Was about to buy a new laptop but then...

[Deserted]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on the following. Went into shop to buy a laptop I had been checking out. Looked at the spec on the company website and matched it with what I saw in the shop, no problems so far. I asked the assistant for some info, just to double check which is when a problem emerged. The battery life of the model I was looking at should be 5 hours according to the website but in the shop he was insisting that it was only two. After some discussion he claims that the manufacturer will only display the battery life in standby mode not in terms of usage which is obviously much less. Can someone confirm whether this is correct or not? It seems strange because the point of having a battery is so that you can use the thing without mains rather than take joy in it lasting for 5 hours without use. I was a bit concerned in the shop that they might be trying to palm me off with an inferior battery.

Here is the laptop with info in question http://www.pcworld.com/product/1189229/satellite-p755d-s5172.html

[PoorSucker]

5 hours if you don't use it sounds right.

The more software, DVD, wireless etc. you use, the shorter the time.

When I develop software I run an SQL server and development environment simultaneously., I'm happy to get 2 hours.

read this article.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

[thaimite]

All retailers of any product will use any trick they can to bend the rules and make their product look better than it really is whether by the careful use of words where "up to 5 hours" can be translated to "under no circumstances will ever exceed 5 hours" or quoting standby time as the battery life in standby mode.

I remember in the old days of dot matrix printers speeds were displayed in CPS (Characters per second) where a character was a space thus 200CPS meant it could print 200 spaces a second. Very useful!!!

The old phrase "Caveat Emptor" "Buyer beware" must be born in mind at all times. How many people believe Internet speeds quoted by ISPs translate in to real speeds for data transfer? I suspect very few.

Depending on CPU, GPU (if fitted) screen size and battery size 2 hours is probably more realistic if the laptop is being used in real world scenarios. I suspect your salesman is more honest than the manufacturer.

[manarak]

The batteries have references too, so you can check the model number of the battery on the internet.

Battery life depends a lot on the usage - 2 hours sounds about right for working with wifi connected. If you watch a movie from a USB stick and dim the screen, switch wifi off, you might get 4 hours. Manufacturer's battery life is switching everything off on the laptop and letting it idle with the screen dimmed to the minimum.

[Thighlander]

My new samsung chromebook cost me 239 USD. It has a much longer battery charge than the comparable Acer, because there is no HD, just a 16 GB SSD.

It's kind of ironic how much cheaper all this asian electronic crap is significantly less in the States.

[lemonjelly]

One of the reasons I bought a Macbook Pro...... 6-7 hours battery life surfing.

[MichaelJohn]

Yes, all quoted battery life is with the laptop on and basically doing nothing but displaying a screen, i.e. no fan, prcessor, screen refreshes, WiFi etc (but not in standby mode).

When you actually use it, the fan speed varies, the processor works harder, the screen refreshes etc and hence the actual battery life will always be less than quoted.

[Thighlander]

mine doesn't use a fan, either. I believe Samsung claims 6.3 hours, but I don't get the satisfaction of helping out those poor AAPL employess, whose average income is not enough to pay for a 1 bedroom apartment in Cupertino (with NOTHING leftover). They do work, no arguments there.

[Deserted]

All retailers of any product will use any trick they can to bend the rules and make their product look better than it really is whether by the careful use of words where "up to 5 hours" can be translated to "under no circumstances will ever exceed 5 hours" or quoting standby time as the battery life in standby mode.

Yes that sounds about right. But whatever I get, it's got to be better than my present situation as my Acer only gives me 8 minutes on battery.

[Thighlander]

and a replacement battery will likely cost more than the computer is worth.

[growe237]

I just bought a toshiba portege z935 and pleased with battery life - yesterday, I unplugged it after fully charging, and with on and off wifi usage throughout the day, it lasted 5 hours. Probably 2.5 hours of that was usage with bright screen. Definitely preserve battery life by fully charging and fully discharging.

Am going to check your link out for sure - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

And check this out, too. http://www.friedbeef.com/top-15-ways-to-extend-your-laptop-battery-life/

[jacko45k]

I just bought a toshiba portege z935 and pleased with battery life - yesterday, I unplugged it after fully charging, and with on and off wifi usage throughout the day, it lasted 5 hours. Probably 2.5 hours of that was usage with bright screen. Definitely preserve battery life by fully charging and fully discharging.

