Whats the deal with battery Life

JohnK

I've been looking at a lot of laptops recently and I've noticed that nearly all the laptops seem to have a shockingly low battery life. Is this normal? Do the majority of laptops really only have lives of about 3 hours per charge?

I understand that with some of the advanced specs of today’s laptops that they would have a large power drain but this seems ridiculous. I’ve seen things ranging from only 1.5 hours to about 4 hours with most sitting around the 2.5 hour mark. This has really made me reconsider buying one for myself because I just cannot justify spending so much money on something that will last hardly any time at all. So, have I just missed something or is this really the way it is?

Tom Dunne

Yup, 'fraid so.

With my Centrino I get on average 3 hours. And that's with screen turned down to lowest level of brightness and all power saving features set to max.

It's a limitation of modern, power-hungry processors, I'm afraid.

You can get some extra long life batteries, but they tend to be more bulky and limited to very specific brands/models (such as IBM, for example).

mirv

It depends on the screen, cpu and graphics card mostly. I ended up getting a dell 630m with 6 or so hours of battery life with the extended battery for €652 brand new from the small business site (not just for small businesses as long as you pay the VAT).

But in fairness, you're not gonna use a laptop for six hours straight without having some time to plug it in between. In terms of use mine would make it through a college day and evening without a recharge, as long as the laptop is in standby during lectures, so I don't bring a charger with me.

You're paying for the ability to move your computer and its data with you, rather than be able to use it without a recharge indefinitely.

JohnK

Valid points alright but I'm still surprised by it. I would have though that when most people spend between €1,000 - €2000 for a machine that is generally advertised by emphasizing the fact it doesn't need any wires, that they'd get more than half a days use from it.

Just to make a point, one of the reasons I was considering a laptop was so I could take it out into the garden during the summer and work outside. I'm sick of spending sunny days cooped up in my room working on the PC instead of getting some sun and air. I had hoped I could get a laptop that I could take outside with me in the morning and work for the day with it. With these sort of battery lives, that just doesn't seem possible.

wingnut

Have you ever used a laptop outside on a sunny day?? Especially trying to do work on one? unless you have some sort of shelter/gazebo. Laptop screens are pretty useless in direct sunlight. Ok for maybe booking flights but not for working long term.

homerjay2005

my toshiba last only 90 mins, so 3 hours is brilliant IMO. but its true, battery life is being neglected by companies now, they putting in the cheapest possible.

JohnK

wingnut wrote:

Have you ever used a laptop outside on a sunny day?? Especially trying to do work on one? unless you have some sort of shelter/gazebo. Laptop screens are pretty useless in direct sunlight. Ok for maybe booking flights but not for working long term.

I tend to burn easily in the sun so I'd always be sitting in shade. I'm hoping that'll make it ok. Of course I could always drape a towel over my head and the screen

homerjay2005 wrote:

my toshiba last only 90 mins, so 3 hours is brilliant IMO. but its true, battery life is being neglected by companies now, they putting in the cheapest possible.

We could be in luck! According to this article there should be fuel cell batterys available in 2 - 3 years that are "three times greater than the best mobile PC batteries". The article date is March 2003! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/03/05/toshiba_boffins_prep_laptop_fuel/

steveland?

JohnK wrote:

Valid points alright but I'm still surprised by it. I would have though that when most people spend between €1,000 - €2000 for a machine that is generally advertised by emphasizing the fact it doesn't need any wires, that they'd get more than half a days use from it.

Just to make a point, one of the reasons I was considering a laptop was so I could take it out into the garden during the summer and work outside. I'm sick of spending sunny days cooped up in my room working on the PC instead of getting some sun and air. I had hoped I could get a laptop that I could take outside with me in the morning and work for the day with it. With these sort of battery lives, that just doesn't seem possible.

I did this a fair bit last year with my laptop for writing up assignments and stuff outside and if you can find a shaded part of your garden it's great.

