor

But what I like best about SlimBatteryMonitor are its options for customization . Unlike Apple ’s admonisher , which prove the same selective information at all times , SlimBatteryMonitor has three display states , with each state providing unlike , autonomous options :

Although these options may appear at first glance to be overkill , they allow you to get exactly the information you want for each land : using , charging , or charged . For example , on my PowerBook , I have SlimBatteryMonitor set to the following :

In other words , when my battery is less than to the full charged , I can quickly see how long I have until it run out ( on the route ) or is fully charged ( at home ) , but when it ’s commit , SlimBatteryMonitor disappears totally to leave room for other menu items . ( In pillow slip you ’re question , SlimBatteryMonitor uses the same data as Apple ’s own battery proctor , so the gauges are equally accurate . )

SlimBatteryMonitor preferences dialog

I also apply SlimBatteryMonitor ’s custom color setting to provide optic clew as to the status of my PowerBook barrage : When persist off the stamp battery , the menu icon is a nice teal ; when file , the icon is orange ; and when fully charged , the ikon is bright green . ( The latter two people of colour match the light on my PowerBook ’s AC adaptor utterly . )

A few other extra are also quite utile . Like OS X , SlimBatteryMonitor can show a warning dialogue when your battery get low , but with SlimBatteryMonitor , youdecide when that monition appears : with 10 % , 15 % , or 25 % of your battery power remaining . SlimBatteryMonitor also supports dual - battery PowerBooks , and it can even monitor UPS batteries , crap it utile even for desktop Macs . I like it allowed you to choose your display predilection from its driblet - down menu , like OS X ’s monitor , but that ’s a underage quibble .

If you ’re a road warrior , SlimBatteryMonitor is a great tool ; it ’s found a lasting smirch in my bill of fare bar .