Battery life & Me

So! im starting school in a few weeks, and my question to you all is this.


How/what do i set to make my laptop work without being plugged in
for the LONGEST possible time?

I know the first thing to do would be to switch back to Intel HD 4000 graphics instead of my 660
Other than that? I am lost.
i want to be able to use it for 5-8 hours preferably .

Any hints, tips, special programs you have, etc. would be appreciated.


Off topic-

Anyone know if dell is selling the 7970m Directly from parts replacement yet?

 

almost 90 views and nobody knows? I dont feel so bad now, guess its not a common thing..

for all of you who are going to tell me to Google it? i did, So many variables in reviews and such
2hrs, 6hrs, 5hrs 17 minutes, 1hour 18 minutes, 3hrs 29 minutes.


I know how much time i can get out of it now. but! i just need to know if theres any options i can set that Reduce battery use so i can extend my current battery time whilst unplugged.

or a program or something.

 

Run off integrated graphics, turn the screen brightness down, switch to power saving battery mode (click on the battery in the bottom right and adjust the settings), turn off the LED lights, and if you're running low on battery and don't need the internet turn off wifi. That's all that comes to mind right away, but if you follow that advice you'll get very good battery life for these machines.

As for the 7970m idk about buying from Dell, but if you want to upgrade this is probably your best bet:

AMD Radeon HD7970M (WimbledonXT) MXM 3.0b 2GB GDDR5 - Upgrade Kit for Alienware | eBay

 

Hi, this article has good tips to improve battery life, hope you find it useful

 

I did a little test last night. I was only doing web browsing, and after 2 hours and 7 minutes of pretty constant usage, I still had 50% battery remaining. The tray icon said that I had 2 hours and 15 minutes remaining. It may not be reasonable to assume linear discharge, though, so just because the first 50% lasted me 2+ hours, doesn't necessarily mean that the last 50% will, as well.

I had the screen on the lowest brightness, WiFi set to medium power saving, 7970 set to maximize battery life (Enduro was disabled, so no Intel 4000 at all), and AlienFX disabled. Also, I have an SSD, and set the HDD to turn off after brief inactivity (5 mins, I think), and everything was running off the SSD, so it was never spinning at all. I bet I could have squeezed some more out it because I didn't have all the power saving features maxed.

 

Well, you could turn off yoru 7970m and save probably even more power and run on intel 4000, no need to use 7970m at all if you only browsing and busy for school, unless you run CaD or other professional applications for school