When you buy a laptop you're basically paying to be able to bring your work everwhere with you whether it's plugged in or not. The laptop I had at the time was a few years old and the battery was nearly dead so I plugged it into a socket we have outside that we use for lights out there.

If your garden isn't too big you could always just run an extension chord from a socket inside to the garden so you can sit outside for 2 hours or so with it on battery and then just plug the thing into the extension

CuLT

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Sony_Vaio_SZ_Laptops/prod.asp

5 and a half hours battery time.

IrishEmperor

a 12" Apple ibook will give you about 4-5 hours battery with light usage

JohnK

Now thats more like it :cool:. Would they last that long if constantly using the wireless network card or is that a big power drain? My faith in laptops is getting renewed here!

IrishEmperor

yeah i use one in college for at least 3 hour stints with the built-in airport card turned on

andy1249

Only the older apples will give you the 5.5 hours of life , these are the ones running the powerpc processors from IBM , the newer ones now have the same power hungry x86 architecture as a PC , the long battery life claim is now notably absent from the ads !!

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/irlstore.woa/6264042/wo/TC788yKGWjvG2gQMmkH1wlMfEPd/0.PSLID?mco=32B42242&nclm=MacBook

DiveBomB

JohnK wrote:

I've been looking at a lot of laptops recently and I've noticed that nearly all the laptops seem to have a shockingly low battery life. Is this normal? Do the majority of laptops really only have lives of about 3 hours per charge?

I understand that with some of the advanced specs of today’s laptops that they would have a large power drain but this seems ridiculous. I’ve seen things ranging from only 1.5 hours to about 4 hours with most sitting around the 2.5 hour mark. This has really made me reconsider buying one for myself because I just cannot justify spending so much money on something that will last hardly any time at all. So, have I just missed something or is this really the way it is?

Feck Sake Get an Apple Powerbook G4 They seam to be one of the best I get bout 5 - 7 hrs from my one Which is better then The Apple MacBook Pro (intel)

JohnK

I have to admit, those do sound impressive.

IrishEmperor

on the ibook

Lasts Up to 6 Hours
Thanks to your iBook’s built-in energy-saving features, you’ll get up to 6 hours of battery life — perfect for long nights at the library or plane trips home.

on the powerbook

Extra-long battery
Be productive for up to 5.5 hours at a time with your 17-inch PowerBook, thanks to its long-lasting battery. The 12-inch PowerBook delivers an impressive 5 hours of battery life.

getting a powerbook over an ibook means paying a premium for some minors gains and reduced battery life (probably due to the higher clock freq?)

Naked Lepper

my compaq is lucky to last a hour.

JohnK

Naked Lepper wrote:

my compaq is lucky to last a hour.

Personally, I would feel cheated if I was lucky to only get an hour.


Probably a stupid question but can these short life batteries be replaced for longer life ones? Obviously they wouldn't be cheap but is it even possible?

TommyGun

The main reason for low battery life the the concern over weigh. The longer the battery life the heaver the laptop, I fine balance is needed. Most manufacturers have an option of a extra or a long life battery.

I get 7-8 hours from a D410 (2 battery's, one long life) Not very portable thought.

Tar.Aldarion

My old Acer lasted about an hour. My new one is longer but tbh, I don't use the battery one bit. There are always plugs nearly.

jrey1981

Newer laptops like Sony and Toshibas should be able to manage 5-6 hours. That will decline over time though, and it will probably depend on how many applications you are using.

Wi-fi and bluetooth use will drain the power faster, as far as I know, as will sound coming through speakers.

besty

My Dell's battery is laughable. 50 mins MAXIMUM!

Soundman

besty wrote:

My Dell's battery is laughable. 50 mins MAXIMUM!

What Dell you got Besty? Mine is the i6000 and I get minimum 2½hours from it. And that is running quite a few apps and minimal power saving as I hate the power saving features on it such as no USB/Wi-Fi/Network Card/etc... Which I always need. Also running audio from it in work.


Edit: Keeping your laptop in good running order such as up to date on defrags and so on will help the battery life too I have found as there is less response time to find files and such like.

