Laptop Battery Life

strangeotron

Found a really good refurbished laptop in an esablished (so they must be good, right?) town yersday. Some Sony Vaio thing (i don't remember the full name) with some mpressive specs. But even though it works I noticed, upon properly using it yesterday, the battery life is really low!

When I had it fully charged (it was 87% when i began using it) it said that equates to just over 2 hours usage! Sure enough after an hour or so it was half that. That can't be right surely? I'd hate to have to go back as its just what I've been looking for.

20aday

I've just taken a Sony Vaio laptop off my Mum to reset to factory defaults and sell on eBay/trade in website and I've found the battery life is (understandably) poor when running on High Performance mode in Windows 7.

Assuming it's on that setting have you changed it to either Balanced/Power Saver.

There's also a pre-installed program that allows you to check the health of the battery:

http://docs.esupport.sony.com/pc/SVT1111_1311_series/EN/contents/03/12/08/08.html

strangeotron

20aday wrote: »

I've just taken a Sony Vaio laptop off my Mum to reset to factory defaults and sell on eBay/trade in website and I've found the battery life is (understandably) poor when running on High Performance mode in Windows 7.

Assuming it's on that setting have you changed it to either Balanced/Power Saver.

There's also a pre-installed program that allows you to check the health of the battery:

http://docs.esupport.sony.com/pc/SVT1111_1311_series/EN/contents/03/12/08/08.html

Thanks, i'll have a look later. It runs Windows 8 thought, which isn't the most user friendly OS i've ever seen. I'm sure once you figure out how it works it's straightforwward, but finding stuff is difficult. I don't remember seeing any VAIO resoiurces though. I think the machine has been upgraded somewhat which is good but I wonder if it then makes more demands of the battery than it can handle.

20aday

strangeotron wrote: »

Thanks, i'll have a look later. It runs Windows 8 thought, which isn't the most user friendly OS i've ever seen. I'm sure once you figure out how it works it's straightforwward, but finding stuff is difficult. I don't remember seeing any VAIO resoiurces though. I think the machine has been upgraded somewhat which is good but I wonder if it then makes more demands of the battery than it can handle.

What's the particular model of Vaio laptop? They might have said program available to download on their UK Support site.

Failing that (and you probably already know how to do this) navigate to the top right hand corner and drag down to access the "Charms" then under "Search" see if there's anything listed there?

My Mum's new Acer came with Windows 8.1 and it feels more suited to a tablet than it does a mouse/keyboard but as you say if the machine's been upgraded that may impact on the life of the battery.

strangeotron

20aday wrote: »

What's the particular model of Vaio laptop? They might have said program available to download on their UK Support site.

Failing that (and you probably already know how to do this) navigate to the top right hand corner and drag down to access the "Charms" then under "Search" see if there's anything listed there?

My Mum's new Acer came with Windows 8.1 and it feels more suited to a tablet than it does a mouse/keyboard but as you say if the machine's been upgraded that may impact on the life of the battery.

I'm not entirely sure waht the model is. It's probably on the machine or the OS somewhere, but I haven't found it. I didn't remember it in the shop. Windows 8 is designed for touch screens. If the machine has been upgraded beyond the battery, what can i do about that? Is it a case of getting a better battery? Can i run it off the mains (that's not an issue if i can)?

Oblivion

strangeotron wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure waht the model is. It's probably on the machine or the OS somewhere, but I haven't found it. I didn't remember it in the shop. Windows 8 is designed for touch screens. If the machine has been upgraded beyond the battery, what can i do about that? Is it a case of getting a better battery? Can i run it off the mains (that's not an issue if i can)?

Hold down the Windows key (the one with the picture of a window on it) and press the Pause key. The System information screen should open and it should include your model number.


If you don't have a dedicated Pause key, an alternative route is to Right Click the Windows symbol (bottom left of screen) then select Control Panel and once in Control Panel select System.

strangeotron

i'm not getting a model number listed. It just says computer name SONY,

20aday

strangeotron wrote: »

i'm not getting a model number listed. It just says computer name SONY,

Head over to here: https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/select-system.pl?PRODTYPE=24 and click "Detect My Model"

strangeotron

Ill try that, thanks. But surely the model shouldn't be the issue. A battery on full charge that has 2 and ahalf hours of use? Can that be right? I would have thought, unless damaged, about 6 hours at least

MrWillyWonka

How old is the laptop? Sony Vaio are well known for battery issues. If the laptop is more than a couple of years old then 2.5 hours is average I would say. It is only recently that on more efficient laptops running Windows 8 that battery life of 6 hours is average.

Bear in mind the original owner may have used the battery poorly, reducing its life. A few ways to reduce battery drainage.

1. Use Windows 8.1, it's a more efficient OS
2. Only charge when flat and do not leave plugged in
3. Disable all unecessary startup programs
4. Reduce screen brightness and do not use high performance mode

strangeotron

I have no idea how old it is I'm afraid and I can't get that detect thing to actually detect anything. I imagine it's a couple of years old as a complete guess. how do i change the start programs? I don't use high performance mode (i've not even seen any such option - the power modes just concern themselves with sleep/screen saver/brightness options). Can a laptop be run off the mains and/or operate while charging? 2 and a half hours seems pretty laughable to me, surely that can't be the norm even back then?