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    Laptop time on battery / charger?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by ghhowell84, Dec 16, 2012.

  1. ghhowell84

    ghhowell84 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Still waiting on my M17x but wanted to ask everyone's thoughts on how often you run the battery down vs just leaving it on the charger. I have an HP laptop that is shot as far as the battery goes. It has to be plugged in to use for any amount of time. So what do you guys do? Just plug it up and let it ride? Thanks!
     
    ghhowell84, Dec 16, 2012
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  2. Dusk Star

    Dusk Star Notebook Consultant

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    For any amount of gaming, (that is, more demanding than TF2) I plug it in, but I use it in class to take notes/surf the web on battery. Typically get ~3 hours. Of course, I have a m17x r3 with an under-powered graphics card, so YMMV.
     
    Dusk Star, Dec 17, 2012
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  3. LeoVainio

    LeoVainio Notebook Evangelist

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    Well your performance and fps suffers when you're not plugged in... Ofc you can play any game on battery, but most games not maxed out.

    When I took the charger out for a few minutes, windows estimated that I had 3 and a half hours of battery left, which IMO is great. But why on earth would you be interested in playing games on battery? bad fps and 10 mins battery life xD
     
    LeoVainio, Dec 17, 2012
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  4. bigtonyman

    bigtonyman Desktop Powa!!!

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    Gaming on the go still isn't possible with these machines unless your plugged in as the others have said. I have had my machine for over 1.5 years now and my battery is still holding up. I use it to take notes during class or write papers as well as listen to music for hours at a time. :)
     
    bigtonyman, Dec 17, 2012
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  5. ghhowell84

    ghhowell84 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was mainly asking because of battery memory buildup. Anyone had issues with that?
     
    ghhowell84, Dec 17, 2012
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  6. souskei

    souskei Notebook Consultant

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    Lithium batteries don't have memory.

    But, they do start to lose their capacity after a number of cycles. say 500 - 700 (i think im being generous with those numbers) cycles , the batt goes from holding 100 percent juice down to around 90 percent juice or even lower...
     
    souskei, Dec 17, 2012
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