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Whats the deal with battery Life

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    #32
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,855 Mod ✭✭✭✭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).


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    #33
    WillieDH
    Closed Accounts Posts: 425 ✭✭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.


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    #34
    JohnK
    Registered Users Posts: 4,780 ✭✭✭JohnK


    Seems like its not all bad so which is promising


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    #35
    jozi
    Registered Users Posts: 5,391 ✭✭✭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.


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    #36
    Mutant_Fruit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,943 ✭✭✭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.


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    #37
    JohnK
    Registered Users Posts: 4,780 ✭✭✭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?


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    #38
    rabbitinlights
    Registered Users Posts: 4,002 ✭✭✭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.


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