Laptop Battery Life

MrWillyWonka

strangeotron wrote: »

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?

Batteries deteriorates over time and the recommended maximum battery life for most manufacturers is 3 years. 2.5 hours is by no means uncommon and even a few years ago it would have been standard for most laptops. What processor are you running?

For Windows 7;
- Go to Start > Run and type msconfig then press enter.
- In the startup tab untick everything you think you can disable, leave any security programs ticked.
- Restart

For Windows 8/8.1
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc
- In the startup tab disable everything you think you can disable, leave any security programs enabled
- Restart

As for power, go to control panel and go to power options and select power saver or create a custom plan. There may be further power saving options in the BIOS.

strangeotron

Hang on, there's 2 serial numbers on the base! :O So it's either SVE151E11M or SVE1512W1ESI (which is written on a sticker with a barcode while the former is on the actual case itself).

strangeotron

MrWillyWonka wrote: »

Batteries deteriorates over time and the recommended maximum battery life for most manufacturers is 3 years. 2.5 hours is by no means uncommon and even a few years ago it would have been standard for most laptops. What processor are you running?

For Windows 7;
- Go to Start > Run and type msconfig then press enter.
- In the startup tab untick everything you think you can disable, leave any security programs ticked.
- Restart

For Windows 8/8.1
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc
- In the startup tab disable everything you think you can disable, leave any security programs enabled
- Restart

As for power, go to control panel and go to power options and select power saver or create a custom plan. There may be further power saving options in the BIOS.

Thanks. But can a battery really last 3 years if it's being recharged every couple of hours?

foxtrotoscar_2

21/2 hours battery life on a second hand laptop is probably as good as you can expect...my three year old Toshiba lasts about 2 hours at best.

strangeotron

foxtrotoscar wrote: »

21/2 hours battery life on a second hand laptop is probably as good as you can expect...my three year old Toshiba lasts about 2 hours at best.

could i buy a new battery? Can they even be replaced? Can i get away with using my laptop plugged in all the time (even if it means the battery is fully charged)? My mother does this, she never unplugs it and it seems not to have harmed the old beast she's had for a decade!

MrWillyWonka

strangeotron wrote: »

could i buy a new battery? Can they even be replaced? Can i get away with using my laptop plugged in all the time (even if it means the battery is fully charged)? My mother does this, she never unplugs it and it seems not to have harmed the old beast she's had for a decade!

Absolutely. Do not buy a cheap third party brand as quite often they don't last and/or blow up. However bear in mind SONY no longer make laptops so availability of a SONY battery may be limited.

You can leave the laptop plugged in all the time (or even without the battery), just it is not recommended and *could* reduce battery life.

In all honesty, laptop batteries are overrated. Power sockets are in abundant supply!

Jivesinger

Windows 8 is supposedly designed to have longer battery life than Windows 7 - that's the stated reason why they got rid of the 'Aero' transparency which I know a lot of people miss when coming from Windows 7. So it shouldn't be using more because it's Windows 8.

However I do wonder if the machine has been switched on for the first time in a while and is therefore spending its energies (and battery life) catching up on Windows Updates?

Even after updates are apparently installed, the computer will quite often whir away for some time afterwards (I think it tries to compress the update files to save space).

It may be that battery life will settle down after a few days once it's got the updating completed?

strangeotron

Jivesinger wrote: »

Windows 8 is supposedly designed to have longer battery life than Windows 7 - that's the stated reason why they got rid of the 'Aero' transparency which I know a lot of people miss when coming from Windows 7. So it shouldn't be using more because it's Windows 8.

However I do wonder if the machine has been switched on for the first time in a while and is therefore spending its energies (and battery life) catching up on Windows Updates?

Even after updates are apparently installed, the computer will quite often whir away for some time afterwards (I think it tries to compress the update files to save space).

It may be that battery life will settle down after a few days once it's got the updating completed?

How would i be able to see if it's installing updates? I don't see any indication that's happening. But who knows with W8 it's such a different experience than what I'm used to (which was XP!)

esuhl

Laptop batteries are made out of standard 18650 cells. If you're feeling brave, you can buy some new ones and replace the ones in your current battery.

There's a basic video guide here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceRaMnWqD_I

strangeotron

I'mnot feeling brave, but i may have no choice. If running from the mains damages a battery can you run without a battery installed safely? I'm still not entirely sure.