Average battery life - Notebooks

[mokkema]

Hey, I'm just wondering as to what everyones avg battery life is for their notebooks, and what their specs are. Personally, my battery life sucks...I unplug it and walk upstairs, and its down about 3-4%...its almost pointless as a notebook...so is there any way to improve battery life? Any tips/suggestions would be nice.

[Catweazle]

Buy a new Centrino notebook!

Seriously! The power management features double the best battery lifespan available in any other form of notebook.

[mokkema]

Buy a new Centrino notebook! Seriously! The power management features double the best battery lifespan available in any other form of notebook.

Well, I've already bought one...as I said. So I can't quite buy a centrino, I'm just wondering what everyone else's battery life is like, so I can compare to mine.

[whirlwind]

Well, I've already bought one...as I said. So I can't quite buy a centrino, I'm just wondering what everyone else's battery life is like, so I can compare to mine.

I hear ya...my battery life on my laptop is now down to the order of 15-20 minutes now.

what is the avg life on batteries and how to best preserve/maintain/take care of Li-ion batteries?

these days, I often leave my laptop plugged in much like a desktop for extended periods of time (days or even weeks) and wondering if it's worth the trouble to remove the battery.

The only plus I can think of leaving it in is you've got pseudo-built in UPS :)

Any comments appreciated!

[JANINE]

the life on my old IBM thinkpad (P2) equates to roughly 3 to 4 hours on a fully charged battery but it depends on the area im in. some areas i'll get 3.45 hours and others i'll be lucky if i get an hour and a half.

[quote]I hear ya...my battery life on my laptop is now down to the order of 15-20 minutes now.

what is the avg life on batteries and how to best preserve/maintain/take care of Li-ion batteries?

these days, I often leave my laptop plugged in much like a desktop for extended periods of time (days or even weeks) and wondering if it's worth the trouble to remove the battery.

The only plus I can think of leaving it in is you've got pseudo-built in UPS :)[quote].

Don't leave ur laptop plugged in persistantly, it wont do the battery any favours because while your leaving it on the mains its constantly putting charge into the battery and therefore shortening the battery life. these batteries do have a memory in them. the more you charge them the less output you'll acquire from them. try taking off the charger and only charging when you need to i.e when the laptop only has a few minutes left.;)

[whirlwind]

Don't leave ur laptop plugged in persistantly, it wont do the battery any favours because while your leaving it on the mains its constantly putting charge into the battery and therefore shortening the battery life. these batteries do have a memory in them. the more you charge them the less output you'll acquire from them. try taking off the charger and only charging when you need to i.e when the laptop only has a few minutes left.;)

hmm..i would figure that everytime you want to dock your laptop while you're at your desk, you want to charge the battery, use your laptop for some period of time before you undock. I can only imagine the standard design spec is to leave the battery so as to avoid the hassle of (1) unplugging your laptop all the time or (2) removing the battery when its full.

in other words, a circuit in the laptop wouldstop charging the battery when it was full...something wrong with my logic?

at this point, the battery is so toast, i just leave it plugged in all the time! a bit of a sacrifice for convenience :rolleyes:

[Catweazle]

I'm with your logic, whirlwind ;)

[JANINE]

hmm..i would figure that everytime you want to dock your laptop while you're at your desk, you want to charge the battery, use your laptop for some period of time before you undock. I can only imagine the standard design spec is to leave the battery so as to avoid the hassle of (1) unplugging your laptop all the time or (2) removing the battery when its full. in other words, a circuit in the laptop would stop charging the battery when it was full...something wrong with my logic? at this point, the battery is so toast, i just leave it plugged in all the time! a bit of a sacrifice for convenience :rolleyes:

ok, let me point out that I dont have a docking station for my laptop. apparently they dont make them for my particular model anymore.

It sounds like your battery has been over charged or has just simply got old. Im remaining neutral here so I'm not going with any logic. thats not saying whether you are right or wrong tho.;)

[whirlwind]

Thanks for the input guys!

Yes - my battery is definitely old and admittedly, I bought a refurbished battery 2 yrs ago - my mistake - you get what you paid for! (ie. $50 for a $150-200 battery!)

When I'm ready to upgrade my laptop and start over - I'll definitely bring this issue again!