JohnK

I'm seriously begining to consider one of the Sony ones linked earlier. Looks like a nice spec with about 5 hours in the battery. I suppose I could always have a spare battery charged and ready to go if I need it for an extended length of time. If I want to charge a battery seperate from the laptop would I need a seperate charger or some type of thing to plug the battery into?

Tom Dunne

JohnK wrote:

If I want to charge a battery seperate from the laptop would I need a seperate charger or some type of thing to plug the battery into?

I know IBM used to do a seperate battery charger, but I haven't seen them available in the past year or two. Not sure about other brands.

In most cases, you would need to charge the battery while it is in the laptop.

JohnK

Crap. Thats that idea out the window then

quigo

My old dell (5150) scraped 60mins was a brick and a furnace, but the new vaio (FJ1) will manage 3hrs+ for low drain apps, 2.5 hrs for video. Its very light too, there is a high capacity battery for €375 but thats crazy money imo. Ill hold out for a 24hr fuel cell laptop:rolleyes:

jozi

I get a good 4+ hrs from my laptop which is a Asus M6Va and thats while browsing the web and with winamp at low volume, screen low brightness but i find it bright enough. Gfx and Cpu are both clocked down (ATI Powerplay), cpu trottles up as needed. And with a 2nd Hd if it matters
I do use Notebook Hardware Control, not 100% sure how much difference its making to battery life.

I have a modular drive on this laptop, i can take out my dvd-drive and replace it with a hd or another battery. I dont own a 2nd battery but i believe it should bring batt life up to about 6hrs.

Jozi

andrew163

http://www.danaquarium.com/article.php?story=20050218182306134

tbh.

(probably not real... but if it was...)

rainbow kirby

It's times like this I really love my 12" iBook... even after almost a year of hard use the battery life is still around 3-4 hours.

TempestSabre

My sony can take two batteries (one replaces the DVD drive) and I used to see other laptops with this feature. Most of the new ones don't have this anymore. Which is a pity.

Capt'n Midnight

Battery life hasn't really changed much since the first laptops. Battery technology has improved. First the NiCAD's then NiMH and then Lithium but as more power is available they've made more power hungry laptops. Its a manufacturers decision as amount of energy stored in laptops has gone up four fold and laptop hard drives use less power than before and laptops have power saving features older ones didn't.

Some older Dell laptops could take two batteries and could take the newer Lithium batteries of later models and you could get up to 14 hours on them.

The technology is there to make a laptop with very long battery life, but by using more power you can have faster ram and CPU and better graphics card and bigger and brighter screen. It's a compromise and most manufacturers have decided the balance of performance Vs. battery life for you.

http://www.zdsparts.com/zwl-200.htm

Battery life 3.1 hours (heavy user duty cycle).

WillieDH

5 hours plus out of my FSC Lifebook S7020, with the extra battery option.

Slide out your DVD drive and slip in the extra battery which is the same shape.

That's 5 hours of normal stuff, including watching movies on a plane off the HDD.

JohnK

Seems like its not all bad so which is promising

jozi

Keep an eye out for laptops that have modular drive bays, get a second batt if needed.

In case not having a dvd drive in worries you, how often do you actually use the drive? I've only used mine a few times to burn some cd's. i'd say 95% or more even i have my 2nd harddisk in place of the dvd drive.

Mutant_Fruit

Generally, the smaller the screen the longer the battery life. The screen will chew up at least 50% of the power in your battery (possibly quite a bit more). I think i can get about 7 hours off my dell D505 if i leave it downloading a torrent via ethernet with the wireless off and the lid closed.

General usage, i'd get about 3 hours or so. If you want a longer battery life, get a laptop with a smaller screen.

JohnK

A smaller screen makes sense and would have the added benefit of being a smaller/lighter laptop although a nice big screen would be nice. Are there other major power hogs that should be avoided?

rabbitinlights

I bought a second hand 10" Sony TR1 and I get about 3.5hrs out of it and I bought a second battery for €50 off ebay and now get double that. I find it brilliant.