Battery Life from Laptops...

mark_steps

I just got a new laptop yesterday and the battery life is not good. It lasts about 2 hours but when i called up PC world they said something about well i cant actually remember. Something to do with wireless internet being turned on.
Y something...any other tips on ways to increase battery life?

ta

sra

Posted this on an Ipod thread yesterday

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Scroll down to the bottom for quick tips

mark_steps

Don't know if im being silly but i couldn't see any tips specific to laptops. Are there any that anyone is aware of?

Again, many thanks i advance

x

Little_John

Things that use the battery power are
disk access cd/dvd or hard disk
cooling fan
CPU working hard
screen
usb devices
network adaptor
wireless adaptors
blutooth adaptors

Unfortunalty you cant do very much about the screen (ok plug in to a monitor) and the amount of power used by the CPU unless you dont actually use the laptop for anything other than solitaire. har disk access is dificult again it needs to run to load programs ect.
Things you can do
dont use the cd/dvd drive
disable the network adaptor when not in use
disable the wifi adaptor when not in use
disable the bluetooth adaptor if your laptop has one
unplug any unused usb devices
keep your laptop off soft surfaces like your lap and the bed table cloth anything that can stop the heat getting away from the laptop, when they get warm the cpu fan runs and uses the battery
You can also reduce the display performance settings

2 hours for a laptop isnt too bad, it also depends on the CPU p4 desktop cpu's were used early on and wernt very good at conserving power the newer mobile cpus can throttle and save power. Most of the power saving setting in windows only work when the laptop isnt doing anything you could set these all to 30 seconds but that would get annoying the hard drive having to spin up before you can save or open a program.

nooksky

Following on from this, can anyone please advise us. We have recently got a new Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop.

When we have access to a plug, will it be better for the battery to leave it on charge, even if the battery reaches 100%. Or, would it be better for the battery to unplug it when it reaches 100%, let it run right down, then repeat the process again.

As we read somewhere that it is the discharging and recharging of the battery that reduces its life. Hope you can help!!

Thanks in advance.

Quincy_3

Take the battery out if your that worried but yes it does more damage if left on charge as a trickle charge heats the battery and that can dry the cells out but this process takes ages, Charging Discharging is slightly better as thats how rechargeables work.

James240

bought my Packard Bell Laptop last year in april and the battery life is so bad now that when i unplug it it has less than ten minutes on the battery

appleblossom

james, you're lucky, I bought my packared bell at the end of august, and the battery died at the end of march, was one week over the 6 months warranty so until I can afford the 84.00 + vat for a new one, my wireless lappy is constantly plugged in:( I posted y/day asking if anyone knew of a cheaper one, but it's not looking good so far.