Am going to check your link out for sure - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

And check this out, too. http://www.friedbeef.com/top-15-ways-to-extend-your-laptop-battery-life/

My laptop preserves battery life by not fully charging, ie stopping at 80% or better still 50%...... obviously this applies to a machine that spends most of it's life plugged in, and when I do unplug it and use it some-place else I am often caught out by the low battery charge. Just something to keep in mind for preserving battery condition, which is regarded as a consumable.

[Businessman]

I always take the manufacturers numbers with a grain of salt. Computer magazines review most models and of some magazines actually run tests on performance including battery performance. I tend to give more weight to the independent test.

Google xxxxx battery test, where xxxxxx is your model.

From what I find you should expect 2.5 to 3.5 hrs as the battery run down tests are 2hrs 50 minutes. Your actual results will depend on what your are doing.

But. . . Hold the presses! There is a new main chip cpu released by intel early this month called haswell. This chip promises to lengthen battery life significantly. If battery life is important to you, you may want to look for a model using this cpu. But you may have to wait for models to start hitting the market. Additionally the newest models are never the cheapest. So it all depends how much 6-9 hr battery life is worth to you. You can also buy extra capacity batteries at most shops that add battery life and weight to your computer.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Businessman

[user786895]

I have had several laptops over the years and I have never had a battery last longer than 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours while using my laptop and, indeed, with more frequent use and the passage of time, this battery life then tends to shrink down and down.

[Docno]

I just bought a toshiba portege z935 and pleased with battery life - yesterday, I unplugged it after fully charging, and with on and off wifi usage throughout the day, it lasted 5 hours. Probably 2.5 hours of that was usage with bright screen. Definitely preserve battery life by fully charging and fully discharging.

Am going to check your link out for sure - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

And check this out, too. http://www.friedbeef.com/top-15-ways-to-extend-your-laptop-battery-life/

My laptop preserves battery life by not fully charging, ie stopping at 80% or better still 50%...... obviously this applies to a machine that spends most of it's life plugged in, and when I do unplug it and use it some-place else I am often caught out by the low battery charge. Just something to keep in mind for preserving battery condition, which is regarded as a consumable.

So why don't you do a 100% charge before taking it out? Or is it that you sometimes forget to do that...?

[tragickingdom]

That is a very honest shopkeeper. Most computer manufacturers use obsolete battery technology with batteries in plastic housing, the published time is often based on a screen that is 25-50% dimmed and running only a browser. So if you watch a movie even if it is downloaded you already lose half the published battery life. Than you have the people who remove their batteries often, leave it in the power outlet for almost ever than your battery is screwed even faster.

You may assume that the published times can easily reduced by 60% in most cases. Good shop!

[Thighlander]

I just bought a toshiba portege z935 and pleased with battery life - yesterday, I unplugged it after fully charging, and with on and off wifi usage throughout the day, it lasted 5 hours. Probably 2.5 hours of that was usage with bright screen. Definitely preserve battery life by fully charging and fully discharging.

Am going to check your link out for sure - http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

And check this out, too. http://www.friedbeef.com/top-15-ways-to-extend-your-laptop-battery-life/

My laptop preserves battery life by not fully charging, ie stopping at 80% or better still 50%...... obviously this applies to a machine that spends most of it's life plugged in, and when I do unplug it and use it some-place else I am often caught out by the low battery charge. Just something to keep in mind for preserving battery condition, which is regarded as a consumable.

they had the same problem with the Nisaan Electric cars in the desert. Wouldn't charge past 70-80%. I recall the battery on my mobile phone saying don't expose it to temps more than 43C.......if you count hot car interiors; it can be quite frequent.

[kwat nueng]

Easy solution. Buy a Mac.

[unanimosity]

All retailers of any product will use any trick they can to bend the rules and make their product look better than it really is whether by the careful use of words where "up to 5 hours" can be translated to "under no circumstances will ever exceed 5 hours" or quoting standby time as the battery life in standby mode.

Yes that sounds about right. But whatever I get, it's got to be better than my present situation as my Acer only gives me 8 minutes on battery.

Sometimes it pays to just replace the battery. Most companies offer an extended life battery which can be a little bulkier.

[GoodWesternGuy]

After 14 years full-time working from home on the Internet I strongly suggest... Get a Mac! The latest has a 12 hour battery. You wont be plagued with viruses, key loggers, trogons, the dreaded blue screen of death etc and it won't break down all the time.

I got my first Mac in Pattaya about 3 years ago - it is till a workhorse - never had any pc laptop last that long! I would never, never, never go back to a pc - especially as you can now get something like parallel and run Windows if you really need to. Save yourself money, time and stress in the long run - get a Mac :-)

[hellodolly]

All retailers of any product will use any trick they can to bend the rules and make their product look better than it really is whether by the careful use of words where "up to 5 hours" can be translated to "under no circumstances will ever exceed 5 hours" or quoting standby time as the battery life in standby mode.