[Adam-MCSE]

Hey, I'm just wondering as to what everyones avg battery life is for their notebooks, and what their specs are. Personally, my battery life sucks...I unplug it and walk upstairs, and its down about 3-4%...its almost pointless as a notebook...so is there any way to improve battery life? Any tips/suggestions would be nice.

My internal laptop battery life also sucks. My solution was to pick up a batterygeek ultra high capacity external laptop battery which is now giving me over 6+ hours of run time per charge. Also, they have a full 1 year extended replacement warranty. They also offer some nifty free gifts... Thier website is at www.batterygeek.net

Best of luck,

Adam

[JeromyS]

I just received a lease return PC off of ebay. A Panasonic "TuffBook". Processor speed is 1.8, ram 1/2 gig, 100gig HD, dvd and wireless. Testing it out it started by saying it had 100% and 2 hours life. An hour has passed and now it says just under 2 (1.45) @60%.

Does that sound like reasonable life span?

Cheers!

Jeromy

[jbennet]

yeah 1 to 3 hours is average

I got a Lenovo c200. 1.78ghz Core Duo and 2gb of ram, dvd, wifi, and 120gb hdd. I get 1.5 to 2 hours out of it.

As a general rule with pc laptops, less than an hour is bad (but acceptable for a used laptop as after a few years the battery will be worn out so it only works for like 20-45 mins) and more than 3 hours is good.

[JeromyS]

@ jbennet,

Thanks for the reply. That is good to know. This is my first laptop and as a refurbished (eBay) machine, I wanted to ensure it was as it should be. It kind of ended up being a bit pricey, around $400 CAD after shipping and duty. But, so far it does seem to be a good machine. Just need to get the speakers working....

Cheers!

Jeromy

[hotmatrixx]

hmm..i would figure that everytime you want to dock your laptop while you're at your desk, you want to charge the battery, use your laptop for some period of time before you undock. I can only imagine the standard design spec is to leave the battery so as to avoid the hassle of (1) unplugging your laptop all the time or (2) removing the battery when its full.

in other words, a circuit in the laptop would stop charging the battery when it was full...something wrong with my logic?

at this point, the battery is so toast, i just leave it plugged in all the time! a bit of a sacrifice for convenience :rolleyes:

One would think that was a sensible idea... try telling asus that. they will probably jump on it and you will get... well, I couldn't possible say - but don't expect anything and you won't be dissapointed.

I have an ACER extensa 2000. batt life was around 2 h (5 yo notebook) but now I cannot get it under 45 deg celcius, the fan goes constantly and I am lucky to get 20 mins.

[jbennet]

Yeah batteries only have a life of about 2 years. Same with mobile phones etc... its just the way it is

[hotmatrixx]

@ jbennet,

Thanks for the reply. That is good to know. This is my first laptop and as a refurbished (eBay) machine, I wanted to ensure it was as it should be. It kind of ended up being a bit pricey, around $400 CAD after shipping and duty. But, so far it does seem to be a good machine. Just need to get the speakers working....

Cheers!

Jeromy

Hi Jeromy.

For the speakers, that is a new thread. but there is someone else with the same problem if you like you can look at my suggestions there... http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread159416.html

by the way if it is useful, please mark this thread as solved when my comment is the last one - that way I get the credit for helping you. Thanxx

[jbennet]

solved, this thread is from 2004 lol :)

[Darryl_S]

Hey, I'm just wondering as to what everyones avg battery life is for their notebooks, and what their specs are. Personally, my battery life sucks...I unplug it and walk upstairs, and its down about 3-4%...its almost pointless as a notebook...so is there any way to improve battery life? Any tips/suggestions would be nice.

Well, one thing I can definitely tell you is that the laptop makes all the difference in the world. My Acer 3502WLCi has a battery life of approximately 30 minutes, while my Compaq Presario F769WM will run about 3-4 hours on it's battery.

[jbennet]

its probably just old
or you havent got the power scheme configured right

[bewi001]

My internal laptop battery life also sucks. My solution was to pick up a batterygeek ultra high capacity external laptop battery which is now giving me over 6+ hours of run time per charge. Also, they have a full 1 year extended replacement warranty. They also offer some nifty free gifts...