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Dell Battery Life?

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  • 10-04-2007 6:43pm
    #1
    fsol
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16 ✭


    Hi all,
    I got a Dell Inspiron 1501 about 3 weeks ago. I was concerned about the battery performance so I looked up Dells advice to increase battery perf - reduce brightness (which I did set to minimal), I set from Dell Recommended to Power Save, and I ran movies etc from hard drive and not DVD player.

    Before I made these changes a full charge would say about 2.5 hours life but I was getting really only abour 45 mins. With the changes above, I'm still only getting 1 hr 20 mins - thou when charged it still says 2.5 hours to start with.

    The battery itself is the standard one with this config - 4 cell (I think). Even so for a new laptop I think this perf is woeful so I've opened a log with Dell but they've just referred me to the articles I'd already found myself??!!?

    Question is: anybody else had similar laptop with same problem? If so, how did you resolve? What's Dells policy on returning parts does anyone know? BTW, I'm well within the 90 standard warranty period.

    Thanks in advance!
    fsol


Comments

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    #2
    Ice_Box
    Closed Accounts Posts: 569 ✭✭✭Ice_Box


    Try switching off wifi and bluetooth if you have those and you dont need them on. It may help a bit.


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    #3
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Along with WiFi (the 1501 has no blue tooth) Have a look at the processes and what running. anything that uses the Hard Disk like indexing and AV scanning will suck the life out of the battery. Ditto any extra processes that are CPU intensive. Also any external USB powered devices will suck battery life too. WiFi is a real battery drainer though.


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    #4
    8k2q1gfcz9s5d4
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,616 ✭✭✭8k2q1gfcz9s5d4


    did you 'condition' your battery when you got the laptop? i.e. leaving it charging for a few hours (with the laptop turned off)


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    #5
    majiktripp
    Registered Users Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭majiktripp


    I reckon your actually getting just about the right amount of battery time you should be for a 4 cell battery,girlfriends laptop is similar spec with the same battery life as are most of the 1501's we get through here when we order for our customers...


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    #6
    OfflerCrocGod
    Registered Users Posts: 6,306 ✭✭✭OfflerCrocGod


    Yep always order 9-cell/max number when speccing a laptop from Dell - it's only €50 but worth it!


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