I remember in the old days of dot matrix printers speeds were displayed in CPS (Characters per second) where a character was a space thus 200CPS meant it could print 200 spaces a second. Very useful!!!

The old phrase "Caveat Emptor" "Buyer beware" must be born in mind at all times. How many people believe Internet speeds quoted by ISPs translate in to real speeds for data transfer? I suspect very few.

Depending on CPU, GPU (if fitted) screen size and battery size 2 hours is probably more realistic if the laptop is being used in real world scenarios. I suspect your salesman is more honest than the manufacturer.

You misread the article. It was the retailer telling him the battery would not last for five hours if it was in use.

It was the web site that made the 5 hour claim. You have insulted an honest retailer.

[belg]

or it might just be that they are selling a demo laptop in stead, you know, the one every touches and is on 16 hours per day ...

[lubbkis]

The review says "vendor rated" battery life, so that figure is only good for comparison with other items from that vendor. The shop is telling you something realistic as they don't want an angry farang back in the shop demanding a refund.

If battery life is important go for SSD drive and run with a dimmed screen. My 4 year old macBook only gives 4 hours and I always completely drain before charge. It often fails to eject disks for a week or so, so I run with a USB DVD drive.

[thaimite]

All retailers of any product will use any trick they can to bend the rules and make their product look better than it really is whether by the careful use of words where "up to 5 hours" can be translated to "under no circumstances will ever exceed 5 hours" or quoting standby time as the battery life in standby mode.

I remember in the old days of dot matrix printers speeds were displayed in CPS (Characters per second) where a character was a space thus 200CPS meant it could print 200 spaces a second. Very useful!!!

The old phrase "Caveat Emptor" "Buyer beware" must be born in mind at all times. How many people believe Internet speeds quoted by ISPs translate in to real speeds for data transfer? I suspect very few.

Depending on CPU, GPU (if fitted) screen size and battery size 2 hours is probably more realistic if the laptop is being used in real world scenarios. I suspect your salesman is more honest than the manufacturer.

You misread the article. It was the retailer telling him the battery would not last for five hours if it was in use.

It was the web site that made the 5 hour claim. You have insulted an honest retailer.

Please read my reply again. The last line I stated

"I suspect your salesman is more honest than the manufacturer.

[rubberduck]

Did you already manage the startup list e.g. with Tuneup Utilities or CCleaner, and other batterylife saving settings ?

[Postmaster]

Laptops need a mains electricity supply full stop.

[jay1980]

With the new Haswell chip round the corner you did the right thing by not buying yet

http://gizmodo.com/now-is-a-horrible-time-to-buy-a-laptop-496028699

[how241]

5 hours if you don't use it sounds right.

The more software, DVD, wireless etc. you use, the shorter the time.

When I develop software I run an SQL server and development environment simultaneously., I'm happy to get 2 hours.

read this article.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3597&article=wireless+and+battery+power

+1

[WildChilli]

3 pc laptops never had battery life go past 2 and half hour all where treated like my current

2010 MacBook pro always on hard life surfing downloading 24/7 the mac performs perfect

Battery life is still 6-7 hours surfing the net or watching a movie or 2

Pc laptops maintenance constant updates and minor anoying issues alway something that needed sorting out the last of my 3 Todhiba laptops did a shut down and could not be restarted for 2 weeks while on holiday took it to 7 shops all failed to get It started up then it just woke up like nothing happend and is still running to this day and serves as a movie server for my tv

Mac some updates had one shut down due to overheating auto 24 hour shut down and I'm happy and would recommend mac to anyone who want a top performance all round long term good laptop that just work and is easy to use

Once you go MAC you never go back

Thank you apple for being in my life

[Deserted]

The review says "vendor rated" battery life, so that figure is only good for comparison with other items from that vendor. The shop is telling you something realistic as they don't want an angry farang back in the shop demanding a refund.

If battery life is important go for SSD drive and run with a dimmed screen. My 4 year old macBook only gives 4 hours and I always completely drain before charge. It often fails to eject disks for a week or so, so I run with a USB DVD drive.

Yes, the guy was tring to tell me that the information on the web was not accurate and that I would only get 2-3 hours use out of the battery. Just picking up on something said earlier in the thread. If I use the laptop fully charged with the battery in a lot, is this likely to harm the battery? I've never heard that before.