Is this a clue of things to come?

Under 10.5.7 my Dell Mini 9 AKA my MacBook Mini has started delivering a battery life of about 5 hours.

Clearly, Apple have done something that helps to optimise battery consumption on Atom processors. That means they have either done it by accident (very unlikely), or they are being kind to HackBook owners (unlikely), or they are deliberately optimising the system for Atom (most likely).

Personally, I suspect that it's a MacTablet Mini or an iPod Touch Maxi or a or something of that ilk on which a keyboard and mouse are optional.

I wait with baited breath to see where this goes. Until then I shall console myself with my li'l Mini 9.

That's weird - my MacBook is saying 6.06 hours - never seen that before !!

I've seen reports of Hackintosh improved battery life on the Mac news sites. I did wonder whether it also affects "real" Macs.

Goldie's report is the first I've seen indicating that it might not just be Atom-specific. I wonder if some of the Snow Leopard and next-gen iPhone optimisations are rubbing off on 10.5.7

My Macbook is showing well over 5 hours on 95% charge... hmm

what did you get before Bill ?

I can't be 100% sure because most of the time it runs from mains power, but istr figures mostly in the 3-4 hour range. Certainly not 5+ !

much the same as me then - I always reckoned on 4+

nice wee freebie we have got then

most of the time it runs from mains power

Bad thing to do. You will can your battery far sooner than you would if you took it off mains power on a regular basis. At the very least you should let it go through a full discharge at least once a month. Although the dreaded memory effect on older battery technologies is now a thing of the past newer batteries still need to be cycled regularly in order to maintain optimum their life. Moreover, your Mac will not show a proper prediction of time remaining unless it has had the battery cycled recently. This is how it 'learns' how long the battery lasts.

To properly cycle it you need to keep going past the warnings until the machine puts itself into sleep. When it does, plug it back in and let it recharge.

Probably delivering hardware support for an upcoming device?

It gets a full discharge/charge cycle (down to self-sleep) about every couple of months, but I'll note your points about using it more regularly on battery power.