As I sit here at SES in San Jose with my MacBook Pro, battery power is one thing I’m keeping an eye on. I did some research before coming on how to save batter power, but I’m looking for more tips.

Here’s what I have so far:

• Turn down the screen brightness as far as it can go and still be usable.
• Turn off BlueTooth
• Turn off Airport when not in use.
• Turn off any applications not in use.
• Turn Quicksliver to only re-index every day, not hour.
• Optimize the energy saver preferences.

Yes, I really asked that question. Why don’t iMacs have batteries?

The reason I ask is because things happen. Someone is building a building and cuts the power to a whole city block. Oops. Or a storm brews up and knocks down a tree and the lights go out. It happens, the power goes out and then my iMac goes dead. So why don’t desktop computers have batteries?

Now, I’m not asking for much. Just a small battery that lasts maybe 10-30 minutes. Giving the user just enough time to save everything and shut down the computer safely. I’d think there would be enough room for a mini battery inside my iMac.