how long...

B

Ben

Guest
should a laptop battery last? i got a laptop for xmas n its pretty good spec and does me grand but when i switch to battery power it only lasts about 45 mins to an hour, is that right?
 
WRONG!
Something's wrong with it! Take it back! 4-8 hours is standard!
That's just a joke! DVD's take up ALOT of power though so unless you're playing a DVD, you have a problem!
P.S: I test laptops and games! Heed my advice!
 
Alot of our dells last between 2-4 hours with general use, but it depends what you are doing. I was recording and processing audio at a forum recently, and needed three batteries to cover 8 hours usage! This was on a latitude d505.

Your battery will last longer depending on the power management options you set, and maybe allowing the computer to switch off hardware devices if they're not in use, such as network cards, modems, etc
 
Yep, Arnold, you're correct but bare in mind he's only getting 45mins out of it!
If you're burning DVD's maybe... but not general use! If it's a Dell i'll laugh at you Arnold :laugh:
 
Yeah 45 mins does sound a bit pants, but batteries can lose their charge with time. It probably needs replacing
 
yea thats a bit less for a new laptop, mine is about 3 years old and it now does about 1 hour despite the battery is on its way out.
 
I have a 233mhz Toshiba - It's an antique!!!!

I get 7 minutes of battery life on a full charge :D

Think the battery is somewhat pants!!! LMAO
 
If you've left the battery connected to the mains for too long it can damage the cells - i did this to my toshiba :(
 
wilsonian said:
If you've left the battery connected to the mains for too long it can damage the cells - i did this to my toshiba :(
Click to expand...
Yeah this also happened to my uncles Samsung laptop, got a comparable battery life to ollie's except its a lot newer lol
 
hmmm something does sound wrong then, its constantly plugged into the mains to keep my laptop powered (i use it as a normal computer) do you think it could have to do with the fact its wireless connected to the net all the time?
 
Ben said:
hmmm something does sound wrong then, its constantly plugged into the mains to keep my laptop powered (i use it as a normal computer) do you think it could have to do with the fact its wireless connected to the net all the time?
Click to expand...

Well the wireless card will drain power, especially if its being used all the time. As said above though, if its on the mains too long it can nacker the battery out
 
What is the spec of this laptop, does it have any power savings, are they enabled. If its a budget laptop then it probably has minmal power savings and 45mins on a dvd sounds about right. Untill you tell us the model everyones comments here are just guesses.
 
good old laptop batteries my mums just goes dead when unplugged from the mains and shes only had it a few months. pc world some how managed to get out of covering it on their warrenty tho...
 
When you first had it did you charge it up fully and drain it before 1st use (thats what i had to do with mine to set the memory)

Do you wait till its completly flat before rechargeing?

If not, then it should say in the user guide how to re-set the batterys memory
 
Demarest said:
When you first had it did you charge it up fully and drain it before 1st use (thats what i had to do with mine to set the memory)

Do you wait till its completly flat before rechargeing?

If not, then it should say in the user guide how to re-set the batterys memory
Click to expand...

Batteries dont have memory?
 
Demarest said:
If not, then it should say in the user guide how to re-set the
batterys memory
Click to expand...

It can only appear so due to the way they work IIRC. When you charge them again when they're not empty, they will be 'flat' at the point when you started charging them and NOT when they're complete discharged.

This was the case in a torch my brother had, though I'm not sure what type of battery it was
 
Mine only lasts this kind of length aswell but i didnt know about the constantly having it charging nackers it thing.... mite be how iv mashed mine cos it didnt used to be this bad at all
 
I have a laptop I have had since 2001, Its a Advent P3 1ghz 256mb, its been charged and gone flat in that time probably over 1000 times. It lasted just about an hour and a half new with light usage (word) and the screen dim, and it does now, or about 45 mins doing anything that uses alot of cpu and graphics. By comparison I now have a new Dell, thats P4, larger screen and 1g ram etc loads more higher spec stuff and it lasts probably the same ish time on its small battery as my old one. The lower spec ones with slower cpus do last longer than the old ones, but to say a sweeping stament that all moden laptops last 4 hours is nonsense etc......
 
Just to throw in my two cents, it all depends on usage, the type of battery, etc. I use a lithium polymer external battery to backup my original battery, but I use some pretty CPU and graphics intensive stuff at work. Gives me an extra 4 hours or so, but they can be a bit pricey (£115 for mine)

Edit: Just found this, thought it might be useful seeing as most laptop batterys are lithium-ion

A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.

Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Here is the reason: Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate. (Read more in 'Choosing the right battery for portable computing', Part Two.)
Click to expand...

So in otherwords, you can use then charge a lithium ion battery about 300 - 500 times before it needs replacing - usually about a year with how peeps tend to use their laptops.

This is the website if ya want to have a look:

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm
 
Alienfish360 said:
It can only appear so due to the way they work IIRC. When you charge them again when they're not empty, they will be 'flat' at the point when you started charging them and NOT when they're complete discharged.

This was the case in a torch my brother had, though I'm not sure what type of battery it was
Click to expand...

Yea, thats what i was trying to say.
My old mobile phone had that problem
 
I jus unplugged mine for abit... checked the battery 2 mins later and it came up as 80% with 11 mins left. think it is well an truly mashed :(
 
i know it sounds stupid but if it is outta warrenty.....which it prob isnt...stick the old battery in the freezer ! it compacts the cells and worked for my advent lappy !

take it back man !!
 

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